Love may have been in the air today, but so was the scent of money. With three different Full Tilt Online Poker Series (FTOPS) XV events on the schedule, there were likely more than a few couples who put their romantic plans on hold so one or both people could take their shot at a big payday.

The day began with a 4120 knockout tournament, continued on with a $500 Heads-Up event and concluded with a $1.5 million guarantee No Limit Hold’em event that was the first tournament of this FTOPS to require an overlay. Here’s a breakdown of each of the three events that ran this St Valentine’s Day Sunday, including the $1.5 million guarantee won by online poker legend Chad “jse81″ Batista:

FTOPS XV Event #8

The Sunday action kicked off in the early afternoon with this $120 buy-in No Limit Hold’em Knockout event. Plenty of players took part: 8,759 to be exact. With that many players, there was $875,900 in the prize pool and meant at least the top finisher would walk away with a six figure payday. Both Shannon “BLUFFforRENT” Shorr (56th) and Clark “Snake8484” Hamagami (57th) did the best they could to make it to the final nine, while Maxi Mueller had the best finish of the Red Pros, going out in 81st place.

The final table came down to Dr Fill Good and Kakafoni, who agreed to a 2-way chop that ensured more than $100,000 for each of them. Kakafoni had to settle for the runner-up finish, while Dr Fill Good claimed the jersey and a top prize worth $136,250.11.

Here are the final table results from FTOPS XV Event #8:

1st: Dr Fill Good ($136,250.11)
2nd: Kakafoni ($100,242.89)
3rd: Duffyduckk ($68,320.20)
4th: lucky seven ($49,926.30)
5th: mixmaster_p ($36,787.80)
6th: alexuuus ($26,277.00)
7th: blkromeo ($18,393.90)
8th: Depresooxa ($12,700.55)
9th: Tobias “fabregarp” Garp ($8,934.18)

FTOPS XV Event #9

FTOPS XV Event #9 was a $500 Heads-Up event that drew 1,024 runners. With that many players, the tournament just made its $500,000 guarantee with $12,000 to spare and set up payouts in excess of $50,000 for the two players who made it through to the final match.

Host Haseeb Qureshi made it into the money with a 78th place finish. Meanwhile, players like Dan “imabigkidnow” Kelly, SolidGoldman24k and Bahbak “bigredAK” Oboodi made it through to the round of sixteen, but failed to advance to the elite eight, which paired these players against each other (winners are in bold):

Josh “AAeveryhand” Hillock def. Jas11
Amoroso50 def. Jared “Smokinokun” Okun
Thomas “GnightMoon” Fuller def. Drake17
Chickface def. UnoffensiveNick

The final four pitted Amoroso50 against chickface while Fuller and Hillock squared off on the other table. Chickface dispatched with Amoroso50 in relatively short order and claim the first spot in the final. AAeveryhand held a 3-1 chip lead against GnightMoon when he raised preflop at the 20/40 level and GnightMoon called from the big blind. The flop fell 653 and GnightMoon checked. AAeveryhand bet out 160 and GnightMoon shipped it all-in for 1,333 total. AAeveryhand made the easy call, tabling 47 for the stone cold nuts. Fuller’s KK was in bad shape and the 4 on the turn left him drawing only to a chop. The river brought the 6 and AAeveryhand advanced to the final while GnightMoon said goodnight in 3rd place:

Before final round play got underway, the players agreed to a deal. Each player would take $65,000 and $12,336 would be set aside for the winner. With the deal in place, the round was fast and furious to say the least, lasting just four hands. AAeveryhand drew first blood straight away. The blinds were at 15/30 and AAeveryhand raised to 90 preflop. Chickface called and the two saw the board fall A66. Chickface checked, AAeveryhand bet 120and chickface called. The turn brought the J and chickface checked again. AAeveryhand fired out 300 chips, and once again chickface flat called. The river 9 prompted a third check from chickface, while AAeveryhand bet once again. Chickface called the 875 chip bet and mucked when AAeveryhand tabled 56 for trip sixes.

Just three hands later, the two players got it all-in preflop with chickface holding KQ to AAeveryhand’s 88. The board ran out 864T7 and the set of eights sealed the victory for Josh “AAeveryhand” Hillock, who picked up his first career gold jersey.

