The 꽁머니 지급 X series continues in full swing, as event #16 is now in the books. A $300 + $22 buy-in 6MAX NLHE event, it had a guaranteed prize pool of the magical amount of $1,000,000. The guaranteed money was met, however, when 1,032 hopefuls entered and re-bought their way to poker glory.
This event was hosted by red pro Isaac Baron. Despite his young age, his online tournament winnings exceeded $1,000,000 in 2007, including a win in the PokerStars weekly Sunday Million tournament in January for $254,000. He has also been able to translate his online success to live games.
The field of FTOPS X Event #16 was about average by online tournament standards, but that does not mean that there were only a few minefields in the way of anyone who coveted the win. Instead, it was more of a full minefield with no clear path from start to finish; only tough players left and right. When all was said and done, 120 players made the money in this tourney, which was worth at least $1,695.15. Out of this averagely sized field, 8 red pro’s proved their worth, and one of them even reached the final table. The field included perennial favorite Jeff Madsen, and the man with the coolest name in poker, Huckleberry Seed – the past Main Event Champion.
After hours and hours of play, just 10 of the 1,032 were left battling fiercely for a spot at the shorthanded final table. All eyes were on David “The Dragon” Pham, who’s renowned ultra-aggressive tactics has earned him both fear and admiration by the poker world. Other players who composed the final ten (on two tables) included frankly perfect, xMONSTERxDONGx , David “The Dragon” Pham, govshark2 , undas1, eisenhower1, paigowpro, YellowSub86, GrampaJeff and BadgerPro.
Cards did not help the cause of BadgerPro and GrampaJeff, who were quickly eliminated after an intense battle in 9th and 10th place respectively, earning $16,951.50 for their efforts.
The next one to get eliminated was EPT Champion and pro poker player Jeff “Yellowsub86″ Williams in 8th place. Exiting shortly after him was paigowpro. Both Yellowsub86 and paigowpro earned $23,732.10 for a days work. Not bad at all if you ask me!
After paigowpro got eliminated, we arrived at the final table. The shorthanded format forces people to play much looser than they would at a “normal” 9-handed table, and the final table was not unaffected by this fundamental attribute. There really is not much room to maneuver. You have to be on constant attack and hope the cards are on your side.
After nearly 9 hours of bloodshed battle, frankly perfect demonstrated why he has perfect in his name. He emerged victorious in an epic heads-up battle versus xMONSTERxDONGx and netted $235,625.85 to his name, not to mention the title of FTOPS CHAMPION and a yellow jersey. Definitely not bad for a hard day’s work! David “the Dragon” Pham represented the red pro’s well, finishing 3rd and pocketing a nice $111,879,90! Congratulations to frankly perfect and all who participated in FTOPS X event #16, NLHE 6MAX.