The 25th event of the Mini Full Tilt Online Poker Series(MiniFTOPS) featured a field of 2,682 for a $216 No Limit Hold’em Ante from the Start Two-Day Event. Hosted by Full Tilt Poker pro Amanda Mandy BBaker, the tournament featured an overlay of over $200,000, but you won’t hear any complaints from PocketFiver Nick SalamanderHeather (pictured at right), who came out on top for $150,000. It marked the largest poker cash to date for the Dublin native, who won the Titan Poker $50,000 Guaranteed back in January for $13,000.
The final tournaments of MiniFTOPS XVI and the 2010 PokerStars Spring Championship of Online Poker (SCOOP) taking place on the same weekend may have led to the lower turnout for the Two-Day Event, which began on Saturday, May 15th. For Heather, the win allowed him to take a deep sigh of relief: “It’s been such a tough year with so many close calls. I was really doubting myself and wondering if I could win a big one. All of the hard work and long hours are so worth it now.”
Heather relayed that the key pot occurred when 11 players remained in the MiniFTOPS XVI Two-Day Event. Online poker legend Mark dipthrong Herm (pictured at left) was seated to Heather’s left and making life difficult for the Irishman, but Heather came out on the winning end of a race with pocket tens against Herm’s A-K to scoop a two million chip pot. Heather added, “The final table was very swingy. I made one or two bad calls and then picked up the second nut flush versus the nut flush against the only other guy with a lot of chips, which was really cold. However, I managed to recover and felt I played very well three- and four-handed.”
Heather’s largest poker cash prior to the MiniFTOPS XVI Two-Day Event came in the €500 Main Event of the 2008 Ladbrokes Poker Festival in Killarney for over $28,000. As you’d expect, his throng of supporters has been pleased with his performance: “Everyone in the poker world I’m friends with couldn’t be happier for me. Everyone has been saying that it’s a long time coming and overdue, which is cool.”
The new MiniFTOPS winner has had a bevy of success across online poker sites that don’t accept players from the United States. In late April, Heather took down a $20,000 Guaranteed Speed tournament on PartyPoker for $5,900 and was the runner-up in the site’s $12,000 Guaranteed two weeks prior for $2,100. He also won the aforementioned Titan Poker $50,000 Guaranteed.
On flopping around the world’s most popular online poker sites, Heather commented, “I think you have to play differently on each site. On PartyPoker, it’s okay to raise-fold 15 to 20 big blinds, as you rarely get shoved on too light, while on PokerStars and Full Tilt, I’d be much tighter with that stack size. I guess the same can be said for Titan Poker in that you can raise-fold more than on U.S. sites.” Heather added that he’s cut down on his table volume in order to concentrate on players’ tendencies.
On his mentality heading into the middle of 2010, Heather told us, “I for sure feel more in control, but it hadn’t really shown in my results recently. I felt like something big was coming, as I’ve come close in some live tournaments recently also.” He cashed in two World Series of Poker (WSOP) tournaments last year for over $6,000 combined.
Poker quite literally runs in the blood in Heather’s family. His grandfather has been a professional poker player and gambler for over 50 years. His elder has stressed the importance of bankroll management and coached Heather on how to deal with the swings of the game. On whether the advice has been helpful, Heather admitted, “With advice, yes, but not so much on the poker front, as he rarely plays anymore. He’s been a great supporter of mine when people have doubted my career choice.”
You can catch Heather battling it out in $1,000 and $1,500 events during the upcoming WSOP. In addition, he’ll partake in the Main Event, which begins on July 5th. In case you missed it, here were the final table results from the $216 MiniFTOPS Two-Day Event:
1. Salamander6 – $150,000 (Salamander)
2. arpchi – $94,500
3. planetearf – $69,000
4. Ozgur Arda – $51,750
5. HonestJonJon – $36,000
6. jakob1337 – $24,000
7. dinamopinz – $15,713
8. soggy dogg – $10,500
9. Operga – $7,500
Visit Full Tilt Poker for more information.