Online Poker Tournament Series Events
Many of the biggest poker sites and networks hold a regular online series of poker - which is simply many tournaments held over a certain period of time. An online poker series can offer excellent value for money in terms of buy-in compared to guaranteed prize pools. Read on to find out more about some of the biggest series events, and which online poker rooms host them.
Full Tilt Online Poker Series (FTOPS)
Room: Full Tilt Poker
Frequency: About 4 times per year
Number of Events: 27
Total Prize Money: $17 million plus $6 million in the following Mini-FTOPS
Biggest Money Tournament: $2.5 million Main Event
Buy-In Costs: Lowest - $109, Highest - $2,500 + $120
The Full Tilt Online Poker Series is one of the most frequent major online tournament series, and it features a large number of events, covering a surprisingly wide variety of games. In FTOPS, Razz and 7-game events are often found among all of the Hold ‘Em and Omaha tourneys you’d expect from an online poker series. This series also features a number of side promotions, such as the FTOPS Challenges, which award bonus prizes to players who fulfill certain difficult challenge requirements in FTOPS tourneys.
The Mini-Full Tilt Online Poker Series is very good value, offering the same schedule as FTOPS. The difference is that you can enter these events at a tenth of the buy-in of the corresponding FTOPS event. The prize pools do not diminish by quite as much as the buy-ins, however, so Mini-FTOPS is potentially even better value for money than the main series.
» Full Tilt Poker Review » Click to Play at Full Tilt Poker
World Championship of Online Poker (WCOOP)
Room: PokerStars
Frequency: Annual
Number of Events: 45
Total Prize Money: $40 million
Biggest Money Tournament: $10 million Main Event
Buy-In Costs: Lowest - $109, Highest - $25,500
The World Championship of Online Poker at PokerStars is the biggest online tournament series by far. With 45 events and $40 million in total guaranteed prizes, it blows all the other competition out of the water. However, it happens just once a year, and the competition is as tough as you’d expect for tournaments with prize pools worth several millions of dollars. As this is the most prestigious online poker series, don’t expect to go into this as a rank amateur and come away a winner.
» PokerStars Review » Click to Play at PokerStars
Spring Championship of Online Poker (SCOOP)
Room: PokerStars
Frequency: Annual
Number of Events: 22
Total Prize Money: $30 million
Biggest Money Tournament: $5 million High Stakes Main Event
Buy-In Costs: Varies depending on stakes
The Spring Championship of Online Poker really makes up for the low frequency of WCOOP and its lack of budget options. Every SCOOP tourney has three versions: low stakes, medium stakes, and high stakes. This is great news for players with lower and higher budgets, as neither is really catered to in the average online poker series. Again, though, so much money means much stronger competition, as well as a lot more players in general.
» PokerStars Review » Click to Play at PokerStars
Bodog Poker Open (BPO)
Room: Bodog Poker
Frequency: About 2 times per year
Number of Events: 7 for Championship Series, 8 for Contender Series
Total Prize Money: $72,500 of added value, plus finals seats
Biggest Money Tournament: $25,000 Championship Series Final
Buy-In Costs: Lowest - $6 Contender Series event, Highest - $500 Championship Series Finals
The Bodog Poker Open may not be the richest online poker series, but don’t just discount it because of that. The prizes listed above are the ‘value added’ by Bodog. They are potentially much higher, as the true value of the prize pools is actually equal to the amount put into the prize pool by players, plus the value added by Bodog. Also, Bodog does not have quite the same level of competition as some of the bigger tournament series, which may give you a better chance of finishing in the money. Having said that, the BPO series is only for No Limits Hold ‘Em fans, as no other games are covered. Additionally, the Contender Series is more like a complicated satellite tournament series rather than a bonus series. Most Contender Series tournaments offer seats to the Contender Series Finals and Championship Series Finals, so only play the Contender Series with a view to playing in the Championship Series later.
» Bodog Poker Review » Click to Play at Bodog Poker
European Championship of Online Poker (ECOOP)
Room: Titan Poker
Frequency: About 2 times per year
Number of Events: 14
Total Prize Money: $4,550,000
Biggest Money Tournament: $1.5 million Final Event
Buy-In Costs: Lowest - $109, Highest - $2,600
