We’re two months away from the start of the 2010 World Series of Poker (WSOP) in Las Vegas. Full Tilt Poker is gearing up to send a throng of players to Sin City, including announcing a 150-seat guaranteed tournament on June 20th.
Perhaps the online poker site’s most creative promotion to send players to Las Vegas is the $1 Main Event Seat. Every Sunday from April 4th to June 27th, $1 buy-in tournaments will feature at least five $12,000 WSOP Main Event prize packages up for grabs. Players can literally turn 100 pennies into WSOP glory and a massive field is expected to turn out for each running. The tournaments kick off at 13:30 ET.
Between June 14th and June 20th, Full Tilt Poker players who have not stamped their tickets to the $10,000 buy-in WSOP tournament can partake in Main Event Week. The period concludes with a special 150-Seat Guarantee on June 20th. The equivalent of $1.8 million will be on the line at 18:00 ET and the tournament boasts a price tag of $640. For those who can’t afford the pricey buy-in, a variety of satellites are available and start as low as $1 or 50 Full Tilt Points (FTPs). Main Event Week also features at least five tournaments per day with WSOP Main Event seats in the prize pool.
All players who take home a $12,000 prize package through Full Tilt will earn the Main Event’s $10,000 entry fee, $2,000 in spending money, dinner with Full Tilt pros, access to the Full Tilt hospitality suite outside of the tournament area, and the option to stay at the Rio All-Suite Hotel and Casino for free. The 2010 WSOP Main Event kicks off on July 5th with the first of four starting days. The contest will play down to a final table on July 17th and then be paused until November for the third straight year.
Full Tilt Poker members can also qualify for the Main Event via Daily Shootout tournaments. The first Daily Shootout ran on March 24th and will continue twice per day until June 27th. Each tournament has a field of 81 players and can be found in the Full Tilt lobby at 15:30 ET and 21:30 ET every day. Daily Shootouts will have one WSOP Main Event prize package up for grabs.
In case you’re unfamiliar with the term “shootout,” text found on Full Tilt Poker’s website has you covered: “Unlike standard multi-table tournaments, where players are moved to keep the tables balanced as others are knocked out, each table in a shootout tournament plays down to a single winner – just like a sit and go.” Each Daily Shootout has a price tag of $216 and qualifiers begin at $1 or 50 FTPs. All are No Limit Hold’em tournaments.
Players can claim their seat in poker’s most prestigious tournament by winning one of a handful of Direct Qualifiers. These began on March 24th and run five times per week until June 27th. On Tuesdays at 21:00 ET, look for a $322 buy-in Direct Qualifier with two $12,000 WSOP Main Event prize packages guaranteed. On Wednesdays, a $216 buy-in Direct Qualifier is held at 16:30 ET and guarantees one package. On Thursdays, a pricey $1,060 Direct Qualifier begins at 21:00 ET and guarantees five packages. On Saturdays, look for a $216 Direct Qualifier at 19:00 ET with at least one package up for grabs. Finally, Sundays feature a $640 buy-in qualifier with at least five packages.
Anyone who qualifies for the 2010 WSOP Main Event through Full Tilt and goes on to win the tournament will receive a colossal $10 million bonus courtesy of the online poker site. Any player who finishes in the money after qualifying through Full Tilt will take home a seat in the 2011 WSOP Main Event.
At the time of writing, Full Tilt Poker had already shelled out 14 WSOP Main Event seats. Visit Full Tilt Poker for full details.
