It’s a good sign when the Main Event of the Full Tilt Online Poker Series grows leaps and bounds every time the tournament series comes around. In the first FTOPS, the prize pool of the $535 Main Event capped out at $734,000. The next running of the FTOPS attracted 2,449 players in its Main Event, meaning the prize pool topped $1.2 million. For the third FTOPS, the Main Event prize pool reached a balmy $1.6 million, establishing the online poker series as one of the best available to Mac poker players. The event expanded to 10 tournaments total, ranging from $216 Omaha Hi/Lo event to a $150,000 Guarantee HA event. The Main Event featured a rising star in the online poker world, traheho, taking down Boosted J. There were a commanding 3,217 poker players who entered the Main Event, meaning the winner would take home just over $288,000. In the end, traheho edged out Boosted J. The latter cashed for $175,326.50. Full Tilt sent 25 of its own pros into the fray, providing a unique experience for those willing to cough up $535 or spend time qualifying through one of many satellites on Full Tilt Poker.
Also in the Main Event of the FTOPS III, tsarrast cashed for $114,203.50. Miss Lulu took home nearly $90,000 for fourth place. You can tell by the numbers of those who cashed that the FTOPS III Main Event absolutely crushed its $1.5 million guarantee. Fifteen players took home over $10,000, meaning Full Tilt was the source of a big payday for many.
If you’ve read the recap of the very first FTOPS, you’ll recognize the name CaseyTheKid. He took down Event #3 of the first FTOPS and won his second Omaha Hi/Lo tournament in Event #6 of FTOPS III. CaseyTheKid took home $29,700 for his efforts, defeating dirty_snowmen heads up and establishing himself as one of the best tournament Omaha players on the Net. The runner up pocketed $18,414. Two other players cashed for five figures: jeciimd ($13,365) and Ponga80 ($10,395). There were $594 entrants, each coughing up $216 to enter, meaning the tournament crushed its $75,000 guarantee.
One Full Tilt player who received a monster payday was kristy_sea. He took home $90,384 for winning Event #7, a $216 buy-in no limit tournament with a $100,000 guarantee. A whopping 703 players showed up, which led to big cashes for many players involved. Besides kristy_sea’s enormous take, benba, cjoseph, LiquidSmoke, rjmgrace, THE__D__RY, and (my favorite name among the top finishers) NoBadBeatsPlz each cashed for at least $10,000. 72 players cashed in total. Some of the names you might recognize include online pros lucky seven, PXFACTOR, THAY3R, mindwise, and Eric ”Rizen” Lynch, who made his first World Series of Poker cash in the 2006 series. Full Tilt pro Clonie Gowen also cashed.
Besides the Main Event, the second largest prize pool was $826,500, belonging to the $322 buy-in Event #3. A No Limit Hold’em tournament that attracted 2,755 players, the event was won by DontBluffMePLZZ, who took home $151,249.50. Don Guzzo finished second for $92,568 and mickry mtl landed in third place for $60,334.50. The top nine finishers received at least $10,000. Online poker pro PearlJammed finished 10th; kristy_sea, B_O_K_E, and agriffrod also cashed.
All told, the 10 event FTOPS III was a rousing success, attracting greater prize pools and fiercer competition than FTOPS II. It wouldn’t take long for Full Tilt to launch FTOPS IV.