The Sunday Briefing: Mike McDonald, Niall Farrell Chop FTOPS XXV Main Event
The 25th edition of the Full Tilt Online Poker Series (FTOPS) came to a close in a big way on Sunday. The $635 buy-in Main Event attracted some of the top online talents in poker, and some of them collected huge paydays early Monday morning.
Poker pros Mike McDonald, Niall "Firaldo87" Farrell, Charles "Chilax Chuck" Sylvestre and Sami "LarsLuzak" Kelopuro navigated a field of 2,557 entries to reach the final table of the FTOPS Main Event. Kelopuro bowed out in fifth place for $79,778, and then McDonald, Farrell and Sylvestre agreed to terms on a three-handed deal which saw each of them lock up $200,000. That left $36,232 to play for, and that money went to Farrell after he defeated Sylvestre heads-up for the title.
For Farrell it was by far the biggest score of his successful online poker career. Entering Sunday, his biggest online cash was $59,737 for a victory in the PokerStars Sunday $109 Rebuy. His biggest career live cash came at the 2013 World Series of Poker where he finished second in a $3,000 no-limit hold'em event for $366,815.
Other big earners at Full Tilt Poker on Sunday were Getty "gettym" Mattinsgley, Aidan "whereisdonny" Tam, Ami "UhhMee" Barer, Jono "Spyver" Beck, Steve "MrTimCaum" O'Dwyer, and Christian "charder30" Harder, who won FTOPS Event #28.
Harder also found success over at PokerStars on Sunday, placing fourth in the Sunday 500 for $32,117. Annette "Annette_15" Obrestad finished seventh in that tournament for just over $13,000.
Germany dominated the PokerStars Sunday Million as "icebearrr" defeated "bluet0m89" heads-up after the two players negotiated a deal. Both Germans walked away with more than $190,000, making them this week's biggest earners on PokerStars.
Here's a full look at the results from the Sunday Majors on PokerStars, Full Tilt Poker, partypoker and WSOP.com:
FTOPS Main Event ($1.5 Million Guaranteed)
| Buy-in | Entrants | Prize Pool |
|---|---|---|
| $600+35 | 2,557 | $1,534,000 |
| Place | Player | Prize |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Niall "Firaldo87" Farrell | $236,232* |
| 2 | Charles "Chilax Chuck" Sylvestre | $200,000* |
| 3 | Mike McDonald | $200,000* |
| 4 | YEWTHMELTHR | $107,394 |
| 5 | Sami "LarsLuzak" Kelopuro | $79,788 |
| 6 | PrettyFlacko | $58,299 |
| 7 | Rasta_3 | $41,423 |
| 8 | NES_Pro | $29,149 |
| 9 | foster18 | $19,944 |
*Reflects three-handed deal
Notable Finishes: JC "PrtyPsux" Alvarado (19th - $5,062), Phil "OMGClayAiken" Galfond (20th - $5,062)
Sunday Million ($1M Guaranteed)
| Buy-in | Entrants | Prize Pool |
|---|---|---|
| $200+15 | 8,010 | $1,602,000 |
| Place | Player | Prize |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | icebearrr | $226,316* |
| 2 | bluet0m89 | $190,203* |
| 3 | ultimateturn | $120,150 |
| 4 | Ben "vindog03" Vinson | $80,740 |
| 5 | db10ISgod | $64,080 |
| 6 | pendo71 | $48,060 |
| 7 | BC_Pres | $32,040 |
| 8 | 133850526 | $18,423 |
| 9 | Guilherme "VinceVegaMFR" Cheveau | $12,415 |
*Reflects heads-up deal
Notable Finishes: Chris "Apotheosis92" Kruk (25th - $3,524), Caio "caio_pimenta" Pimenta (26th - $3,524)
Sunday Warm-Up ($500K Guaranteed)
| Buy-in | Entrants | Prize Pool |
|---|---|---|
| $200+15 | 3,570 | $714,000 |
| Place | Player | Prize |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Konstantinos "arxigos" Nanos | $112,098 |
| 2 | 7Be^eC7 | $83,538 |
| 3 | HHDH1983 | $58,905 |
| 4 | HeroCall123 | $41,055 |
| 5 | vicwellsuk | $30,345 |
| 6 | LeBroHbKA | $23,205 |
| 7 | pasty71 | $16,065 |
| 8 | nickym998 | $8,925 |
| 9 | Mix0 Mi | $5,712 |
Notable Finishes: Pascal "Pass_72" LeFrancois (13th - $3,213), Jono "Spyver" Beck (20th - $1,820)
FTOPS Event #17 ($500K Guaranteed)
| Buy-in | Entrants | Prize Pool |
|---|---|---|
| $100+9 | 5,512 | $551,200 |
| Place | Player | Prize |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | mrbrat | $109,137 |
| 2 | 3p3nipa | $66,970 |
| 3 | Getty "gettym" Mattinsgley | $48,483 |
| 4 | Mikleler | $34,174 |
| 5 | __KASSIN__ | $24,804 |
| 6 | carpediem123 | $16,536 |
| 7 | grdh1rm | $11,024 |
| 8 | koumasgio | $7,716 |
| 9 | Jack "JackQKA" Ellwood | $5,512 |
Notable Finishes: Stefan "YrrsiN" Huber (15th - $2,535), Balasz "birs320" Botond (21st - $1,543), Sam "MILF ISLAND" Rotar (27th - $1,543)
