Many in the industry are constantly talking about the demise of online poker. And with the failure of pro-poker legislation at the end of 2010, the doom and gloom train was at full speed. But if recent traffic is any indication, things are just fine at the virtual tables. Full Tilt Poker is in the midst of its 19th Full Tilt Online Poker Series (FTOPS) and shattering its own records left and right.
Sunday was a banner day for FTOPS XIX even thought it was a full week before the $600 + $40 Main Event. The first event of the day, Event #22, was almost pre-destined to be a blockbuster. For one, it had one of the lowest buy-ins – $120 + $9 – of any of the 45 tournaments in FTOPS XIX. Add to that the fact that it was a No Limit Hold’em Knockout, one of Full Tilt’s new Multi-Entry events, and being held on the first Sunday in months with no football and the poker room’s servers were going to need to be ready.
Once registration closed, an amazing 23,342 entries had been recorded and a $2,334,000 prize pool was on the line, which was more than double the $1,000,000 guarantee.
The previous record was 9,832 players, set in the penultimate event of FTOPS XIV, another $120 + $9 No Limit Hold’em Knockout.
“LilPokerGirlie” now has the distinction of winning the largest FTOPS event ever after besting “daCav04” heads-up for the crown. “daCav04” won more money ($290,000 versus $279,428), though, because the two players made a deal before battling it out for the title. Two other players – “swish3113” and “LeTruc” – also had six-figure paydays after placing third and fourth, respectively.
And there was Event 24, a $300 + $22 No Limit Hold’em Multi-Entry tournament with a $1,500,000 guarantee. It, too, demolished the previous record for number of entrants with 11,343 (although that was still half of what Event #22 fielded), but on top of this, the tournament set the new mark for an FTOPS prize pool, awarding $3,402,900.
The old FTOPS prize pool record was set in the previous FTOPS Main Event. In that tournament, 5,023 players put up the $600 + $40 buy-in, creating a $3,013,800 prize pool.
Like in Event #22, the top finishers agreed on a deal. Jason “NovaSky” Koon saw his bankroll grow the most, winning $458,550. Alexander “AD_84” Debus was next with $341,268 and “O0Brian0O” got $336,750. Despite taking less money in the deal, Debus was the eventual winner. To other players – “bigredAK” and “yadio1111” – also eclipsed $100,000, as the top five finishers accounted for almost half of the total prize pool.
Also on Sunday was Event #23, a $150 + $13 No-Limit Hold’em Rebuy. It didn’t crush records like the other two tournaments that day, but it still beat its $800,000 guarantee by $7,750. “npomocc” was the winner, beating “NeverBettor.” The champ won $166,396, while the runner-up received $109,854.
Finally, the inaugural $10,000 No Limit Hold’em Heads-Up Event concluded Sunday with Scott Clements, Alessio Isaia, Paul “paulgees81″ Volpe, and “John00Flemming” starting the day as the tournament’s Final Four. Isaia took care of Volpe to make the finals, where Clements, who took out “John00Flemming” in a tough match, met him.
The two Full Tilt pros decided to chop the remaining prize pool equally, each taking $285,500, before playing for the last $5,000 and the tournament title. Clements took it down, becoming, by Full Tilt’s count, only the eighth Red Pro to win an FTOPS event.
FTOPS XIX will run the rest of this week and conclude with a $600 + $40 No Limit Hold’em Main Event on Sunday at 5:00pm ET.