Here are the top eight finishers from FTOPS XV Event #9:

1st: Josh “AAeveryhand” Hillock ($77,336.00)
2nd: chickface ($65,000.00)
3rd: Thomas “GnightMoon” Fuller ($27,136.00)
4th: Amoroso50 ($27,136.00)
5th: UnoffensiveNick ($14,336.00)
6th: Drake17 ($14,336.00)
7th: Jared “Smokinokun” Okun ($14,336.00)
8th: Jas11 ($14,336.00)

FTOPS XV Event #10:

For the first time this series, Full Tilt had an overlay on one of its events. The site promised Event #10, a $300 buy-in No Limit Hold’em tournament, would have a $1.5 million prize pool, but with 4,682 entrants, the prize pool came up $95,400 short. Despite the overlay, the event still featured a massive field that was also packed with top talent vying for one of the three six-figure paydays.

Chad “jse81” Batista held court over the top of the leaderboard with as many as 200 players left in the field and it looked as did Red Pro Isaac Baron and Chance “Chances Cards” Kornuth. Both Kornuth and Baron came up just short of the final table though, finishing in 14th and 11th place respectively. Others amongst the 720 players in the money included Phil “USCphildo” Collins (19th), Tom “werpennstate23” Cummins (22nd), Ana “Nyx86” Marquez and perennial FTOPS favorite Yuval “yuvee04” Bronshtein (40th).

Batista may have been the best-known name at the final table, but he was certainly not the only experienced player. AG “vtlaxer09” Winchester, Clint “coffmeister” Coffee, Swedish pro Biocid and French player Clément “Gerar Mendujeu” Thumy have all played their fair share of cards before, which made for some stellar play come final table time:

Seat 1: Chad “jse81” Batista (5,141,128)
Seat 2: AG “vtlaxer09” Winchester (2,767,613)
Seat 3: Biocid (1,329,047)
Seat 4: Clint “coffmeister” Coffee (3,441,155)
Seat 5: mugwumphump (2,314,706)
Seat 6: honestbobs (1,360,660)
Seat 7: magicbaloo (1,603,643)
Seat 8: Clément “Gerar Mendujeu” Thumy (1,262,269)
Seat 9: Lilly79 (3,552,029)

After a lengthy bubble period, the final table was set shortly after 6AM ET. Chad “jse81” Batista came into the final table with the chip lead, but Lilly79 took over the top spot after knocking out magicbaloo in 9th place. The blinds were up to 30,000/60,000 ante 7,500 and action folded to magicbaloo in the cutoff. He moved all-in for almost 720,000 holding K7 and Lilly79 called out of the small blind with AT. Ace high prevailed as the board ran out 8822Q and Lilly79 collected the 1.5 million chip pot to move up over 5 million chips.

The next elimination came during the next blind level when Biocid shoved 870,000 chips in from the cutoff and honestbobs woke up in the big blind with QQ. Biocid’s A2 did not connect with the J43KK board and he was out in 8th place. Clément “Gerar Mendujeu” Thumy was the next player to fall when he opened for a raise on the button and Lilly79 reraised out of the big blind. Gerar Mendujeu moved all-in for just over 1.6 milllion and Lilly79 called with 88. Gerar Mendujeu showed AK, which failed to connect with the nine-high board, so Thumy made his exit in 7th while Lilly79 extended his chip lead.

A lucky turn and river spared Clint “coffmeister” Coffee from elimination early in the final table. He got is last 1.7 million all-in preflop in a blind versus blind confrontation with AG “vtlaxer09” Winchester and his A3 looked bad up against vtlaxer09’s A9. However, running treys on the turn and river meant a double up for coffmeister, while vtlaxer09 dropped down to the short stack with just 1.4 million chips.

All those chips went in just a couple of orbits later when honestbobs raised it up at the 50,000/100,000 ante 10,000 blind level and vtlaxer09 shoved all-in from the small blind with AK. Vtlaxer09 was racing with honestbobs’ TT. The board ran out J5394 and the tens held to eliminate vtlaxer09 in 6th place and ship the 3.5 million chip pot to honestbobs. Mugwumphump was the next to go when he moved all-in from the cutoff for 1.4 million chips with K8. Lilly79 called out of the small blind with A4 and had the best of it going into the flop. The first three cards came down T86, pairing mugwumphump’s eight to give him the lead. The 5 on the turn gave Lilly79 a gutshot to go with his overcard and the 7 on the river made Lilly79’s straight to knock out mugwumphump in brutal fashion.

