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Smith talks about the table’s desire to chop the Main Event, which ended up not occurring: “We didn't chop the tourney. We tried four handed, but Full Tilt support is nothing like Stars’. The tournament could not be frozen, so to deal, we each had to sit out. This would require the honor system (as anyone could sit in and raise), which created a problem.” This is his largest cash by far, but he’s won the $109 rebuy on PokerStars twice, once last November and once in April. On his future: “I will continue playing MTTs (and now bigger stakes NL cash). I also will start playing some big live MTTs starting with the $5,000 Turning Stone event in August, the UltimateBet Aruba tourney, and possibly WSOP Europe.”

Butch entered the final table of Event #6 with an above average chip stack, but was able to chip up quite a bit when he was dealt aces: “I had been pretty active and had raised three out of the last six hands with mediocre hands. I was dealt A-A and made my standard raise in middle position. Probably the second most active player (who had me covered) re-raised me from the blinds. I felt that my image would cause me to get a light call if I shoved, so I did and was called with 6-6. I can't see anyone else at the final table getting that call with our stack sizes, but he called quickly versus me because of my LAG image.” He would bust out with A-K offsuit versus A-K suited. On how the $44,000 win stacks up against other accomplishments in online poker, Butch comments, “This is the most money I have ever won in a tournament. It is definitely one of my best accomplishments, especially since I maintained a fairly big stack from 20 minutes into the tournament through the final table.” He’ll be at the shorthanded events at the WSOP.

Mizzi took down Event #8 for $40,971.84. He became the first two time FTOPS winner and then promptly won the Sunday Warm Up on PokerStars for another $109,942. This on top of all of his other accomplishments in both the live and online arenas makes him a force to be reckoned with at the upcoming World Series of Poker. Mizzi comments, “Winning an FTOPS event and the Sunday Warm Up is a huge accomplishment. I truly run well in poker and in life. I met a great girl (who loves poker) in Paris and plan on taking her to Las Vegas with me. Things can't get any better for me right now (well, maybe if I win a bracelet or two).” When asked if he’s at the top of his game right now, Mizzi responded, “I think I'm on top of my game at the moment, but poker is changing on a month by month basis and it's important to experiment with new strategies and concepts in order to evolve with the rapidly growing game.” He’s headed out to Las Vegas to take the Amazon Room at the Rio by storm: “I have a very small sample size lives, but my results thus far have been incredible, so you can imagine how excited I am to play 30-40 events at the WSOP this year and show the poker world what I am capable of.”

Other PocketFivers with some great scores include CalBandGreat, who followed up his win in Event #4 with an 11th place finish in Event #6. Andy McLEOD, who we're all used to seeing win huge events, took down Event #9 for $75k, and fellow P5er Jimmie23 was also at the final table, finishing 6th for over $15k.  SN8WMAN took ninth in the Main Event for $25,446. PocketFiver Rex55 cashed for nearly $3,000 total in back to back FTOPS events, capturing 77th in Event #4 and 14th in Event #5.

We congratulate all PocketFivers who played and cashed in the FTOPS. For more information, check out Full Tilt Poker.