The 18th installment of the Full Tilt Online Poker Series (FTOPS) kicked off on Wednesday with a $200 No Limit Hold’em tournament that pulled in 4,500 entrants to generate a prize pool of $900,000. The event was hosted by World Series of Poker (WSOP) Main Event runner-up John Racener.
After more than 12 hours of play, Page “Pageh656” Harris from Orlando, Florida took down the title following a three-way chop to claim his first FTOPS jersey and $117,434. Harris entered the final table as one of the shorter stacks, but was able to double up on the first hand when he flopped quad sixes in a pre-flop button versus blind confrontation. He ultimately bested “ZLucky93” for the jersey after recovering from a 6-1 chip disadvantage during heads-up play.
Harris discussed his experience with Poker News Daily following the win: “On the final table bubble, I had to make a big laydown on the river, which left me at the bottom of the pack. I was definitely feeling like this might end similar to other big runs in the past. I played patiently (after doubling up) since most of the players who had position on me were quite aggressive. After developing a good image, I was able to maintain my stack and accumulate without too many issues.”
“It feels great to finally win a major tournament,” Harris added. “The swings of poker are quite crazy and it feels really good at the moment. I finally feel like I have something to show for the time I have spent playing this game.”
Despite finishing third, “sir29” collected the largest payout at $121,304, as he had the chip lead when the deal was made. The biggest name at the final table was Josh “pbdrunks” Van Duyn, who had the chip lead in the late stages of the tournament, but exited in eighth place for $14,400. It’s been a stellar month for Van Duyn, who took down the Full Tilt $150 Rebuy on Sunday for $74,832.
More than 40 Full Tilt Red Pros took part in Event #1, including Huck Seed, David “The Dragon” Pham, Scott “BigRiskky” Clements, Vitaly Lunkin, and November Niner Joseph “subiime” Cheong. Only three Red Pros landed in the money: Dave Colclough led the way by finishing 107th, while Andreas Krause (304th) and Svetlana Gromenkova (422nd) also earned a small share of the prize pool.
Here’s a look at the final results of FTOPS XVIII Event #1:
1. Page “Pageh656” Harris – $117,434.48
2. ZLucky93 – $113,881.36
3. sir29 – $121,204.16
4. a365551 – $59,400
5. RAZA14 – $44,100
6. MrTitsWiggle – $30,600
7. royalijiks – $20,700
8. Josh “pbdrunks” VanDuyn – $14,400
9. Atlfal62 – $9,900
Notable finishers included Jamie “LeoEleven” Rosen (25th), Sebastian “p00cket00” Sikorksi (27th), Jeff “crzysavage” Gressard (33rd), Cliff “JohnnyBax” Josephy (45th), Matt “mattster24” Sterling (64th), and Chris “cdbr3799” Dombrowski (94th).
FTOPS XVIII continues on Thursday with a $240 Pot Limit Omaha Knockout event at 2:00pm ET. In all, the series comprises of 34 events ranging in just about every form of poker you could ask for. The site added a couple of new events this time around, including a $200 10-Game tournament on Wednesday, November 17th that will be hosted by Howard Lederer. There will also be an array of Rush Poker events as well as four different Draw Games, which Full Tilt added to the software earlier this month.
Full Tilt Poker is guaranteeing $19 million in prize money for the series, including the Main Event, a $600 No Limit Hold’em tournament that has a $3 million guaranteed prize pool and will be hosted by Gus Hansen.
For more information, or to view the entire FTOPS 18 schedule visit Full Tilt Poker.
