The Full Tilt Online Poker Series (FTOPS) XV went nine events with no overlay, only to have the 10th event come up just short of the $1.5 million guarantee. On Monday, the site had its second event come up short of its guarantee. Event #11, a $200 buy-in Omaha H/L event only drew 895 runners, which meant Full Tilt had to post $21,000 in order to meet the $200,000 guarantee.

The top 108 players made the money, including Red Pros Jens Voertmann (44th), Aaron Bartley (42nd) and Roy Winston (28th). Several online pros made deep runs in the event as well, like Josh “JoeSewok” Schlein (20th), Daniel “WiLDmAn75” Buzgon (11th) and Chris “MrDoggy” Klodnicki, whose elimination in 10th place set up a final table that included Mario “Pokerccini” Puccini and Matt “mattyv” Vengrin.

Heads-up play came down to farha123 and YaAkylko, who held an almost 3-1 chip advantage to begin heads-up play. The two struck up a deal that guaranteed each of them $33,000 and played it down to a winner. YaAkylko came out on top to claim the jersey and a payout of $40,500.

Here are the final table results of FTOPS XV Event #11:

1st: YaAkylko ($40,500)
2nd: farha123 ($33,000)
3rd: ACEcowboy88 ($21,100)
4th: Mario “Pokerccini” Puccini ($16,500)
5th: Jonah ($12,500)
6th: Matt “mattyv” Vengrin ($9,000)
7th: gottabpostve ($6,000)
8th: zoyberg777 ($4,500)
9th: Barabba610 ($3,200)

While the Omaha H/L event came up short in the money department, Event #12 created some of the biggest payouts we’ve seen so far this FTOPS. The $1,000 buy-in No Limit Hold’em event drew 1,541 players, which generated a prize pool slightly larger than the $1.5 million Full Tilt promised.

With so much money up for grabs, the competition for one of the four $100,00+ paydays was stiff. The stacked field was packed with known pros from both the live and online world. A trio of Red Pros fought their way to the final five tables. Joao Barbosa (41st), Daniele Mazzia (40th) and David Pham (32nd) all posted impressive results, but there was to be no Full Tilt representative at the final table.

Several internet pros also came up just short, including Corey “Comandr_Cool” Burbick, AG “vtlaxer09” Winchester (26th), who was still fresh off yesterday’s final table in Event #10, Matt “NoBadBeatsPlz” Kay (25th), Cody “CalBandGreat” Shedd (23rd), Nick “agriffrod” Mitchell (14th) and Richard “rjmgrace” Grace (13th). Though other players may have come closer to the final table, perhaps the most painful bubble elimination was Chris “MrDoggy” Klodnicki’s bustout in 20th place. After straight bubbling Event #11, he just missed out on Event #12’s final table as well. The back-to-back performances from Klodnicki were certainly impressive, but likely disappointing for the East Coast pro.

As the final table loomed, most railbirds had their eyes squarely fixed on Steve “gboro780” Gross. Widely considered to be one of if not the best online poker player around, Gross held the chip lead heading into the 9-handed final table:

Seat 1: bmwmcoupe (507,040)
Seat 2: grindtherail (781,635)
Seat 3: yahoo33 (1,674,202)
Seat 4: RLD1989 (1,436,736)
Seat 5: RandomFish666 (282,465)
Seat 6: Lance “kingpin023” Harris (507,218)
Seat 7: Anthony “raver44” Lorieu (330,275)
Seat 8: Steve “gboro780” Gross (2,514,970)
Seat 9: Kevin “KevboyStar” Stani (1,109,959)

Gross may have had the chip advantage at the outset of the final table, but a tough lineup and escalating blinds ensured that this tournament was far from over. Blinds were up to 14,000/28,000 ante 3,500 when yahoo33 raised in late position, RLD1989 called and Anthony “raver44” Lorieu reraised all-in for 350,000 from the big blind with 44. Yahoo33 folded, but RLD1989 looked raver44 up holding 88. The snowmen held up as the board ran out AQ284 and raver44 made his exit in 9th place.

The next big pot was a 3-way all-in. The action began when RandomFish666 shoved all-in for almost 275,000, bmwmcoupe called from the button, leaving 268,000 behind, and grindtherail moved all-in from the small blind for over a million chips. Bmwmcoupe called off the rest of his stack with AJ, which was drawing slim against grindtherail’s AK. RandomFish was at least drawing live with his Q9, but his hand failed to improve as the board ran out 62255. RandomFish666 was out in 8th, while bmwmcoupe was spared for elimination with the chopped pot.