FTOPS Event #28 ($500K Guaranteed)
| Buy-in | Entrants | Prize Pool |
|---|---|---|
| $2,000+100 | 326 | $652,000 |
| Place | Player | Prize |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Aidan "whereisdonny" Tam | $163,000 |
| 2 | Chilloutboy | $104,320 |
| 3 | Ami "UhhMee" Barer | $78,240 |
| 4 | Ihopeurdown | $60,310 |
| 5 | Steve "MrTimCaum" O'Dwyer | $45,640 |
| 6 | OBagre | $32,600 |
| 7 | Whoozz | $21,190 |
| 8 | Marton "noirduck" Czuczor | $16,300 |
| 9 | SpanishKey | $13,040 |
Notable Finishes: Brandon "norajean" Meyers (11th - $8,150), Dani "Ansky451" Stern (13th - $6,520), Peter "breeth" Turmezey (14th - $6,520), Chris "Gettin Daize" Oliver (17th - $4,890), Andras Nemeth (21st - $3,586), Hiren "hustla16" Patel (22nd - $3,586), Jordan "Jymaster11" Young (25th - $3,586), David "Betudontbet" Emmons (27th - $3,586)
FTOPS Event #30 ($400K Guaranteed)
| Buy-in | Entrants | Prize Pool |
|---|---|---|
| $240+15 | 2,367 | $473,400 |
| Place | Player | Prize |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Christian "charder30" Harder | $60,042* |
| 2 | Jono "Spyver" Beck | $63,726* |
| 3 | PoutsoKefalos | $43,557 |
| 4 | dan_nofx55 | $38,602 |
| 5 | liran2788 | $20,356 |
| 6 | Luckypom | $13,728 |
| 7 | zekulya | $8,757 |
| 8 | sylvian31 | $8,757 |
| 9 | Sirocko | $5,917 |
*Reflects heads-up deal
Notable Finishes: Jeff "YoungSupremacy" Hakim (11th - $4,023), Emil "whitelime" Patel (20th - $1,988), Darren "darrenelias" Elias (22nd - $1,988), Jon "apestyles" Van Fleet ($1,988)
PartyPoker 200K Guaranteed Sunday
| Buy-in | Entrants | Prize Pool |
|---|---|---|
| $200+15 | 959 | $200,000 |
| Place | Player | Prize |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | MrsPaintba1l | $27,900 |
| 2 | MoooOOooOOoo | $16,900 |
| 3 | Dustyourfish | $10,100 |
| 4 | Lateralus200 | $7,600 |
| 5 | CaptainSurf_99 | $5,500 |
| 6 | Mulledk | $4,000 |
| 7 | _Blackman1ac | $3,180 |
| 8 | MutGlaseado69 | $2,500 |
| 9 | kurtis1000 | $2,000 |
Sunday 500 ($300K Guaranteed)
| Buy-in | Entrants | Prize Pool |
|---|---|---|
| $500+30 | 886 | $443,000 |
| Place | Player | Prize |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | lilachaa | $71,665* |
| 2 | buckguy2200 | $65,665* |
| 3 | Colombian80% | $42,971 |
| 4 | Christian "charder30" Harder | $32,117 |
| 5 | Soccermom96 | $22,327 |
| 6 | idrissi | $17,720 |
| 7 | Annette "Annette_15" Obrestad | $13,290 |
| 8 | palenque88 | $8,860 |
| 9 | NuCLeArMiNd | $5,316 |
*Reflects heads-up deal
Notable Finishes: Jason "jdtjpoker" Wheeler (13th - $3,544), Karolis "g.karolis" Grybauskas (18th - $2,658), Matt "mjw006" Wakeman (20th - $1,993)
Get in on the Sunday Majors action yourself by visiting PokerStars and Full Tilt Poker
$109 Sunday Rebuy ($225K Guaranteed)
| Buy-in | Entrants | Prize Pool |
|---|---|---|
| $100+9 | 1,057 | $315,600 |
| Place | Player | Prize |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Shyam "G's zee" Srinivasan | $58,070 |
| 2 | Jamie "Bear4rms" Sykes | $42,132 |
| 3 | Joao Mathias | $31,560 |
| 4 | Brian "brianm15" England | $23,670 |
| 5 | CTNW | $16,569 |
| 6 | Valdemar "Luigi da BP" Kwaysser | $13,413 |
| 7 | Ronald "ronaldgrauer" Grauer | $10,257 |
| 8 | Ryan "piggysnipz" Pignatelli | $7,101 |
| 9 | Jason "jdtjpoker" Wheeler | $4,418 |
Notable Finishes: Luke ��Bit2Easy�� Reeves (14th - $2,524), Joe "jcada99" Cada (19th - $1,420)
$25,000 Weekly Sunday Guarantee (New Jersey)
| Buy-in | Entrants | Prize Pool |
|---|---|---|
| $200+15 | 117 | $25,000 |
| Place | Player | Prize |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | BALZovBRAINS | $7,000 |
| 2 | ericdo11 | $4,050 |
| 3 | rungood27 | $2,325 |
| 4 | rtheusa | $1,825 |
| 5 | UnclePaddy | $1,575 |
| 6 | EddieRivers | $1,325 |
| 7 | iGetLost | $1,050 |
| 8 | cragston | $700 |
| 9 | bignorm | $525 |
$15,000 Weekly Sunday Guarantee (Nevada)
| Buy-in | Entrants | Prize Pool |
|---|---|---|
| $200+15 | 93 | $18,600 |
| Place | Player | Prize |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | ucheckicheck | $5,301 |
| 2 | FromBehind | $3,069 |
| 3 | papaya | $1,860 |
| 4 | ValueTown | $1,488 |
| 5 | BeTheLight | $1,283 |
| 6 | naifliest | $1,097 |
| 7 | chairman99 | $911 |
| 8 | bewater | $632 |
| 9 | kingpin1 | $502 |
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