The Full Tilt Online Poker Series (FTOPS) was an online poker tournament series which ran on Full Tilt Poker. It was established in August 2006 [1] and was held approximately every three months.[2]
The FTOPS consisted of multiple tournaments in a variety of different poker games, each of which was hosted by a different Full Tilt professional.[3] FTOPS I consisted of eight Texas Hold 'em and Omaha Hold 'em tournaments, but the series since expanded to include Stud, Razz, and mixed games, as well as knockout bounty, shootout, cashout, short-handed, and heads up tournaments. With the FTOPS XIII in August 2009, Full Tilt added a charity event to the series to benefit Ante Up for Africa, hosted by Don Cheadle.[4] The main event was a $500 buy in No Limit Holdem tournament for FTOPS I to XV and $600 from FTOPS XVI onwards. The $2,100 Two-Day Event was for a long time the highest buy-in tournament in the series, but as of FTOPS XIX, the $10,300 Two-Day Heads-Up Event surpassed it.
The series featured a number of ongoing challenges that reward players for certain feats, such as winning 30 hands without showdown.[5] Players who made the final table are awarded an FTOPS jacket, and event winners were awarded an FTOPS gold jersey and an FTOPS gold jersey avatar to represent them at Full Tilt’s tables.[6] At the FTOPS XV in February 2010, any player who made the money in 17 of the 27 events would have received a $1 million bonus.
While the FTOPs series included many notable performance by top poker pros, arguably the most notable feat was accomplished in August 2008, when poker pro Yuval Bronshtein, playing under his handle "Yuvee04" took down two FTOPS in the same day.[7] [8] [9] Bronshtein won four FTOPs total, which is also an all time FTOPs record.[10]
Full Tilt also ran the MiniFTOPS, which took place one month later and featured the same events at one-tenth of the original buy-ins.[11]
| Series | Date | Entrants | Winner | First Prize |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| FTOPS I | August 2006 | 1,468 |  Crownnginger | $161,480 |
| FTOPS II | November 2006 | 2,449 | Spiked | $224,653 |
| FTOPS III | February 2007 | 3,217 | Traheho (Alec Torelli) | $288,001 |
| FTOPS IV | May 2007 | 3,798 | John_McClane17 | $336,217 |
| FTOPS V | August 2007 | 4,578 | CrazyZachary (Zachary Clark) | $395,905 |
| FTOPS VI | November 2007 | 4,371 | fkscreennames (Daryl Jace) | $385,937 |
| FTOPS VII | February 2008 | 5,291 | Reverse | $456,401 |
| FTOPS VIII | May 2008 | 4,750 | cheesemonster (Keith Lehr) | $410,780 |
| FTOPS IX | August 2008 | 4,880 | dubbeemin (Brian Mintz) | $432,400 |
| FTOPS X | November 2008 | 5,225 | Julian Verse (Va Shon Watkins) | $450,708 |
| FTOPS XI | February 2009 | 5,287 | csimmsux (Adam Geyer) | $456,056[12] |
| FTOPS XII | May 2009 | 4,581 | Pocketownage420 | $432,400[13] |
| FTOPS XIII | August 2009 | 5,306 | Poligraph (Matthew Waxman) | $453,663[14] |
| FTOPS XIV | November 2009 | 5,471 | zhivago2 (Heinz Kamutzki) | $418,839[15] |
| FTOPS XV | February 2010 | 5,645 | JackQKA | $237,644 (7-way deal)[16] |
| FTOPS XVI | May 2010 | 4,534 | Kirbynator | $327,057.40 (3-way deal)[17] |
| FTOPS XVII | August 2010 | 4,805 | TyboVegas | $423,057.41 (2-way deal)[18] |
| FTOPS XVIII | November 2010 | 5,023 |  JHoWn | $411,932.13 (3-way deal)[19] |
| FTOPS XIX | February 2011 | 14,479 |  GIAMPP | $877,949.74 (3-way deal)[20] |
| FTOPS XX | May 2011 | 4,666 |  ArielBahia (Ariel Celestino) | $346,696 (4-way deal)[21] |
| FTOPS XXI | December 2012 | 4,766 |  yadio1111 (Yann Dion) | $453,229.40 (2-way deal)[22] |
| FTOPS XXII | March 2013 | 3,653 |  feel fine | $392,332.20[23] |
| FTOPS XXIII | August 2013 | 3,327 | Itahaschi | $270,828.43 (3-way deal)[24] |
| FTOPS XXIV | December 2013 | 2,755 |  poksu pete | $207,016.12 (3-way deal)[25] |
| FTOPS XXV | April 2014 | 2,557 | Firaldo87 (Niall Farrell) | $236,232.74 (3-way deal)[26] |
| FTOPS XXVI | August 2014 | 1,500 | ponyo88 | $153,962.72 (3-way deal)[27] |
| FTOPS XXVII | December 2014 | 1,767 | natfalber11 (Nathaniel Falber) | $212,040[28] |
| FTOPS XXVIII | March 2015 | 1,260 |  potta_x_potta (Mustapha Kanit) | $239,400[29] |
| FTOPS XXIX | March 2016 | 815 | CMoosepower (Christian Elgstrøm) | $63,472[30] |