Every few months online poker’s finest tournament players gather on Full Tilt to take part in the Full Tilt Series of Poker. The latest festival, FTOPS XII, has recently been unveiled with an unprecedented amount of guaranteed cash on offer. Outdoing the the FTOPS XI by a full $3 million, this year’s series guarantees a cumulative total of added money of over $18 million. The majority of this money will be available to players competing in the main series, although $2 million has been set aside for the new MiniFTOPS.
As with previous efforts, each event is hosted by a well known Full Tilt sponsored player. These “Red” Pros are often aligned to games in which they specialize and are guaranteed to be featured alongside the other players in the tournament. A whole host of other big name sponsored players are also likely to compete in each event, with the likes of Phil Ivey, Gus Hansen, and Chris “Jesus” Ferguson expected to show.
Those unable to meet the buy-ins in the hundreds of dollars can take a long shot at glory by entering any of the numerous satellites that run before and during the series. One neat addition to this year’s lineup will give the thousands of low limit players a chance to compete in their own FTOPS competition. The MiniFTOPS will run along side its bigger brother, offering identical tournaments at 1/10th the buy-in. This will also have their share of added value, with over $2 million of added money on offer throughout the mini-series.
FTOPS has always been known for the wide variety of tournaments it provides during its two week long stay, and this year appears to be no exception. Shootout and Turbo events of all varieties return along side the ever popular two-day tournament. All this variety inevitably leads towards the high profile Main Event on May 17th. This $500 buy-in tournament will feature $2.5 million of added money.
A number of interesting side tournaments have also been announced, most notably the FTOPS Tournament of Champions. All the event winners from FTOPS IX-XII will be invited to play in a unique tournament to see who the most talented FTOPS champion really is. At the other end of the scale, those unlucky enough to hit the bubble in FTOPS XII will be automatically entered into the “Bouncebackability” freeroll. This gives the down and out player another chance at glory, with main events seats for FTOPS XIII on offer.
FTOPS XII begins on May 6th with Event #1, a $200 + $16 No Limit Hold ‘em 6-max tournament, with $1 million guaranteed. The series concludes with the main event on Sunday May 17th.