The Sunday Briefing: Mike McDonald, Niall Farrell Chop FTOPS XXV Main Event

Brett Collson
Chief Editor
4 min read
The Sunday Briefing: Mike McDonald, Niall Farrell Chop FTOPS XXV Main Event 0001

The 25th edition of the Full Tilt Online Poker Series (FTOPS) came to a close in a big way on Sunday. The $635 buy-in Main Event attracted some of the top online talents in poker, and some of them collected huge paydays early Monday morning.

Poker pros Mike McDonald, Niall "Firaldo87" Farrell, Charles "Chilax Chuck" Sylvestre and Sami "LarsLuzak" Kelopuro navigated a field of 2,557 entries to reach the final table of the FTOPS Main Event. Kelopuro bowed out in fifth place for $79,778, and then McDonald, Farrell and Sylvestre agreed to terms on a three-handed deal which saw each of them lock up $200,000. That left $36,232 to play for, and that money went to Farrell after he defeated Sylvestre heads-up for the title.

For Farrell it was by far the biggest score of his successful online poker career. Entering Sunday, his biggest online cash was $59,737 for a victory in the PokerStars Sunday $109 Rebuy. His biggest career live cash came at the 2013 World Series of Poker where he finished second in a $3,000 no-limit hold'em event for $366,815.

Other big earners at Full Tilt Poker on Sunday were Getty "gettym" Mattinsgley, Aidan "whereisdonny" Tam, Ami "UhhMee" Barer, Jono "Spyver" Beck, Steve "MrTimCaum" O'Dwyer, and Christian "charder30" Harder, who won FTOPS Event #28.

Harder also found success over at PokerStars on Sunday, placing fourth in the Sunday 500 for $32,117. Annette "Annette_15" Obrestad finished seventh in that tournament for just over $13,000.

Germany dominated the PokerStars Sunday Million as "icebearrr" defeated "bluet0m89" heads-up after the two players negotiated a deal. Both Germans walked away with more than $190,000, making them this week's biggest earners on PokerStars.

Here's a full look at the results from the Sunday Majors on PokerStars, Full Tilt Poker, partypoker and WSOP.com:


The Sunday Briefing: Mike McDonald, Niall Farrell Chop FTOPS XXV Main Event 101

FTOPS Main Event ($1.5 Million Guaranteed)

Buy-inEntrantsPrize Pool
$600+352,557$1,534,000
PlacePlayerPrize
1Niall "Firaldo87" Farrell$236,232*
2Charles "Chilax Chuck" Sylvestre$200,000*
3Mike McDonald$200,000*
4YEWTHMELTHR$107,394
5Sami "LarsLuzak" Kelopuro$79,788
6PrettyFlacko$58,299
7Rasta_3$41,423
8NES_Pro$29,149
9foster18$19,944

*Reflects three-handed deal

Notable Finishes: JC "PrtyPsux" Alvarado (19th - $5,062), Phil "OMGClayAiken" Galfond (20th - $5,062)


The Sunday Briefing: Mike McDonald, Niall Farrell Chop FTOPS XXV Main Event 102

Sunday Million ($1M Guaranteed)

Buy-inEntrantsPrize Pool
$200+158,010$1,602,000
PlacePlayerPrize
1icebearrr$226,316*
2bluet0m89$190,203*
3ultimateturn$120,150
4Ben "vindog03" Vinson$80,740
5db10ISgod$64,080
6pendo71$48,060
7BC_Pres$32,040
8133850526$18,423
9Guilherme "VinceVegaMFR" Cheveau$12,415

*Reflects heads-up deal

Notable Finishes: Chris "Apotheosis92" Kruk (25th - $3,524), Caio "caio_pimenta" Pimenta (26th - $3,524)


The Sunday Briefing: Mike McDonald, Niall Farrell Chop FTOPS XXV Main Event 103

Sunday Warm-Up ($500K Guaranteed)

Buy-inEntrantsPrize Pool
$200+153,570$714,000
PlacePlayerPrize
1Konstantinos "arxigos" Nanos$112,098
27Be^eC7$83,538
3HHDH1983$58,905
4HeroCall123$41,055
5vicwellsuk$30,345
6LeBroHbKA$23,205
7pasty71$16,065
8nickym998$8,925
9Mix0 Mi$5,712

Notable Finishes: Pascal "Pass_72" LeFrancois (13th - $3,213), Jono "Spyver" Beck (20th - $1,820)


The Sunday Briefing: Mike McDonald, Niall Farrell Chop FTOPS XXV Main Event 104

FTOPS Event #17 ($500K Guaranteed)

Buy-inEntrantsPrize Pool
$100+95,512$551,200
PlacePlayerPrize
1mrbrat$109,137
23p3nipa$66,970
3Getty "gettym" Mattinsgley$48,483
4Mikleler$34,174
5__KASSIN__$24,804
6carpediem123$16,536
7grdh1rm$11,024
8koumasgio$7,716
9Jack "JackQKA" Ellwood$5,512

Notable Finishes: Stefan "YrrsiN" Huber (15th - $2,535), Balasz "birs320" Botond (21st - $1,543), Sam "MILF ISLAND" Rotar (27th - $1,543)


