Kadabra Wins $147K and FTOPS V Event#1 Title
It all sounds very Ali Baba to me, but Kadabra is $147,099 richer.
Maybe Kadabra really has some kind of magic spell that opens doors to loads of gold, or maybe he’s just one hell of a poker player for besting 4,165 players in the recently concluded FTOPS V Event #1 of Full Tilt Poker, which was a $500,000 Guaranteed Pot for a No-Limit Hold’em tournament. Actually, the pot even built up to around $800,000+ due to the large number of entrants for this opening FTOPS V event.
Anyway, it was a tournament of some amazing poker.
The final table saw some heavy action with a lot of good poker players. The first one eliminated was aerospace who went all-in with KJ against Kadabra’s AJ. Kadabra’s hand held-up and aerospace was sent to the rail, pocketing a decent $11,000+ prize for his 9th place finish. FatMoneyBags was the next victim of the final table when his AJ went up against scarr09’s A10. FatMoneyBags looked to double up with a dominating kicker, but two 10’s on the flop and he had to settle for a purse of $14,000+ for the 8th place finish.
THEnaturalACE turned over pocket Jacks in his last all-in, only to be dominated by Jeezy888’s QQ. THEnaturalACE got crippled with that hand, and with a short stack, he pushed and didn’t stand a chance against The_Closer3’s fullhouse, busting out 7th and earning $19,000+.
chipgoon played solid throughout the tournament and made some great calls and reads to help him move up the tournament ladder. But eventually, he fell down at 6th place, but still managed to earn a satisfying $25K+ bounty. Scarr09 called a 13-outer with his KQ of hearts, but couldn’t find the fifth heart or the overcards to improve his hand, busting him out at 5th place and $34,000 richer. Mattman14 played an awesome hand only to find out that his Q-10 diamond flush was not enough to beat The_Closer3’s Ace-high flush. Mattman14 cashed out at 4th for $45,000.
The final three players were on their game, and playing hard to conserve chips and time the right strikes. Big pots exchanged hands, and no one was really up in chips until…
The_Closer3 pushed all-in with Sailboats (pocket 4’s if you don’t know the lingo) and got called by Kadabra’s AQ. An ace on the flop and that was it for The_Closer3, whose 3rd place finish earned him $58K.
Two hands after, Kadabra held A6, Jeezy888 had K8. Flop drops 8-A-7. Both players paired, and both pushed all their chips in the middle. The turn and the river didn’t help Jeezy888’s hand, and Kadabra took the FTOPS V Event#1 title and $140K+. Jeezy888 was almost equally ecstatic with his $89,000 prize, but I’m pretty sure not as much. Kadabra can now finally replacce his beat-up ‘95 Civic with a little bit more distinguised Volvo.
The Fullt Tilt Poker pros alsp came out to play in the FTOPS V Event #1, but only Karina Jett made the best finish at #93. 
John Cernutto was the next best pro finish at 194th. Karina’s husband and fellow Full Tilt Poker pro Chip Jett was out in #263. The other pros were even more disappointing, like Thomas Wahlroos (416th), GregFBTMueller (455th) and Paul Wolfe (552nd), but at least they made it in the money for at least a $200 share of the pot.
The worst finish by a Full Tilt Poker pro for this event was in 4060th place by Lee Watkinson. 2006 WSOP Main Event 2nd Placer Paul Wasicka was out at 3668th. Erick Lindgren was out at 1807th. Math wizard Andy Bloch was out at 965th.
Poker expert and Full Tilt Poker pro Phil Gordon was the host of this event. He busted out at 2497th.
Find out more about the FTOPS V events at Full Tilt Poker.
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