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FTOPSXXI Announced

With the relaunch of the Full Tilt Poker website fast approaching, Shyam Markus, the Poker Room Manager of Full Tilt, has announced the return of the Full Tilt Online Poker Series (FTOPS). The quarterly tournament is expected to run from December 2nd to December 16th, just under a month following the re-opening of the virtual doors.

The news came via a post on the popular online poker forum, 2+2. Answering a series of questions put forward by customers, Markus was asked: "When is the next FTOPS?" The answer came as some surprise to the poker community, with Markus replying: "December 2nd – 16th (Really!)"

The last FTOPS event was hosted by the website back in April 2011, prior to the website shutting down in June 2011 as a result of the legal action brought against them by the US Department of Justice on Black Friday. The online tournament, along with the World Championship of Online Poker (WCOOP) and Spring Championships of Online Poker (SCOOP), both held by new Full Tilt owners PokerStars, were some of the most notorious tournaments amidst the online poker community.

The schedule for the Full Tilt Online Poker Series usually consists of around forty different major events, with a variety of No Limit Hold ‘em, mixed rotation and Pot Limit Omaha games. The FTOPS XIX in February 2011, the final series before the events of Black Friday in April, carried a $640 + $40 buy-in Main Event, where the prize pot for first place was a guaranteed $1 million.

The following FTOPS XX, held in the same month that the DOJ enacted their civil charges against the website, was noticeably affected. After Full Tilt was denied access to the US market, the prize pool was lowered by $5 million. Despite this, after a four way deal at the Main Event final table, Brazilian winner Ariel “ArielBahia” Celestino, managed to earn almost $350,000.

The FTOPS XXI schedule has yet to be announced. However, with a month between the website relaunch and the series start date, players are expecting to see qualifying satellites running soon.