Bmwmcoupe’s stack got even more robust when his AK held up against yahoo33’s AQ to double up to over 1.7 million. Yahoo33, meanwhile, struggled to regain his chips and go his remaining 750,000 all-in at the 20,000/40,000 ante 5,000 blind level. Gboro780 opened for a raise to 80,050, grindtherail called on the button and yahoo33 moved all-in from the small blind. Gboro780 folded, while grindtherail called with QQ. Yahoo33’s KJ flopped a gutshot and turned an open-ender as the board ran out T87Q, but the 5 on the river was no help and he was out in 7th place.

That hand helped to propel grindtherail to the chip lead with over 3 million chips, but bmwmcoupe was nipping at his heels after eliminating Kevin “KevboyStar” Stani in the following altercation: KevboyStar completed the small blind, bmwmcoupe raised out of the big blind , KevboyStar called and the two went to the flop. The cards came down K84 and KevboyStar checked. Bmwmcoupe fired out a bet, then KevboyStar check-raised all-in for 850,000 chips. Bmwmcoupe called the more than 700,000 extra chips and tabled K8 for top two pair. KevboyStar’s KT needed to hit a ten or running cards to make a pair bigger than eights. Neither a ten nor face cards came though and KevboyStar was out in 6th while bmwmcoupe scooped the nearly 2 million chip pot.

Bmwmcoupe lost a handful of those chips when he doubled up an extremely short Lance “kingpin023” Harris. Then RLD1989 lost an even larger chunk of his stack doubling kingpin023 a second time around when kingpin023’s A5 prevailed over RLD1989’s KJ.. The chips continued to shuffle around the table as RLD1989 hit a lucky six to double through bmwmcoupe holding A6 to bmwmcoupe’s AQ.

With five players remaining, four of them held just over a million chips while grindtherail held the advantage with a stack in excess of 4 million chips. Grindtherail’s stack just got larger when his KQ outflopped RLD1989’s 88 in an all-in preflop showdown that saw RLD1989 head to the rail in 5th place and push grindtherail’s stack past 5 million. The KOs just kept coming for the chip leader too. With the blinds up to 25,000/50,000 ante 6,000, grindtherail called bmwmcoupe’s small blind shove for 676,000 holding K9 to bmwmcoupe’s A8. The board ran out KT56T to pair grindtherail’s king and eliminate bmwmcoupe in 4th place.

The very next hand, kingpin023 got a crucial double up courtesy of gboro780. Kingpin023 shoved all-in from the small blind for almost 1.2 million and gboro780 called out of the big blind with 44. Gross was racing with kingpin023’s QT and looked good on the 653 flop and better after the K came on the turn. However, the river brought the Q to pair kingpin023 up and give him the 2.3 million chip pot. Gboro780 was unable to recover from the hit and lost another flip to kingpin023 a few hands later when his A8 couldn’t outflop kingpin023’s 55. That hand sent gboro780 to the rail in 3rd place and gave kingpin023 almost 2.8 million chips headed into heads-up play.

Kingpin023 quickly pulled into striking distance of grindtherail. He took the chiplead from grindtherail when his 99 hit flopped a 9 to best grindtherail’s TT, giving kingpin023 over 7 million chips compared to grindtherail’s 1.5 million. Kingpin023 got a little lucky again to take down the match. On the final hand of play grindtherail minraised from the button and kingpin023 shoved all-in. Grindtherail called and looked to be in good shape to double up, holding 77 to kingpin023’s A2. The Q92 flop paired kingpin023 up, but grindtherail still held the advantage. A 2 on the turn changed everything tough, giving kingpin023 trips and leaving grindtherail with just two outs to stay alive. The 8 on the river ensured victory for Lance “kingpin023” Harris, who earned a massive $331,315 payout along with his first gold jersey.

Here are the final table results for FTOPS XV Event #12:

1st: Lance “kingpin023” Harris ($331,315)
2nd: grindtherail ($209,576)
3rd: Steve “gboro780” Gross ($155,641)
4th: bmwmcoupe ($123,280)
5th: RLD1989 ($92,460)
6th: Kevin “KevboyStar” Stani ($66,263)
7th: yahoo33 ($43,148)
8th: RandomFish666 ($30,820)
9th: Anthony “raver44” Lorieu ($21,574)

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