FTOPS Makes Strong Start with Large Field

The Full Tilt Online Poker Series has always been a big lure for players of all types.  The grinders set aside a piece of the bankroll in anticipation of the event, low stakes players hit the satellites hoping for their chance at the big time and even high stakes cash game players cant resist the lure of huge guarantees. 

The last series, FTOPS X, boasted 25 events over 12 days.  The series was highlighted by two major events to wrap things up.  Event #22 was a $5,000 buy in, two day tournament.  Amit "amak316" Makhija beat out the field of 500 players to grab the $550,000 payout, one of the largest amounts ever awarded online.  The main event featured a $550 buy in and Va Shon "Julian Verse" Watkins outlasted the 5,225 player field to take home the win and $450,709.  

The kick off of FTOPS XI is a highly anticipated event by players looking to bridge the gap between major live tournaments.  The series got off to a great start on Wednesday with a huge field of players.  Event #1 kicked off at 9pm EST and didn’t finish until nearly 13 hours later.  A total of 6,275 entrants anted up the $200 buy in, creating a prize pool of $1,255,000.

The tourney was hosted by none other than Full Tilt pro Howard Lederer who finished in 697th place and in the money.  Joining him and representing Full Tilt were Esther Rossi (661st), Diego Cordovez (637th), Trond Erik Eidsvig (329th), Brandon Adams (229th) and Lee Watkinson (211th).  A few other notables who attempted to grab the title were Tim "howl9k" Resnik (78th), Evan "NEONPILS99" Parkes (67th), Matt "MattSuspect" Molinari (50th), Mohsin "chicagocards1" Charania (48th), Jeremiah "Believer8219" VInsant (37th), Chris "Cmoney3" Kline (19th), Dan "Wretchy" Martin (13th) and John "JNewcombe" Newcombe (3rd).

Eventually the tournament was won by David "muckducks" Cairns who took home $216,513 for his efforts.  Below are the final table results:

1. David "muckducks" Cairns — $216,513

2. sticky seat — $131,148

3. John Newcombe aka JNewcombe — $84,336

4. two8off — $65,888

5. headbang — $49,573

6. Almerud — $37,023

7. song1234 — $28,865

8. ich_bin_pro — $21,963

9. amster_ATX — $16,315