Lilly had over 9 million chips compared to his competitors’ 4 million or so apiece at the outset of 4-handed play. Lilly79 took a bit of a hit when he doubled up honestbobs and jse81 appeared to be gaining ground on the chipleader slowly but surely. Jse81 took a big step towards overtaking Lilly79 when he minraised from under the gun and honestbobs reraised to 840,000 out of the small blind. Jse81 moved all-in, having honestbobs’ remaining 2.6 million covered, and honestbobs called with 88. He was in sad shape up against jse81’s KK and when the board brought no eight, honestbobs was done in 4th place.

Jse81 was now within 1 million chips of overtaking Lilly79 and it was only a matter of time before the experienced online pro overtook the chip lead. Then the momentum of the 3-handed battle changed drastically. Blinds were up to 60,000/120,000 ante 15,000 when coffmeister raised on the button. Lilly79 called out of the small blind and the duo saw the flop fall AKT. Both players checked and the turn came down 3. Lilly79 bet out 240,000, and coffmeister called. The river brought the 8 and Lilly79 fired out 480,000 chips. Coffmeister moved all-in for another 3.5 million. Lilly79 called and mucked when coffmeister revealed K8 for two pair. Coffmeister jumped up to over 9 million chips while Lilly79 dropped to under 4 million.

Lilly79 managed to double through coffmeister to even out their stacks at around 5 million each while jse81 had the advantage with nearly 11 million chips at his disposal. He put them to use when he put in a raise on the button and coffmeister 3-bet out of the small blind. Jse81 4-bet to 3.8 million total and coffmeister moved in for just 2 million more. Jse81 called, tabling A8 and coffmeister revealed KQ. The board ran out AJ843 and jse81’s aces up eliminated coffmeister in 3rd place.

Jse81 held a more than 4-1 chip advantage at the outset of heads-up play and ignored Lilly79’s suggestion to make some sort of deal. However, after the following hand, jse81 had a change of heart and the two began chatting about their chop options: Jse81 minraised out of the small blind and Lilly79 called. The flop came down Q96 and both players checked. Lilly79 checked again after the 2 hit on the turn, while jse81 decided to fire out a 320,000 chip bet. Lilly69 minraised to 640,000 total and jse81 called. The river brought the 9 and Lilly79 moved all-in for almost 5 million chips into the 1.96 million chip pot. Jse81 called, then mucked after Lilly79 showed Q2 for queens up.

After that hand, the two players were essentially even, so they agreed to take $210,000 each and play for an additional $15,000. While $15,000 was up for grabs, jse81 had more important things on his mind—namely the gold jersey:

jse81: i want this jersey tho 4 real
jse81: my spaceman is cute n all

Jse81 only had to put up with his David-Bowie-in-space avatar just a short while longer though. On the final hand of play, jse81 minraised from the button and Lilly79 called from the big blind. The flop fell J98. Lilly79 checked the flop, jse81 bet out and Lilly79 quickly moved all-in for just over 11 million chips. Jse81 hardly thought at all before calling with J7 for top pair and a gutshot straight draw. Lilly79 revealed 78 for bottom pair and the same straight draw. The turn brought the 6, giving Lilly79 additional chop outs, but the K on the river meant victory for Chad “jse81” Batista, who earned $225,000 and a new avatar for his efforts.

Here are the final table results from FTOPS XV Event #10:

1st: Chad “jse81” Batista ($225,000.00)
2nd: Lilly79 ($210,000.00)
3rd: Clint “coffmeister” Coffee ($127,500.00)
4th: honestbobs ($96,000.00)
5th: mugwumphump ($71,925.00)
6th: AG “vtlaxer09” Winchester ($49,500.00)
7th: Clément “Gerar Mendujeu” Thumy ($32,250.00)
8th: Biocid ($22,500.00)
9th: magicbaloo ($15,750.00)

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