By
Dan |
Published
Nov 16 2008, 12:14 PM
On the virtual felts of the Full Tilt Online Poker Series (FTOPS), a pair of PocketFivers emerged victorious on Saturday. DuckU took down the $535 buy-in No Limit Hold’em Shootout tournament for $87,000, besting fellow site member mendieta19 heads-up. The runner up pocketed $52,000 for his efforts. Also taking down an FTOPS event on Saturday was PocketFiver kutuz_off, who emerged victorious from a pack of 962 entrants en route to victory in the $109 buy-in Pot Limit Omaha with rebuys tournament. He earned $92,000 for his efforts. Overall, Saturday marked a banner day for PocketFivers on Full Tilt Poker. Let’s check out the action from one of the world’s most popular online poker rooms.
The heads-up action in the 128-man No Limit Hold’em Heads-Up Shootout featured two ranked PocketFivers battling it out for the $87,000 first place prize. In the end, Greg DuckU Hobson (pictured) proved too much for mendieta19. The 34th ranked player on the PocketFives.com Online Poker Rankings, Hobson added another win to his already impressive poker resume, which includes a whopping $459,000 cash for finishing second in the $10,300 No Limit Hold’em event held as part of the most recent PokerStars World Championship of Online Poker (WCOOP). He logged another six-figure cash 12 days later by virtue of taking third in the $530 rebuy Six-Max WCOOP event for $119,000. Also in September, he finished second in the $100 rebuy on Stars for $27,000.
Away from the online poker world, Hobson finished 395th in the 2007 World Series of Poker Main Event, cashing for $34,000. He also owns a 185th place finish in a $1,500 No Limit Hold’em tournament in 2005 for $1,945. He’s one of the many PocketFivers that have found success both live and online.
Hobson’s heads-up opponent was another PocketFiver, mendieta19. The 55th ranked player on the site, mendieta19 pocketed $52,000 for his second place finish. The Triple Crown winner finished in the number two spot in the Super Tuesday on PokerStars for $59,000 in September and took 15th in the $10,300 buy-in WCOOP No Limit Hold’em tournament, which was the same event that DuckU finished second in. He was the runner up in the Sunday Mulligan on Full Tilt Poker one week ago, tacking on $32,000 to his bankroll. In tournaments that are tracked for the Rankings, he logged 17 cashes for a total of $54,000 last month.
In Event #23, the $109 rebuy Pot Limit Omaha tournament, kutuz_off outlasted a field of 962 entrants and pocketed $92,000, the largest cash by a PocketFiver in an FTOPS event on Saturday. He’s had a ton of success in major online poker tournaments after entering the spotlight in March by winning the PokerStars Sunday Second Chance for $50,000. He’s also taken second in the Full Tilt Poker $750K Guaranteed for $82,000. The New York City native is an actuary by trade, according to his profile on PocketFives.com.
Finally, PocketFivers Marco CrazyMarco Johnson and Cre8ive took sixth and ninth in Event #23, respectively, part of the 90 players that took home money from the tournament. Johnson took second in a $2,000 No Limit Hold’em tournament during the 2008 WSOP for nearly half a million dollars.
Today is the day that many Full Tilt Poker members have been looking forward to. In addition to the finale of the massive $5,200 buy-in Six-Max tournament that drew exactly 500 players, the $535 buy-in Main Event will kick off at 6:00pm ET. Here is a look at today’s schedule on the last day of play in FTOPS X:
FTOPS #22 – No Limit Hold’em Six-Max $5,000+200 ($2 Million Guaranteed)
500 entrants - $2,500,000 paid out to 54 spots
Continues Today at 2:00pm ET
FTOPS #24 -- NLHE Knockout $120+9 ($500,000 Guaranteed)
Today at 2:00pm ET
FTOPS Main Event – No Limit Hold’em $500+35 ($2.5 Million Guaranteed)
Today at 6:00pm ET
Visit Full Tilt Poker for more details. We’d like to wish all PocketFivers the best of luck today in the final day of FTOPS X.