Big Numbers, Big Payouts for FTOPS XVIII

The Full Tilt Online Poker Series XVIII concluded with a massive Main Event on Sunday. This year’s FTOPS ran from November 10 – November 21 with a prize pool of more than $20 million spread out over 34 events. Gus Hansen hosted the Main Event, which drew 5,023 competitors and stretched on into the early hours of Monday morning.

Newcomer JHoWn lived up to their name and owned the massive field, taking away the most coveted gold jersey of the series and a $411,932 payout. Of course JHoWn’s prize would have been considerably larger had they not struck a three-way deal with the other two remaining players, hilyaki and ReifesEisen. JHoWn’s Main Event win boosted their profile considerably with previous lifetime earnings at Full Tilt barely exceeding $100,000.

The Main Event didn’t have the FTOPS XVIII’s largest field; it didn’t even have the second best numbers. Those distinctions belong to Event #11 and Event #32, respectively. Event #11 was the $120+$9 NL Hold’em Knockout with $800,000 guaranteed. With a whopping 9,718 players competing, the final prize pool was closer to $1 million. S00tedj0kers89 came out on top to take the $155,488 first place prize.

Event #32, the NL Hold’em 6-Max Knockout, was the second most popular event with a healthy field of 5,490 players. Since this event was also hosted on the final day, it’s safe to say that many of those players were overflow from the Main Event, but the $1 million guaranteed prize pool could have had something to do with it too. The winner from this event was pixie183, who walked away with $202,484.

Also making news at the FTOPS XVIII was November Niner Soi Nguyen. Earlier in the year, many critics labeled Nguyen a one-hit wonder when he found himself the only amateur at a pro-packed WSOP Main Event final table. Many of those critics felt vindicated when he was the first man out, but Nguyen proved himself a force to be reckoned with when he won Event #18 – the very same event he was hosting – last Tuesday night.

While the live tournament season is winding down fast, the big online tournaments are just getting started. If you’re looking for your own bankroll making online tournament score, then get ready to mark your calendar. The MiniFTOPS begins in December and most of PokerStars’ regional online championships are just getting underway.

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