The Full Tilt Poker Onyx Cup Series has its first qualifier. Full Tilt hosted a $600+$40 online qualifier, attracting 124 contenders. The qualifier tournament was won by Sorel “Imper1um” Mizzi, who was only recently allowed back on Full Tilt. Mizzi was banned for just shy of three years, due to infractions such as creating multiple accounts and purchasing accounts from other players in the middle of tournament play. Mizzi is now in possession of a $100k buy-in for the Onyx Cup Series.
The Onyx Cup Series is a live tournament, with buy-ins ranging from $100k to $300k. Structured to only attract the nosebleed players, the qualifier tournaments are a bargain for most poker players to get a chance at playing in the Onyx Cup Series at all. The tournament Mizzi won a buy-in to is expected to have anywhere from $3 to $5 million in the prize pool.
The tournament will consist of five stops of tournaments, culminating in a $250k buy-in Grand Finale tournament. The winning players will compete for the money, and earn points as they progress through the tournaments. At the conclusion, only one player will be crowned the champion and be awarded the first Onyx Cup in poker history.
Full Tilt is only hosting five online satellites to the Onyx Cup tournament. They will be on March 27 (won by Mizzi), April 10, and May 1, all at 18:30 ET. One final Onyx Cup buy-in will be awarded to the player who competes in a series of three freeroll tournaments, placing in the top 4 in the first, the top 100 of the second, and wins the final freeroll.