FTOPS XI Event #17, $300+22 NL Hold'em 6-max w/ Rebuys: Steven 'UFman2' Burkholder Wins Again

Mickey Doft Live Reporter

Feb 12, 2009 4 min read

FTOPS XI Event #17, $300+22 NL Hold'em 6-max w/ Rebuys: Steven 'UFman2' Burkholder Wins Again 0001

Event #17 of the eleventh Full Tilt Online Poker Series (FTOPS XI) was a $300+22 NL hold'em six-max (w/ rebuys) tourney guaranteeing $1,000,000. A field of 1,091 re-bought 2,100 times and added on another 737 times, creating a total prize pool of $1,178,400. First place offered $245,696.40 to the winner. Notable finishes outside the final included those of PureCase25 in seventh ($24,746.40), iLLNuGWichee in eighth ($24,746.40), Kyle "kwob20" Bowker in ninth ($17,676), Eugene "myrabbifoo" Katchalov in 10th ($17,676), Ryan "ryanghall" Hall in 11th ($12,962.40) and Jeff "YoungSupremacy" Hakim in 12th ($12,962.40).

Leading at the start of the final table was Daniel "imabigkidnow" Kelly, no stranger to FTOPS final tables. With a victory in FTOPS X under his belt, as well as other big scores on Full Tilt, Kelly looked to notch a second FTOPS victory here. Also at the final table was Steven "UFman2" Burkholder, winner of both the $750,000 Guarantee and the $1 Million Guarantee on Full Tilt in the last six months. The chip counts to start the final table were as follows:

Daniel "imabigkidnow" Kelly - 2,229,626

Chris "fisheater111" Walsh - 1,037,318

mikey34222 - 919,026

Steven "UFman2" Burkholder - 817,321

GirlsCantPlay - 676,502

Shawn "jordankickz" Busse - 580,707

The first to exit here was Chris "fisheater111" Walsh at the 10,000/20,000/2,500 level. In the small blind, Walsh raised to 48,884 and Steven "UFman2" Burkholder re-raised to 111,010 from the big blind. Walsh thought for a few moments before putting in another raise, this time to 272,234. Burkholder elected to call and the flop came J♠8♦3♠. Walsh shoved for 656,135 and was snap-called by Burkholder who tabled A♦A♠. Walsh was caught on a bluff with 9♠6♥. The turn and river came 8♠9♦ and Chris "fisheater111" Walsh was out in sixth place for $40,065.60. GirlsCantPlay fell next. Daniel "imabigkidnow" Kelly raised to 50,000 in the cutoff and GirlsCantPlay shoved for about 250,000 on the button with A♦4♦. Action folded around to Kelly, who called with 9♠8♠. The board rolled out 8♥9♣6♥10♠J♥ and GirlsCantPlay headed to the cashier in fifth place for $62,455.20.

The next to bust was mikey34222 at 12,000/24,000/3,000. In the cutoff, mikey34222 shoved for 339,533 and Steven "UFman2" Burkholder isolated from the button with A♣K♦, leading mikey34222's A♥10♥. The flop and turn came 4♦J♥A♦K♥, leaving outs to a straight or flush for mikey34222, but the river was the 10♣ and mikey34222 finished fourth for $87,201.60.

Shawn "jordankickz" Busse began three-handed play as the short stack, but with timely re-raises was able to close the gap to bring all three players nearly even in chips. At 17,000/34,000/4,000, he doubled up through Daniel Kelly. On the button Kelly raised to 90,000, and Busse re-raised to 262,525 in the small blind. Kelly shoved with the bigger stack and Busse called all in for 1,671,084 with A♥10♥, but trailed Kelly's A♠J♥. The flop came 7♥K♠Q♦ and Kelly maintained the advantage, but the 9♥ card gave Busse more outs and the J♠ river made a winning straight for Busse. Kelly was down to under ten big blinds and found himself all in with J♦10♠ against Busse's K♥Q♥. The flop came Q♣K♦9♣ and gave Kelly the straight, but the Q♦ hit the turn and Busse made the winning full house. The meaningless river was the 8♣ and Daniel "imabigkidnow" Kelly collected $116,661.60.

The chip counts to start heads-up play:

Shawn "jordankickz" Busse - 4,589,269

Steven "UFman2" Burkholder - 1,671,231

The heads-up duel was fierce. Burkholder closed the gap, though Busse managed to keep the chip lead intact and increase the margin in return. Then Burkholder got close again, but Busse pulled back ahead. Finally, a hand shifted the momentum clearly in Burkholder's favor. At 30,000/60,000/7,500, Burkholder min-raised to 120,000 and Busse called. They checked the K♣6♣9♠ flop and the J♥ came on the turn. Busse check-called Burkholder's 160,000 bet and the river came the 6♦. Busse checked and Burkholder bet 380,000, but Busse shoved with the big stack. Burkholder surveyed the situation before calling with Q♥10♥ for the straight. Busse's 9♦8♠ was beat and Burkholder took nearly a 3:1 chip lead. Soon, though Busse though doubled through with pocket queens against Burkholder's A-K, bringing the two almost even in chips again.

In the end, Burkholder took it down. On the final hand, Busse min-raised to 120,000 and Burkholder popped it up to 420,000. Busse shoved for 2,026,797 and Burkholder called with J♥J♦, slightly leading Busse's A♠Q♠. The board ran out 7♠10♥8♥8♦6♦ to give Burkholder the hand and the win. Shawn "jordankickz" Busse took second place for $163,797.60, with Steven "UFman2" Burkholder collecting $245,696.40 for the win. His amazing tournament play has resulted in three major Full Tilt wins in the last six months, capped with this FTOPS victory.