The Full Tilt Online Poker Series (FTOPS) is one of the most highly anticipated tournament schedules in poker. Although the FTOPS takes place multiple times during the year, the medium to high buy-in series still attracts thousands of players. The 14th running has been as consistent in numbers as any in the past, meaning there is going to be a hotly contested Main Event when all is said and done. The FTOPS XIV Main Event takes place on Sunday, November 15th at 18:00 ET on Full Tilt Poker and has a $2.5 million prize pool guarantee.
The Main Event has a long and rich history spanning several years. All FTOPS Main Events have been No Limit Hold’em tournaments with a buy-in of $500+$35. The very first FTOPS Main Event attracted 1,468 players, with eventual champion “crownnginger” taking home an unprecedented $161,480. At that point, Full Tilt Poker knew it had a winner in the FTOPS series.
The first FTOPS Main Event tournament pool to exceed $2 million was in FTOPS V. With 4,578 entrants, the official prize pool was a stunning $2.3 million, with “CrazyZachary” cashing in for $395,905.
The newest member of the Full Tilt Poker family of sponsored pros, Tom “durrrr” Dwan, hosts this series’ Main Event. The contest is once again a $500+$35 No Limit Texas Hold’em tournament. There are ongoing satellites running at Full Tilt Poker constantly, including 4, 9, 36, and 54 player sit and gos ranging in buy-in from $5.50 all the way to $185.
The cheapest way to get into the FTOPS Main Event is through the $5.50 No Limit Hold’em sit and gos that have a 54-player max pool. The tournament allows unlimited add-ons through the first six levels of play. There is one guaranteed entry in this satellite, but due to the number of rebuys, that number is usually two and in some cases three.
There is even a free method of getting into the FTOPS Main Event via the 12,000 Full Tilt Point (FTP) satellite tournaments that are nine-player sit and gos. All players pay 12,000 FTPs and the winner of the match gets a ticket to the Main Event. Another free method is through the 2,500 FTP tournament taking place on Saturday at 20:30. There are 72 guaranteed seats in the tournament and Full Tilt Pros such as Lee Watkinson and Marco Liesy are participating.
Another popular way of getting in is the $24+$1 Super Turbo Satellites to the FTOPS Main Event. These run a few times daily and offer one guaranteed entry into the Main Event. In this crazy shove-fest, players start with just 300 chips and blinds go up every five minutes. Sure, it might be a luck-box filled tournament, but it’ll sure be fun to try a few out. For those of you with a healthy bankroll, there is a $100+$9 tournament that is expected to exceed 1,000 players and award a minimum of 250 seats. The good news is that there are satellites into this particular satellite that run anywhere from 900 FTPs all the way up to $36+$3 single-table tournaments.
The guaranteed prize pool for the FTOPS XIV Main Event is $2.5 million and the first place prize will be at least $427,500, with four more players taking in six-figure payouts. The tournament structure will allow smart and patient players to win out, as all rounders in the event will start with 7,500 in chips and enjoy 15-minute levels starting at 15/30.
There is already a solid group of Full Tilt Pros registered for the feature tournament, including Dwan, WSOP Main Event Champion Huck Seed, Luis Velador, Roy Winston, Scott Fischman, and Vitaly Lunkin. If one of them takes down the Main Event, it’ll be the first time in the history of FTOPS that a sponsored pro has won. Pro or amateur alike, a $2.5 million prize pool is sure to bring out all of the drama and excitement that only a Hold’em tournament can.
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