Monday, August 11, 2008
Author: Lance Bradley
Right smack dab in the middle of the schedule for Full Tilt Online Poker Series IX was a Sunday full of three big events. The biggest was Event #10 ($300 + $22 No Limit Hold’em) with a guaranteed prize pool of $1.5 million which replaced the usual $750,000 Guaranteed tournament. The bigger buy-in and prestige of FTOPS attracted a field full of the top online poker players but is still fell 15 players short of meeting the guaranteed prize pool.
"Harlindo" came out on top of the event defeating recent UltimateBet Star Player James “P0KERPR0” Campbell heads-up for the $259,440 payday. Here’s how the final table went down:
Chip counts when the final table began:
Seat 1: P0KERPR0 (1,795,000)
Seat 2: paigowpro (3,204,604)
Seat 3: SKILLAN (1,559,227)
Seat 4: Tazmaniapwnsyou (1,055,340)
Seat 5: Mr Mack Bust (911,319)
Seat 6: Harlindo (2,707,655)
Seat 7: Kasy1 (587,860)
Seat 8: IwanaClay (1,814,826)
Seat 9: doubledave22 (1,319,169)
Eliminated in 9th place: Kasy1
With blinds at 25K/50K (6K antes) SKILLAN opened for 125,000 and Kasy1 moved all-in for 471,860 from the button and SKILLAN snap-called.
SKILLAN: As Ac
Kasy1: 2c 2s
Flop: Ts Tc Qh
Turn: 4h
River: 6c
Up against a monster Kasy1 wasn’t able to hit his two-outer and his run at the FTOPS title was gone while SKILLAN increased his total chip stack to over 2 million.
Eliminated in 8th place: IwanaClay
On the button Harlindo raised to 240,000 and IwanaClay reraised all-in to 728,497, and is all in; Harlindo called.
IwanaClay: Qd Ah
Harlindo: Kd Ac
Flop: 8h 6d Kc
Turn: Qh
River: 4c
Finding his hand dominated before the flop, seeing the Kc on the flop didn’t put IwanaClay at ease. Even after catching a queen on the turn he was unable to make trips on the river and was eliminated from the tournament.
Eliminated in 7th place: Tazmaniapwnsyou
Eliminated in 6th place: paigowpro
The next two eliminations came on the same hand and helped propel P0KERPR0 to his runner-up finish. Tazmaniapwnsyou moved all-in from UTG+1 for 438,671, P0KERPR0 called from the small blind and paigowpro raised to 1,400,000 from the big blind. P0KERPR0 then reraised all-in to 4,240,000 and sent piagowpro into the tank, where he utilized nearly all of his time bank before finally calling, putting himself all-in in the process.
P0KERPR0:Ts Tc
paigowpro: 9h 9s
Tazmaniapwnsyou: Qs Ac
Flop: 5s 6h Jd
Turn: 5h
River: 2s
Tazmaniapwnsyou was unable to hit either of his overcards and paigowpro’s two-outer was nowhere to be seen and P0KERPR0 won the hand, eliminated both players, and built his stack up to over 7.8 million nearly 5 million ahead of Harlindo, his nearest competitor.
Eliminated in 5th place: Mr Mack Bust
From the cutoff SKILLAN moved all-in for his last 1,639,087 and Mr Mack Bust called from the button with his last 443,128.
SKILLAN: 8s 8c
Mr Mack Bust: Kh Qh
Flop: 3d 5d 9c
Turn: 4s
River: 6c
When the cards were turned over Mr Mack Bust must have been pleased to find he had two suited overcards. But when the board ran out with no kings, queens or hearts his FTOPS event was over with a fifth place finish.
Eliminated in 4th place: SKILLAN
Despite claiming the last elimination the night didn’t last much longer for SKILLAN. From the P0KERPR0 raised to 272,977 and SKILLAN took some time before reraising to 675,000. P0KERPR0 followed suit by tanking before making the call to see the flop.
Flop: 6s Jc 5d
Using as much of his allotted time as possible before betting, SKILLAN bet 1,120,000, P0KERPR0 requested time and eventually made the call.
Turn: 3c
Both players again took full advantage of the allotted time to act. SKILLAN moved all-in for 2,639,430 and P0KERPR0 called.
SKILLAN: Kh Kc
P0KERPR0: Ad Ah
River: Qc
Despite two huge hands the players waited until the turn to get all the money in. When the river didn’t deliver one of the two remaining kings it mean that SKILLAN’s run was at an end. P0KERPR0 took down the 9 million chip pot and appeared to be in complete control.
Eliminated in 3rd place: doubledave22
After a short break the three players returned just in time to see P0KERPR0 collect another victim. Avoiding the preflop all-in eliminations that tend to dominate final tables P0KERPR0 and doubledave22 played the following hand. After Harlindo folded the button doubledave22 completed from the small blind and P0KERPR0 checked his option.
Flop: 3s 2s 9h
Doubledave22 opened the post-flop betting for 267,500 before P0KERPR0 raised to 800,000. Doubledave22 then moved all-in for 4,179,583 and P0KERPR0 requested time before finally making the call.
doubledave22: 2h 8h
P0KERPR0: Qs 9d
Turn: Kc
River: 3h
Unable to improve upon bottom pair doubledave22 became P0KERPR0’s final victim and ended up with a third place finish.
Harlindo wins FTOPS IX Event #10
When heads-up play began P0KERPR0 had nearly 66% of the chips thanks to his elimination of five of the previous seven player. Harlindo wasn’t fazed though and found himself with a 4-3 chip lead before the final hand of the night. Harlindo called from the small blind and P0KERPR0 raised to 480,000. Harlindo came back over the top with an all-in raise and P0KERPR0 called off the rest of his 5.7 million.
Harlindo: Ad Kc
P0KERPR0: Qd Td
Flop: 9c 2c 5d
Turn: 3d
River: 4h
Big slick was good enough for Harlindo to win the final hand of the night and capture the FTOPS title and the $259,440 first place prize money. For a complete listing of payouts from this or other FTOPS IX event check the Sunday Report.