On Saturday, longtime industry icon Jon “apestyles” Van Fleet took down Event #5 of the ongoing Full Tilt Online Poker Series (FTOPS), a $109 No Limit Hold’em with Rebuys tournament. Van Fleet, an acclaimed poker author, banked $123,000.
Van Fleet sits at #10 worldwide in the PocketFives.com Online Poker Rankings and had the entire online poker community firmly behind him on Saturday. One poster wrote on PocketFives.com, “Obv easy guy to root for, very good player and seems like a really cool dude – TID you deserve this!” Upon capturing a coveted FTOPS jersey, Van Fleet posted on the popular online poker forum, “Thanks everyone!! Haven’t had a 6 figure score since 07, so yayayayayyayaayayayyaa ape dance. Ran really well, overall happy with how I played, even the last hand where I got a lucky river. I think there’s nothing I can do but bet/call, especially if he’s peeling 6-7o to a 4bet. Not gonna lie, might have a hard time getting to sleep tonight. Life is good.”
Van Fleet’s opponent, Raymond “bigramie” Lantz, check-raised all-in on a flop of J-6-2 holding 7-6 of hearts for middle pair. Van Fleet, not believing it, called with A-Q. Needing an ace, queen, or running straight cards to come, Van Fleet watched as the turn was an eight. Down to six outs, Van Fleet was elated when an ace hit on the river, shipping him the FTOPS XVI title and a six-figure payday. Lantz, who hails from Illinois, cashed for $81,000.
In November 2008, Van Fleet won the Absolute Poker $150,000 Guaranteed for $37,000 and final tabled the PokerStars Sunday Million one year ago. Late last year, the online poker player took down the PokerStars $200 Sunday Rebuy for $38,000. One month ago, he final tabled the PokerStars Super Tuesday for $45,000 and, one week later, won the Full Tilt Poker $75,000 Guaranteed. Van Fleet cashed twice in last year’s World Series of Poker (WSOP) for just over $40,000 total. He’s the co-author of “Winning Poker Tournaments One Hand at a Time” Volumes I and II.
Finishing fifth in FTOPS XVI Event #5 was Tom “SBRounder” West, a native of California. West committed his chips pre-flop with A-7 of spades, but ran into Lantz’s wired pair of eights. The board bricked out for West, who picked up $35,000 for his efforts. West is the older brother of accomplished poker pro Tim “Tmay420” West and owns a four-way chop of the PokerStars Sunday Million. On March 28th, the elder West took down a $109 No Limit Hold’em Turbo on PokerStars for $16,000. On the final day of February, he finished third in a $163 buy-in tournament on Full Tilt for another $31,000.
Here were the final results from FTOPS XVI Event #5, a $109 No Limit Hold’em with Rebuys tournament:
1. apestyles – $123,600
2. bigramie – $81,600
3. elitesrush – $60,600
4. TBONE4LIFE87 – $47,400
5. SBRounder – $35,400
6. kingpin023 – $24,600
7. zizou444 – $15,000
8. SPQR8 – $10,200
9. Shyeee – $7,200
Also playing out on Saturday was the first of three FTOPS Rush Poker events. The $216 No Limit Hold’em Rush Turbo featured a starting grid of 1,900 entrants battling for a prize pool of $380,000, well above the $250,000 guarantee. In the end, a two-way deal saw “4high20” walk away with $58,000 and the win, while “trader0811” banked $72,000 and officially took second. The top 189 players finished in the money. The next FTOPS Rush Poker tournament, a Pot Limit Omaha knockout, will kick off on Tuesday.
Three events will play out on Sunday as part of FTOPS XVI:
FTOPS Event #7: $120+9 No Limit Hold’em Knockout
$800,000 Guaranteed
Sunday at 2:00pm ET
FTOPS Event #8: $500+35 No Limit Hold’em Heads-Up
$500,000 Guaranteed
Sunday at 4:00pm ET
FTOPS Event #9: $300+22 No Limit Hold’em
$1.25 Million Guaranteed
Sunday at 6:00pm ET
Visit Full Tilt Poker for more details. The site happily accepts players from the United States.