Online Poker Weekend: 'acatlover' Triumphant at Full Tilt

September 15, 2008

Mickey Doft Live Reporter

Online Poker Weekend: 'acatlover' Triumphant at Full Tilt 0001

While much of the attention of the online poker world remains focused on the WCOOP, other big tourneys continue as well, including one of the largest of all regularly scheduled events, the $750,000 Guaranteed at Full Tilt. Last night's $750,000 event saw a tiny dip in participation and therefore offered a small overlay to its entrants.

Notable finishes among those falling short of the final included Raja "tiger76" Kattamuri in 10th place ($7,200), AGame18 in 23rd place ($2,775), Bryan Paris in 24th place ($2,775), and FtheYankees in 30th place ($2,250). The chip counts early in the final table were as follows:

bighorn1973 - 2,300,024

RonJovi7 - 1,602,664

nounet - 1,534,523

mirasol - 1,500,944

absolute6 - 1,444,176

gcnmoo - 1,367,785

acatlover - 719,696

Nicolak - 301,773

gingabreadman - 157,415

Several short-stack double-ups would be the theme for the first 20 hands or so of the final table. The first elimination finally came at the 25,000/50,000/6,000 level. From the button, nounet raised to 150,000 and gcnmoo moved all in for 295,048 total with A♣Q♣. Nounet called with J♣9♣ and enjoyed seeing the board roll out 8♦3♠J♦J♠K♦, eliminating gcnmoo in ninth place for $10,050. The blinds and antes had also eaten away at mirasol's stack. In a three-way hand, nounet eliminated mirasol in eighth place for $13,500. Next to go was Nicolak, just a few hands later. From early position, Nicolak moved all in with 6♣6♥ for 163,319, and nounet called from the big blind with 8♠8♣. The 8♥ on the flop sealed the deal and Nicolak took home $17,250 for the seventh-place finish.

Gingabreadman would soon hit the rail, too. With blinds at 30,000/60,000 and an ante of 7,500, RonJovi7 raised to 155,000 from middle position and gingabreadman moved all in from the big blind with 9♦9♥ for 607,680. RonJovi7 called with A♥7♥ and took the lead when the flop came out Q♣3♣A♣. The turn and river were blanks for gingabreadman, who earned $23,025 for sixth place. Finishing in fifth was bighorn1973. Down to 485,750, bighorn1973 moved all in from the button with A♥7♠ and RonJovi7 called from the big blind with K♣10♠. The board rolled out K♥10♥4♣J♦10♦ and bighorn1943 exited with $31,050.

RonJovi7 would be the next to be felted, as the blinds moved to 60,000/120,000 with a 15,000 ante. RonJovi7 moved all in from the button for 1,188,092 with 7♣6♣ and nounet called from the small blind showing K♦Q♠. Nounet had to sweat the 4♣A♠8♣ flop but the turn and river were blanks. Ronjovi7 earned $41,400 for fourth place. Several hands later, acatlover trapped absolute6 in beautiful fashion. Absolute6 opened from the button to 465,000 and acatlover called from the small blind. The flop came out 4♥9♠9♣ and acatlover checked the action to absolute6, who shoved all in for 1,280,476. Acatlover called quickly with A♣A♠ and picked off absolute6's bluff with K♠J♦. The A♦ turn clinched the hand, and absolute6 finished in third place for $52,500.

The heads-up match begun with these chip counts:

nounet: 6,542,184

acatlover: 4,386,816

Acatlover gained the upper hand in the match after being dealt pocket kings and doubling up through nounet's pocket eights. The tournament would end a few hands later. Holding a 4-to-1 chip lead, acatlover hoped to put an end to the tournament after being dealt A♦6♣, but nounet had him in bad shape with A♣8♠. However, the board rolled out 6♦K♣Q♦2♠10♦ and nounet was eliminated in second place for $80,250. The winner of this weekend's Full Tilt $750,000 Guarantee was acatlover, earning $132,787.50