Through the years, we’ve seen many players make a name for themselves during the quarterly Full Tilt Online Poker Series (FTOPS). David “Bussa Buss” Baker, Casey “bigdogpckt5s” Jarzabek, Dan “imabigkidnow” Kelly, Kevin “GetPWN3D” Saul, Justin “Boosted J” Smith, and Gary “GB2005” Bogdanski were among the leaderboard winners of the first 18 FTOPS, leaving a mark on the series history with their own custom Full Tilt Poker avatar.
Nick “Grippolio” Grippo is on pace to be the next added to that impressive list. Already well known in high-stakes tournament circles, Grippo has accomplished in half of the FTOPS XIX events what most players strive for in the entire series, winning one tournament and chopping another for more than $150,000 combined. His 457 leaderboard points through Saturday lead the field, with “Yubaball” not far behind with 436. Dan “WiLDmAn75” Buzgon (320) and Phil “USCPhildo” Collins (311) were third and fourth, respectively.
Other well-known winners through the first 21 events of FTOPS XIX were Jonas “Klausen” Klausen, Mike “SirWatts” Watson, and Sam “miserD00d” Stein. The biggest payday thus far went to “dutchmaster,” who won Event #10 on Wednesday for $290,943. The $100 Rebuy Multi-Entry tournament saw a total of 4,302 entries generate a prize pool of $1,523,100, more than tripling its guarantee.
Here’s a look at the winners of FTOPS XIX through February 12:
Event #1: $200+16 NLHE – David “OSUTexan” Walker ($191,065)
Event #2: $200+16 Pot Limit Omaha H/L – flycoolj ($44,960)
Event #3: $300+22 NLHE Rush Multi-Entry – Jonas “Klausen” Klausen ($182,651)
Event #4: $1,000+60 NLHE 6-max – max_zefir ($185,957)
Event #5: $200+16 Pot Limit Five Card Draw – daPHUNNIEman ($18,436)
Event #6: $300+22 NLHE 6-max Turbo Shootout – Nick “Grippolio” Grippo ($68,040)
Event #7: $200+16 Limit HORSE – sfeedking ($31,453)
Event #8: $500+35 No Limit 2-7 Single Draw – Soepgroente ($25,750)
Event #9: $240+16 Pot Limit Omaha Rush Poker KO – dfunks222 ($56,144)
Event #10: $100+9 NLHE 6-max with Rebuys – dutchmaster ($290,943)
Event #11: $300+22 7-Game Mixed – ash4simone ($39,532)
Event #12: $207+9 NLHE Rush Super Turbo – michigan091 ($73,600)
Event #13: $200+16 Limit Seven Card Stud Hi/Lo – Mike “SirWatts” Watson ($27,086)
Event #14: $200+16 NLHE (1R+1A) – Specunder ($127,113)
Event #15: $310+12 NLHE Super Turbo Multi-Entry – Sam “miserd00d” Stein ($182,448)
Event #16: $300+22 Limit Razz – JKwizzle ($37,328)
Event #17: $500+35 Pot Limit Omaha 6-max – DevilTruck ($85,259)
Event #18: $100+9 NLHE with rebuys – NatWork ($100,952)
Event #19: $10,000+300 NLHE Heads-Up Shootout – TBD
Event #20: $200+16 NLHE Rush Poker – RenRad 01 ($95,081)
Event #21: $300+22 2-7 Limit Triple Draw 6-max – SuperDuty ($19,950)
FTOPS XIX resumes on Sunday with the culmination of the $10,000+300 NLHE Heads-Up Shootout, which got underway Saturday. The highly anticipated event started with 128 players and played down to the final four on Saturday night, with Full Tilt Red Pros Scott Clements and Alessio Isaia still in contention for the $364,800 top prize. Also in the semifinals are Paul “paulgees81” Volpe and “John00Flemming.” The action will restart at 5:00pm ET.
Three new events will kick off Sunday, beginning with the $120+9 NLHE Knockout at 2:00pm ET. The event is hosted by Markus Golser and has a $1 million guarantee. At 4:00pm ET, Erica Schoenberg will host the $150 NHLE with Rebuys event, which has a guaranteed prize pool of $800,000. Then at 5:00pm ET, Phil Gordon will host a $300 NLHE Multi-Entry tournament, which boasts a $1.5 million guarantee.
Stay tuned to Poker News Daily for the latest FTOPS updates.
