The latest Full Tilt Online Poker Series (FTOPS) concluding tournaments over the weekend led the way in big-money pay-outs this weekend, with the $635 buy-in 25th FTOPS main event pulling in a slew of respected players among the entry field of 2,557 chasing top rewards flowing from a prize pool of $1,534,000.
Niall “Firaldo87” Farrell, Charles “Chilax Chuck” Sylvestre, Mike “Timex” McDonald, YEWTHMELTHR, Sami “LarsLuzak” Kelopuro, PrettyFlacko, Rasta_3, NES_Pro and foster18 managed to survive the hectic battle for final table positions, fighting on into the early hours of Monday morning before a champion emerged.
The final stages of the game again saw the increasingly common practice of the last three players deciding to agree a chop, in this case one that left $36,232 on the table for the winner as Farrell, McDonald and Sylvestre hammered out a deal that guaranteed $200,000 for each before play recommenced.
The deal ensured that McDonald went home with $200,000 when he was sent to the exit in third, leaving Sylvestre and Farrell to decide the heads up. It wasn’t Syvestre’s day, and he also departed with $200,000, leaving the winner’s pay-out of $236,232 to Farrell – his biggest online tournament pay-day yet.
Rival company but stabelmate Pokerstars also produced some impressive online tournament numbers over the weekend in its $215 buy-in Sunday Million competition.
8,010 players showed up for the event, creating a prize pool well over the guarantee at $1,602,000
Two German players, ‘icebearrr’ and ‘bluet0m89’ slugged it out through the massive field to end up first on a highly competitive final table and then in the one-on-one heads up, at which point a two-way chop was agreed.
When play resumed ‘icebearrr’ gained the upper hand and the winner’s reward of $226,316 after sending his countryman to the exit with the runner-up prize of $190,203.
Other final table pay checks were:
ultimateturn $120,150
Ben “vindog03” Vinson $80,740
db10ISgod $64,080
pendo71 $48,060
BC_Pres $32,040
133850526 $18,423
Guilherme “VinceVegaMFR” Cheveau $12,415