Posted by Andrew Feldman
The Full Tilt Online Poker Series (FTOPS) has stolen the online poker spotlight once again. With 25 events, FTOPS 11 boasts $15 million in guaranteed prize pools including a $2.5 million guaranteed main event. After Sunday's action, 10 events have concluded and two very notable online players have taken center stage once again.
Pocketfives.com
Steve "gboro780" Gross earned $275,600.70 for his FTOPS victory.
Event 10 guaranteed a $1.5 million prize pool, but with 5,325 players entering, a total of $1,597,500 was up for grabs. Steve "gboro780" Gross managed to outlast this huge field and picked up his first FTOPS win and $275,600.70. Quite impressive for sure, but success is nothing new to Gross, who is currently ranked fifth on Pocket Fives.com and 20th on bluffmagazine.com. The past three months have been quite amazing for Gross, who has amassed six cashes of over $10,000 and a total of $529,791 … on only Full Tilt.
Event 4, the $300 buy-in no-limit hold 'em shootout, reached capacity at 729 players and the only man standing at the end was someone who was already sporting an FTOPS gold jersey avatar (given to those who win an FTOPS event). Va Shon "Julian Verse" Watkins won the main event of FTOPS 10 just a few months ago for $450,709. The following week he won the "Sunday Brawl," a flagship weekly event on Full Tilt for $79,557. In June he won both "Big Doubles" on the same night to win the over $30,000 jackpot.
So what's another FTOPS victory worth? Just a measly $45,927. Watkins is ranked third at Full Tilt Poker according to onlinepokerrankings.com and has proved over the past year he's one to continue to watch.
"Thanks to all my supporters," Watkins posted on pocketfives after he had won. "i'm (sic) speechless. (sic) but thanks. (sic) always feels good to take down a big one!"
Watkins becomes the seventh player to own multiple FTOPS titles, joining "Crisp86," "Halfrek," "TheFatFish," "csimmsux," "yuvee04," and "CaseyTheKid." Out of those seven, "yuvee04" is the only player to win three FTOPS titles including two victories in one night during FTOPS IX.
Here's a look at the other FTOPS winners:
Event 1 ($200 no-limit hold 'em) -- muckducks
Event 2 ($240 pot-limit Omaha knockout) -- ramagem
Event 3 ($216 seven card stud) -- AsMetzmagnyAs
Event 5 ($216 limit hold 'em, shorthanded) -- TOPTEN
Event 6 ($535 pot-limit Omaha, shorthanded) -- NoPasaran
Event 7 ($100 no-limit hold 'em with rebuys) -- The Universe112
Event 8 ($240 no-limit hold 'em shorthanded knockout) -- Chancew
Event 9 ($535 no-limit hold 'em heads-up) -- Luie Sojo
Bluff challenges the online poker community
Bluff magazine has challenged the online pros to see just how quickly they can build (and manage) a bankroll. Each member of the limited, invite-only field will start with $200 on March 1. For the next 30 days, they'll try to build their bankroll and the player who has the most success will win the challenge and be featured on the cover of an upcoming issue of BLUFF Magazine.
"We wanted to find a way to recognize the best players online and give them a real challenge," said Eric Morris, co-founder of BLUFF Media. "By putting the winner on the cover of BLUFF we're not only recognizing the achievement but also giving the players something to play for."
The list of confirmed players includes Josh "JJprodigy" Fields, Sorel Mizzi, Eric "Rizen" Lynch, Jeff "Yellowsub" Williams, Garrett "GBecks" Beckman, Phil "USCphildo" Collins, Brett "Bhanks11" Hanks and Maria Ho.
Of course there are a few rules to make this event a little tougher and most importantly, a player who goes broke is out of the challenge. There will be no reloading of a player's account. Additionally, cash games are prohibited.
Bluff has also provided the players with a video camera to keep their fans up to date with daily video blogs on Bluff's Web site.
"The video blogs will give our readers some insight as to how these players are building their bankroll," said Morris. "Hopefully our readers will not only enjoy watching the competition but learn something from the videos as well as they build their own bankroll."
Borgata and the WSOP Circuit
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Edler, posing after he won his bracelet in 2007, failed to cash in 2008.
Although the World Poker Tour dropped the Borgata Winter Open from its schedule, the planned $2 million guaranteed tournament was a great success. A record-breaking 1,017 players attended the event, creating a prize pool of $3,051,000, far exceeding the $2 million guarantee provided by Borgata. The winner was Andes, N.Y., native Steve Weinstein, who earned $658,405. Primarily a cash game player, Weinstein gave the tournament a chance and believed that the structure was a key to his success.
"The structure was tremendous," Weinstein said to the Borgata tournament staff. "I'm not a tournament player; I play cash games, so to have a deep stack event like this with so much play was great. For someone who loves post-flop poker, it was excellent."
Notable finishers from this event include John Myung (16th) and Bill Elder (18th -- his first cash since 2007).
Down in Tunica, Miss., it was Kai Landry winning his first WSOP circuit title, $183,974, a gold ring and a $10,000 seat into this year's WSOP championship event. Landry outlasted the field of 154 players which included Gavin Smith (10th), Kathy Liebert (18th) and 2003 WSOP champion Chris Moneymaker (failed to cash).
Small blinds: The second Dream Team event will take place at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas on March 28-29. Team Bluff, consisting of Eric Morris, Matt Parvis and Justin Bonomo, captured the inaugural title. … Actor Steve Martin mentioned on David Letterman that he used to play online poker. … Boxing news? Gus Hansen will fight Theo Jorgensen in Copenhagen on Feb. 21. … Actor Jason Alexander has signed an endorsement deal with PokerStars … Mike Sexton, Linda Johnson, Jan Fisher and Lisa Tenner have teamed up to create pokergives.org. The four will work with charities "as a way for the poker world to 'Give Back' to worthwhile charity organizations," according to the Web site. … There will be a bounty tournament at the ESPN Poker Club on Tuesday night! Knock out country singer Andy Griggs and win an autographed guitar! … Rep. Barney Frank is set to reintroduce a bill with hopes of licensing and regulating the industry.
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