A total of 5,287 players turned out for the Main Event of the Full Tilt Online Poker Series (FTOPS). The $535 buy-in tournament resulted in a $2.6 million prize pool, surpassing its guarantee by over $100,000. At the end of the day, Alan “csimmsux” Geyer took down $456,000 for the win. Right behind him was PocketFiver Anthony KA1SERfknS0ZE Kaiser, who finished as the runner up, $276,000 richer for his efforts. In fact, he was the only member of the online poker community to reach the event’s final table. The Denver, Colorado native was staked into the FTOPS XI Main Event through Part Time Poker and sat down with PocketFives.com to discuss his up and coming career.
Staked in the event, Kaiser received 35% of his earnings after his investors were paid off. It was his first time participating in a Buy-A-Piece and likely not his last. On whether he was disappointed that he didn’t take down the tournament or content with winning $276,000, Kaiser told PocketFives.com, “It was a big step forward for me in terms of my poker career, but obviously I’m disappointed and feel like I failed at the end. I could probably blame it on playing for 24 hours non-stop, but don’t really know how I messed up the heads-up match so badly.” By comparison, his previous best cash prior to the massive FTOPS Main Event payday was $4,000, which he most recently took home for finishing as the runner up in the $24 buy-in $21,000 Guaranteed on Full Tilt. His win in the FTOPS Main Event was worth 70 times that amount.
On how his FTOPS Main Event experience varied from his typical tournament, he commented, “I really liked playing in this one because of the deep starting stacks and the longer time in between blind escalations. You could just sit back, observe, and wait to pick your spots to make plays.” He recalled that he brought his “A” Game when it mattered most and encountered only one player who he felt was inferior throughout the course of the Sunday tournament. Incidentally, he targeted that player throughout their time together.
You can find him on tournament felts, as he frequently avoids cash games. On why he hasn’t expanded his repertoire to include ring games, he commented, “I just haven't found cash games to be as fun as making final tables, so I’m looking to improve my tournament game. I'll probably milk this staking cow for a while too.” On Part Time Poker, Kaiser notched a “Hall of Fame” cash for his efforts, joining jaehood’s $46,000 payday for finishing fourth in the 13th FTOPS tournament and Metsfan512, who took down the PokerStars Second Chance in January for $47,000.
He’s spent just three hours studying videos at poker training site PokerXFactor.com. In addition, he does not often rail players in major tournaments. At the end of the tournament, he revealed that he lost his focus. Therefore, improving his heads-up play is of the utmost importance for Kaiser in the future. He focuses on poker full-time, attributing some of his success to “Harrington on Hold’em: Volume 2,” which can be found on the bookshelves of some of the most successful poker players in the world.
He was turned onto the game by watching 2003 World Series of Poker Main Event Champion Chris Moneymaker on television and recalled that it wasn’t the legend himself who roped Kaiser into poker. Rather, it was watching Moneymaker’s pile of chips. He told PocketFives.com about learning and growing at the highest levels in poker: “I've done a lot of both since getting into poker after Moneymaker. Immediately after tournaments, I think about what I could have done differently. I hate making mistakes.”
In tournaments that are tracked for the PocketFives.com Online Poker Rankings, Kaiser racked up $3,600 in 22 cashes during the month of January. That followed a productive month of December which saw him pile up over $18,000 in earnings in 54 cashes. He took fifth in the $69 buy-in $22,500 Guaranteed on Full Tilt Poker for $1,800 that month and made the final tables of both the $21,000 and $14,000 Guaranteed on the same night for a combined $4,000. Last June, he won a $10 buy-in Daily Double on Full Tilt for $2,100, two months after winning the $24 buy-in $17,000 Guaranteed for $4,000.
He was off to celebrate his big payday by checking out the band Red Stinger. He described the band’s music as “high energy;” its front man is his friend’s brother. We look forward to continued success from Anthony KA1SERfknS0ZE Kaiser in the near future.
Canada
United Kingdom
Costa Rica
Australia
Mexico
Denmark
Russian Federation
Sweden
Brazil
Germany
