FTOPS VI - Full Tilt Online Poker Series The Full Tilt Online Poker Series is a recurring poker tournament series hosted online by Full Tilt Poker. Like most poker tournaments, the Full Tilt Online Poker Series is usually turned into an acronym, so it's commonly known as the FTOPS. The first series of tournaments in the FTOPS was held in August 2006 and consisted of nine events.

The main event of each FTOPS is a $500+$35 buy-in no limit Texas holdem tournament. The buy-in's for most of the other tournament events are $200+$16, but the Full Tilt Online Poker Series recently started offering lower buy-in events at $100+$9. (They also added some higher buy-in events with buy-ins as high as $2500+$120, but the main event has remained at the traditional $500+$35 level throughout all six events.)

Unlike the World Championship of Online Poker from PokerStars, the FTOPS is not an annual event. Instead, Full Tilt offers a new Full Tilt Online Poker Series approximately every three months.

I've included recaps of all FTOPS events below along with the total prize pools that were paid out during each series.

FTOPS I - Full Tilt Online Poker Series I

The first FTOPS began on August 14, 2006. The series consisted of nine events, three of which were no limit Texas holdem tournaments. The other six events were made up of HORSE, Omaha hi-lo, Omaha hi, and pot limit and fixed limit Texas holdem.

The first event saw the biggest field of competitors with 2000 players. The main event hosted 1468 players.

The lowest prize pool during the first series was the pot limit Omaha Hi event which had a $100,000 prize pool. The highest prize pool during FTOPS I was the main event, which hosted 1468 players and offered a prize pool of $734,000.

Crownnginger won the main event of the FTOPS I which was a prize of $161,480.

The total prize pool for all FTOPS I events was $2,008,800. The total number of players for the entire series was 7779.

FTOPS II - Full Tilt Online Poker Series II

The second FTOPS began on November 11, 2006. This second series also consisted of nine events. The main event and one other event were no limit Texas holdem games, but the other events expanded the game choices to include razz. HORSE, Omaha hi-lo, Omaha hi, and pot limit and fixed limit Texas holdem were also represented during this series' events.

Event #2 of FTOPS II saw the biggest field of the series. It was a no limit Texas holdem event with 3010 players competing. The smallest event was the razz tournament, which only hosted 493 players.

The lowest prize pool was the razz event, which paid out $98,600 in prizes. The highest prize pool during FTOPS II was the main event, which hosted 2449 players and offered a prize pool of $1,224,500. (The tournament saw a growth of 68% over the previous tournament.)

Spiked won the main event of the FTOPS II, which amounted to $224,653.

The total prize pool for all FTOPS II events was $3,023,500. The total number of players in all events was 11,279.

FTOPS III - Full Tilt Online Poker Series III

FTOPS VI - Full Tilt Online Poker Series The third Full Tilt Online Poker Series (FTOPS III) began in February 2007. This third series consisted of ten events. Five of the ten events were no limit Texas holdem events, although one of those was six-person max and another was a rebuy tournament. The FTOPS III did not offer a fixed limit Texas holdem event, but did offer HORSE and HA as well as the Omaha 8 and Omaha Hi events. They also offered a pot limit Texas holdem event.

The biggest event of FTOPS III was also the biggest field of any Full Tilt Online Poker Series to date, in the main event. 3217 players competed in the main event. The smallest event was the HORSE tournament, which had 569 participants.

The lowest prize pool was the HORSE tournament, which offered $113,800 in prizes. The biggest prize pool was the main event, which offered $1,608,500 in prizes. (This shows growth of about 30% over the previous event, which is respectable but not as impressive as the growth of series 2 over series 1.)

Traheho won the main event of the FTOPS III, which amounted to $288,001.

The total prize pool for all FTOPS III events was $4,416,600. The total number of players in the series was 13,985.

FTOPS IV - Full Tilt Online Poker Series IV

The fourth Full Tilt Online Poker Series (FTOPS IV) began in May 2007. This fourth series consisted of ten events. Seven of these ten events were no limit Texas holdem events, although one of those was a six person max tourney and another was a rebuy tourney. The only other games offered in this series were pot limit Texas holdem, pot limit Omaha Hi, and pot limit Omaha 8.

The biggest event during this series showed growth over the previous series' biggest event, with 3798 participants in the main event. The smallest event was a no limit Texas holdem tournament with only 651 participants.

The lowest prize pool was $130,200 at this smallest event. The largest prize pool was the main event which offered a prize pool of $1,899,000. This was the first FTOPS to offer an event with a buy-in of $1000 + $60. The higher buy in event was popular; 908 players participated.

John_McClane17 won the main event and $336,217.

The total prize pool for all FTOPS IV events was $5,826,200. The total number of players in the series was 17,579.

FTOPS V - Full Tilt Online Poker Series V

FTOPS VI - Full Tilt Online Poker Series The fifth Full Tilt Online Poker Series (FTOPS V) began in August 2007. The fifth series consisted of fourteen events. Seven of these fourteen events were no limit Texas holdem tournaments, and this event boasted two six person max events and one rebuy tournament. This was also the first FTOPS to offer a stud tournament as part of the series. Three of this FTOPS' events were Omaha events, one of which was a rebuy event.

The biggest event was the main event with 4578 participants and a prize pool of $2,289,000. The smallest event was the 7 card stud tournament, which had 597 entrants and a prize pool of $119,400.

This was the first FTOPS to offer an event with a $2500 + $120 buy in. 648 participants played in this no limit Texas holdem tournament.

CrazyZachary won the main event and $395,905.

The total prize pool for FTOPS V was $10,548,200, and the total number of players who participated was 24857.

FTOPS VI - Full Tilt Online Poker Series VI

The sixth Full Tilt Online Poker Series (FTOPS VI) began on November 7, 2007 and consisted of sixteen events. Eight of these events were no limit Texas holdem tournaments, some of which were six person max and rebuy. One of these no limit tournaments was a knockout tournament for the first time. This series also featured a razz tournament and a stud 8 tournament.

The main event was again the biggest event with 4371 players participating. The prize pool for the main event was $2,185,500. The FTOPS VI was the first main FTOPS event to have fewer participants and a smaller prize pool than the main event of the previous series.

The pot limit Omaha six max event had the fewest participants with 616 players. The stud 8 tournament had the lowest prize pool of just $80,600.

Fkscreennames won the main event and $385,937.

The total prize pool for FTOPS VI was $11,158,00, and the total number of participants was 27,493.

Upcoming FTOPS Events

FTOPS VI - Full Tilt Online Poker Series Based on past trends, the next FTOPS (Full Tilt Poker Series VII) should probably take place in February 2008. The growth in the number of players and the prize pools seems to be leveling off with Series VI, but overlay situations might become more common, since all events have guaranteed prize pools.

But it looks like the Full Tilt Online Poker Series is here to stay.