The latest trend for online poker companies is to have their own live tournament schedules so that customers can participate in the game away from the internet. Full Tilt Poker recently announced that its own sponsored poker tour would be back for the second year.
The Full Tilt Poker Series España will once again consist of four events that start next month. First up is a stop in Gerona at the Casino Castell de Peralada from April 25th to 27th. From that stop, players will move on to Casino Torrequebrada in Malaga from June 4th to 6th and the third stop – after a pause for the World Series of Poker (WSOP) – will take place from August 27th to 29th in Madrid at the Casino Gran. The Full Tilt Poker Series España will wrap up from December 2nd to 5th with the Grand Final, to be held in Barcelona at the Gran Casino de Barcelona.
The first three tournaments of the schedule will have a very respectable buy-in of €1,500 and the Grand Final will be a €3,000 event. Full Tilt Poker is also ensuring that these tournaments will be among the most lucrative in Europe through a guaranteed prize pool for each stop. Full Tilt is guaranteeing €150,000 for the first three stops and a sizeable €550,000 for the Grand Final.
There are plenty of opportunities for players around the world to earn entries into any stop on the Full Tilt Poker Series España. Each week, there are three satellites that run on Full Tilt for players to win their way into the Gerona event. These satellites break down as such during the week:
Tuesdays at 3:45 EDT, $200+$16 buy-in with three guaranteed seats to Gerona
Thursdays at 3:45 EDT, $200+$16 buy-in with three guaranteed seats to Gerona
Sundays at 3:45 EDT, $500 + $35 buy-in with five guaranteed seats to Gerona
Players can buy in directly to these tournaments or they can play their way in through sub-satellites that start as low as $5. These sub-satellites run constantly throughout the day on Full Tilt Poker and guarantee one seat into the Tuesday, Thursday, or Sunday satellite tournaments. For those who aren’t able to win through the satellite route, Full Tilt Poker is giving its players the option of registering for any of the events online.
In 2009, the Full Tilt Poker Series España drew over 800 competitors in the four-event tour. Full Tilt Poker pros such as Raul Paez, Roberto Romanello, Eddy Scharf, Richard Ashby, and Gus Hansen stepped to the felt to battle it out. A total of 226 players came out for the Grand Final, eclipsing the guarantee of €500,000. In the end, Miguel Angel Lorenzo defeated the United States’ Joshua Goldstein to walk away with the first place prize of €200,000.
Full Tilt Poker stands besides some of the other combatants in the online poker wars in having its own live tournament schedule. PokerStars started it all approximately six years ago when it created the European Poker Tour (EPT) and, last fall, Party Gaming added to its already impressive slate of live tournament events by upping the ante with the purchase of the World Poker Tour (WPT). With its own schedule in Spain, Full Tilt is adding another aspect to the online poker wars.
