GIAMPP Wins FTOPS XIX Main Event
On Sunday the 19th edition of the Full Tilt Online Poker Series (FTOPS) was played. The FTOPS XIX Main Event saw record-breaking entries and history was made with the first ever million-dollar payout. However, GIAMPP, who was the eventual winner, didn’t receive the biggest prize for first place, since a deal was made at the final table, seeing Blair "blur5f6" Hinkle profiting an amazing $1,162,950 for second place!
Sunday's FTOPS XIX Main Event saw a total of 14,479 entries, with all of them putting down a $600 for a single buy-in, to win a share of an amazing prize pool of more than $8.8 million. Due to the hugely popular online tournament attracting so many players, the final table ended up actually finishing in the early hours of Monday morning.
Full Tilt Poker recently introduced the new multi-entry tournaments, where players have the opportunity to register multiple entries for the same tournament. With this new format, players were allowed to register as many as six times for the tournament, which is one of the main reasons the FTOPS XIX Main Event became one of the largest tournaments in the history of online poker.
After 14 gruelling hours, there were still 13 players remaining, with all of them still with a chance of taking home the seven-figure first place prize.
By the time the bubble burst and the action finally got to the final table, 2025 WSOP bracelet winner Blair "blur5f6" Hinkle had the leading chip stack. Daniel "WiLDmAn75" Buzgon, who has played in two final tables already in the FTOPS XIX series, remarkably final tabled again.
First to get eliminated at the final table was "Colonel Mustard," "beerocrat," and "425wedabest". Although Buzgon was able to seize the chip lead at the final table for a short while, things didn’t quite go to plan for him and he was eliminated in fifth place, losing in a hand against "GIAMPP."
Next to go was "Nayza" who was eliminated in fourth place for $451,745. There was a short break in play as the three remaining players discussed a deal for the remaining prize pool, which was a little more $2.8 million. After the deal was made, the three handed play resumed for the FTOPS XIX Main Event title, which was eventually taken down by "GIAMPP." The final table results were as follows:
1st was GIAMPP winning $877,950
2nd was Blair "blur5f6" Hinkle winning $1,162,950
3rd was SirMad winning $805,440
4th was Nayza winning $451,745
5th was Daniel "WiLDmAn75" Buzgon winning $321,434
6th was J NOCK winning $230,216
7th was 425wedabest winning $165,061
8th was beerocrat winning $121,624
9th was Colonel Mustard winning $86,005
Interestingly, "GIAMPP" was one of two players at the final table not to pay for multiple entries to take part in the FTOPS XIX Main Event. Even more remarkably, he actually won his seat in a $100 satellite on Full Tilt Poker.