Posted by Big Donkey | Filed under The Week at FTP
The madness that is FTOPS has ended and honestly, we couldn’t be happier. It’s not that we don’t love the series – we do – really, we do – but after spending the last 10 days trying to keep track of all the tourney action, we need a break.
Of course, we can’t afford the kind of vacation that Reverse can now treat himself to, but then again, we didn’t just take down more than $456K for winning the Main Event. Nearly 5,300 players ponied up the $500 entry fee for this Mother-of-All-FTOPS events and, in the end, the fight for the gold jersey came down to Reverse and FTP’s own Thomas the Walrus Wahlroos.
On the final hand, Wahlroos pushed all-in with K-9 of diamonds only to be dogged by Reverse who made the call holding the A-5 of clubs. When a 5 fell on the flop, Reverse’s small pair was enough to secure his victory. Wahlroos earned more than $276K for second place, which is the second highest cash prize a pro has won in any FTOPS event. (Erick Lindgren claimed bragging rights last week when he took home nearly $292K and the gold jersey for winning Event #9.)
If we were the guys over at Wicked Chops, we’d spice this section up with photos of some really hot looking women. Unfortunately, we’re not those guys and our bosses remind of that fact every time we try to slip some skin into this blog.
So, for a less-than-satisfying online quickie, here are some of the big numbers from FTOPS VII:
- Events – 20
- Guaranteed prize money – $10 million
- Overall players (all events) – 43,247
- Actual prize money (all events) – 15,353,500
- Combined prize money of all event winners – $3,214,082.12
All we can say at this point is “Yowza!” (We’ve got limited vocabularies, if you haven’t noticed.)
Andy Black’s tournament drought is over. The “Mad Monk” of poker won his first major title earlier this week by becoming the Party Poker Premier League Champion after defeating fellow FTP pro Roland de Wolfe in heads-up play.
Black, who’s built a reputation as one of the game’s premier player and (unfortunately) choke artists, managed to avoid the costly mistakes that have derailed him in the late stages of other large tourneys like the WSOP and the Aussie Millions. Aside from the all-important title, Black victory added $250K to his bankroll.
It’s a good thing Monks no longer have to take a vow of poverty, huh Andy?
But not as much as our pros do – especially the ones who are in town for the World Poker Tour’s LA Poker Classic. We’re still a week away from the $10K Main Event, but the side games and preliminary tournaments are drawing a big crowd to the Commerce. Some of the highlights over the past week include:
- Toto Leonidas taking fourth in Event 18, a $,2500 NLH tournament
- Erica Schoenberg finishing 12th in Event 19, a $1,000 NLH tournament
- David Pham taking eighth in Event 22 – another $2,500 NLH tournament
And, for those of you who follow these things, it’s worth noting that David, who was the 2007 CardPlayer Player of the Year, is currently fifth on this year’s leaderboard. He’s followed closely by fellow FTP pros Erik Seidel in 10th and Lee Watkinson in 14th.
Popularity: 3% [?]
Related Posts
- Reader Mail: FTOPS-ical
- The Week at FTP: FTOPS, We Hardly Knew Ye
- The Week at FTP: It’s Manic!
- The Week at FTP: FTOPS VII – What Else?
- Reader Mail: FTOPS Madness
(No Ratings Yet)
Loading ...Tags: Erica Schoenberg, FTOPS
Comments are closed.