The Sunday Briefing: Mike McDonald, Niall Farrell Chop FTOPS XXV Main Event 105

FTOPS Event #28 ($500K Guaranteed)

Buy-inEntrantsPrize Pool
$2,000+100326$652,000
PlacePlayerPrize
1Aidan "whereisdonny" Tam$163,000
2Chilloutboy$104,320
3Ami "UhhMee" Barer$78,240
4Ihopeurdown$60,310
5Steve "MrTimCaum" O'Dwyer$45,640
6OBagre$32,600
7Whoozz$21,190
8Marton "noirduck" Czuczor$16,300
9SpanishKey$13,040

Notable Finishes: Brandon "norajean" Meyers (11th - $8,150), Dani "Ansky451" Stern (13th - $6,520), Peter "breeth" Turmezey (14th - $6,520), Chris "Gettin Daize" Oliver (17th - $4,890), Andras Nemeth (21st - $3,586), Hiren "hustla16" Patel (22nd - $3,586), Jordan "Jymaster11" Young (25th - $3,586), David "Betudontbet" Emmons (27th - $3,586)


The Sunday Briefing: Mike McDonald, Niall Farrell Chop FTOPS XXV Main Event 106

FTOPS Event #30 ($400K Guaranteed)

Buy-inEntrantsPrize Pool
$240+152,367$473,400
PlacePlayerPrize
1Christian "charder30" Harder$60,042*
2Jono "Spyver" Beck$63,726*
3PoutsoKefalos$43,557
4dan_nofx55$38,602
5liran2788$20,356
6Luckypom$13,728
7zekulya$8,757
8sylvian31$8,757
9Sirocko$5,917

*Reflects heads-up deal

Notable Finishes: Jeff "YoungSupremacy" Hakim (11th - $4,023), Emil "whitelime" Patel (20th - $1,988), Darren "darrenelias" Elias (22nd - $1,988), Jon "apestyles" Van Fleet ($1,988)


The Sunday Briefing: Mike McDonald, Niall Farrell Chop FTOPS XXV Main Event 107

PartyPoker 200K Guaranteed Sunday

Buy-inEntrantsPrize Pool
$200+15959$200,000
PlacePlayerPrize
1MrsPaintba1l$27,900
2MoooOOooOOoo$16,900
3Dustyourfish$10,100
4Lateralus200$7,600
5CaptainSurf_99$5,500
6Mulledk$4,000
7_Blackman1ac$3,180
8MutGlaseado69$2,500
9kurtis1000$2,000

The Sunday Briefing: Mike McDonald, Niall Farrell Chop FTOPS XXV Main Event 108

Sunday 500 ($300K Guaranteed)

Buy-inEntrantsPrize Pool
$500+30886$443,000
PlacePlayerPrize
1lilachaa$71,665*
2buckguy2200$65,665*
3Colombian80%$42,971
4Christian "charder30" Harder$32,117
5Soccermom96$22,327
6idrissi$17,720
7Annette "Annette_15" Obrestad$13,290
8palenque88$8,860
9NuCLeArMiNd$5,316

*Reflects heads-up deal

Notable Finishes: Jason "jdtjpoker" Wheeler (13th - $3,544), Karolis "g.karolis" Grybauskas (18th - $2,658), Matt "mjw006" Wakeman (20th - $1,993)

Get in on the Sunday Majors action yourself by visiting PokerStars and Full Tilt Poker


The Sunday Briefing: Mike McDonald, Niall Farrell Chop FTOPS XXV Main Event 109

$109 Sunday Rebuy ($225K Guaranteed)

Buy-inEntrantsPrize Pool
$100+91,057$315,600
PlacePlayerPrize
1Shyam "G's zee" Srinivasan$58,070
2Jamie "Bear4rms" Sykes$42,132
3Joao Mathias$31,560
4Brian "brianm15" England$23,670
5CTNW$16,569
6Valdemar "Luigi da BP" Kwaysser$13,413
7Ronald "ronaldgrauer" Grauer$10,257
8Ryan "piggysnipz" Pignatelli$7,101
9Jason "jdtjpoker" Wheeler$4,418

Notable Finishes: Luke “Bit2Easy” Reeves (14th - $2,524), Joe "jcada99" Cada (19th - $1,420)


The Sunday Briefing: Mike McDonald, Niall Farrell Chop FTOPS XXV Main Event 110

$25,000 Weekly Sunday Guarantee (New Jersey)

Buy-inEntrantsPrize Pool
$200+15117$25,000
PlacePlayerPrize
1BALZovBRAINS$7,000
2ericdo11$4,050
3rungood27$2,325
4rtheusa$1,825
5UnclePaddy$1,575
6EddieRivers$1,325
7iGetLost$1,050
8cragston$700
9bignorm$525

The Sunday Briefing: Mike McDonald, Niall Farrell Chop FTOPS XXV Main Event 111

$15,000 Weekly Sunday Guarantee (Nevada)

Buy-inEntrantsPrize Pool
$200+1593$18,600
PlacePlayerPrize
1ucheckicheck$5,301
2FromBehind$3,069
3papaya$1,860
4ValueTown$1,488
5BeTheLight$1,283
6naifliest$1,097
7chairman99$911
8bewater$632
9kingpin1$502

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Brett Collson
Chief Editor

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