Tuesday, May 13, 2008

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FTOPS VIII Events 8 and 9 draw thousands

By Arthur Crowson

It's no wonder Full Tilt Poker decided to increase the number of FTOPS held each year.

FTOPS VIII is off to a smashing start and on Sunday, Events 8 and 9 garnered the attention of more than 5,500 players. It was power to the people, as most of the Full Tilt pros were kept from going very deep in either event.

Here's a summary of each event:

FTOPS VIII Event 8 No-Limit Hold'em Heads-Up

FTOPS VIII Event 8 was hosted by 2007 NBC National Heads-Up Champion Paul Wasicka, which worked well because it was a heads-up event. Unfortunately for Wasicka, he didn't make the money, but there were some well-known online players making waves. Kenny Rap finished 10th, Jon "apestyles" Van Fleet came in 13th and Jonathan "PearlJammed" Turner was 40th.

Online player GoToChurch must have done some praying, however, because he beat Boondy in heads-up play to take the one-to-one contest down. GoToChurch profited $51,200 for his heads-up skills.

The Top 10 finishers in the event were:

1. GoToChurch	$51,200
2. Boondy	$29,952
3. zuleh	$16,000
4. kiwid10	$16,000
5. grunter321	$8,320
6. kenny05	$8,320
7. padirk165	$8,320
8. Jackal78	$8,320
9. DanOBrien	$4,480
10. Kenny Rap	$4,480

FTOPS VIII Event 9 No-Limit Hold'em

FTOPS VIII Event 9 was hosted by none other than 2008 WPT World Championship runner-up Gus Hansen and to say the event was popular would be an understatement. A total of 5,090 players came out to get in on the No-Limit Hold'em action. There was no word on where Hansen finished but Eddie Scharf, Steve Brecher, Erich Killmann, Clonie Gowen and Stuart Paterson all cashed for small amounts.

Of note was Finnish high-stakes player Ilari "Ziigmund" Sahamies who came in 47th for $2,672.

In the end it was _FlaXmarZ_ who bested MK376 in heads-up play to take the tournament down for an astounding $263,438 and the glory of having a gold avatar on Full Tilt.

Here's a look at the rest of the final-table payouts:

1. _FlaXmarZ_	$263,438
2. MK376	$159,571
3. xqsays	$102,614
4. nfa1080	$80,167
5. jbs07	$60,316
6. lonolin	$45,046
7. POCKET FIVE	$35,121
8. papychulo7777	$26,722
9. highbury90	$19,851

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