In the 20th event of the recently completed Full Tilt Online Poker Series(FTOPS), Mark RenRad 01Darner (pictured) stole the show and walked away with $95,000. The gigantic $216 No Limit Hold’em Rush tournament attracted well over 2,000 players and Darner edged out fellow PocketFives.com member Daniel wildman75 Buzgon heads-up. PocketFives.com caught up with Darner for the second time in as many months to break down his first FTOPS jersey.

On the Rush Poker format, Darner told PocketFives.com that he was a fan. He explained that the one-year old cash game and tournament setup was “fun, moves faster, and has constant hands.” He admitted, however, “I’ve always liked it, but it’s harder to multi-table, so I don’t play too many.”

Given that playing Rush Poker entails seeing hand after hand, flop after flop, turn after turn, and river after river, we asked Darner how he’s able to keep up with it all, especially with nearly a hundred grand on the line. He responded, “I didn’t have a lot of other tables up like I usually do. It’s noticeably tougher than regular poker, but I usually 25- to 30-table, so four-tabling Rush wasn’t that hard.” He four-tabled Rush Poker during the 10th event of FTOPS XIX.

We caught up with Darner the day after his big FTOPS win. At the time, he was playing in the $2.20 Rebuy on PokerStars, a warm-up of sorts for another day in the world of online poker. Darner is tops in the state of Florida and owns the 33rd spot in the PocketFives.com Poker Rankings worldwide. On the forum, he told us, “I log onto PocketFives.com daily. I don’t post that often, but do a lot of reading and it’s great to network with other poker players.”

Since 2011 began, Darner has also finished third in the PokerStars $100 Rebuy for $43,000 and won the site’s $150,000 Guarantee for $40,000. Back on January 16th, he won the Full Tilt Multi-Fifty and finished second in the UB.comSniper $200,000 Guarantee for over $60,000 combined. You can read more about that feat by clicking here.

Darner revealed that he owes a considerable amount of his success to Rat Sauce 89, who simply goes by Corey here on PocketFives.com. “I owe most of my poker success to him,” Darner confessed. “He’s been crushing Turbo Sit and Gos for several years. That’s what he taught me first. Then, he taught me MTT strategy.”

Corey and Darner have known each other since the third grade, long before either of them could dream of becoming professional poker players. Darner explained, “We got into it together playing home games and he got a little more into it, picked up some things, and started killing online. He basically said he could teach me to beat online poker, and he did.” The duo resides together in Orlando now.

He’s used the experience Corey and others have given him to dominate at the highest levels. Take the FTOPS XIX win, for example, where his final table competition included Greg DuckU Hobson (pictured), who took fourth place for $34,000. On Hobson, a two-time UB.com Online Championship (UBOC) winner, Darner assessed, “He’s nasty. I did all of my work against him pre-flop to avoid playing flops with him. However, he got 4bet jammed on extremely light. He can be proud that I purposely did my work pre-flop because he’s so good.”

Darner has already secured a seat into the PokerStars North American Poker Tour Los Angeles Main Event, so you’ll be able to catch him on the live scene in the near future. He’s also planning to head to the World Poker Tour’s L.A. Poker Classic, which touts a $10,000 price tag. His two lone live cashes total $4,000 and took place during this year’s PokerStars Caribbean Adventure in the Bahamas, according to the Hendon Mob.

Check out our FTOPS XIX resultsto see how other members of the community performed. Also, sign up for Full Tilt Poker to get 27% rakeback.