Full Tilt Poker Onyx Cup Series

The best poker players in the world will be competing in a special event called the Onyx Cup Series. This is a live event that is being exclusively managed by Full Tilt Poker. The series consists of six live poker tournaments hosted in Las Vegas, Europe and Asia. The combined prize pool for these events is $30,000,000. The buy-ins for each event are massive, but they are not out of reach for the average online poker player. Full Tilt Poker is hosting feeder tournaments and freerolls that will award a total of 5 seats to the Onyx Cup Series Event #1. That may not seem like much compared to the thousands of World Series of Poker Main Event seat packages they give out every year, but the Onyx Cup Series is completely different. The 2010 Main Event at the WSOP had a $10,000 buy-in, 7,319 entries and a $68,798,600 prize pool. Full Tilt Poker's Onyx Cup Series will likely have around 25-50 players competing in each event, and the buy-ins will range from $100,000 to $250,000. Let's put that into perspective. Pound for pound, the Onyx Cup Series as a whole makes the WSOP Main Event look like a tournament with a $10 buy-in.

Onyx Cup Series Schedule

Full Tilt Poker did not have all of the specifics figured out when they put out the press release about this massive tournament series. The buy-ins for three of the tournaments will be announced at a later date, but they will probably range from $100,000 to $200,000. The exact date and location for most of the tournaments are also still being worked out, but we know the month and general location for each Onyx Cup Series tournament. I have listed the schedule below.

• Event #1 - This tournament will be held in Las Vegas on May 11th-12th, and will have a $100,000 buy-in.
• Event #2 - This tournament will also have a $100,000 buy-in and take place in Las Vegas. The tournament will run from July 7th to July 8th.
• Event #3 & #4 - Both of these events will be held somewhere in Asia in September. The buy-ins have not been published yet.
• Event #5 - This event will be held in Europe in October. The buy-in is TBA.
• Grand Final - The Grand Finale will have a $250,000 buy-in and will be held in Las Vegas. This event will run in December of 2011.

Onyx Cup Series Details

These high stakes tournaments will use a special time-clock format. Each player will only have 30 seconds to make a decision when the action comes to them. Certain situations call for extra consideration though, so every player will receive several time chips. Two will extend their time by 30 seconds and the third will extend their time by 120 seconds. These tournaments will be fast paced, and the action is bound to be very exciting. Each table will have a maximum of eight players. This first five events in this series will award leadboard points in addition to huge amounts of cash. Only the top players on the leaderboard will be able to play in the Grand Finale. The Grand Finale will have the largest guaranteed prize pool, but the winner of this event will not automatically be the Onyx Cup Series champion. It will all depend on who has the most points. Whoever becomes the champion will receive an engraved trophy, and a brand new luxury car in addition to the millions of dollars they have already won.

The Onyx Cup tournaments are being broadcasted on over 40 major TV networks world-wide. With so much money on the line, and the fast paced nature of the tournaments there will likely be millions of viewers for each event. This series is not restricted to the poker elite so you are not doomed to just watch the tournaments on TV. Full Tilt Poker is giving every player a shot to win a seat at the first event.

How To Win A $105,000 Onyx Cup Event #1 Package

Full Tilt Poker is hosting several events that will be awarding $105,000 prize packages to the first event in the Onyx Cup Series. The real money qualifiers have buy-ins ranging from $600+$40 to $2,000 + $100. These are out of reach of the vast majority of players at Full Tilt Poker so they are also running satellites to the feeders that start at just $69+$6. You can win $69+$6 tournament tickets by playing in very low buy-in sit'n'go's and tournaments so you are only two or three steps away from winning a $100,500 seat to the first Onyx Series event. You can also use your Full Tilt Points to buy a $69+$6 tournament ticket. Here is the schedule for the direct qualifiers.

• March 27th - This tournament has a $600+$40 buy-in and will start at 18:30 ET. This qualifier will award one $105,000 seat package to the first Onyx Series tournament in Las Vegas. To meet the guaranteed amount there will need to be 167.5 players signed up.
• April 10th - The buy-in for this satellite is $1,000+$60, and will also be held at 18:30 ET. This tournament will award one $105k seat package and if less than 105 players signup there will be an overlay since one seat package is guaranteed.
• May 1st - This $2,000+$100 buy-in tournament will be awarding two $105k seat packages.

I am predicting overlays for at least 2 of these events. Full Tilt Poker is giving away an additional $105,000 Onyx Cup Series seat for free. Onyx Cup Series round one freerolls will be running daily in tournament and sit'n'go format. Each round one freeroll will award four tickets to the second round Onyx Cup freerolls. The round two freerolls will each award 100 tickets to the Onyx Cup Finale Freeroll which will be held on May 1st at 15:15 ET. The first place finisher in this event will win a $105,000 seat package to the Event #1.

All new Full Tilt players will receive a $600 bonus with Full Tilt Referral Code DP600 plus a Free entry to a $100,00 New Depositors Freeroll that is held every month.