Full Tilt success continues with FTOPS-2

The year's second Full Tilt Online Poker Series (FTOPS) starts this weekend as Full Tilt Poker continues to grow its player pool in the wake of the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act.

Full Tilt has become the second largest online poker room since PartyPoker.com, ParadisePoker.com, and PokerRoom.com dropped out of the U.S. Market.

PokerStars.com is solidly in first, but Full Tilt is consistently beating the slumping Party Poker in average players and average peak players to claim second.

Although Full Tilt has always boasted hefty cash-game numbers due to strong advertising and a large professional-player presence, in the last month, the site has attracted high participation in their major tournaments as well.

Poker Stars continues to lead the tournament scene with its weekly Sunday Million, but Full Tilt has moved its weekly guarantee from$250,000 to $350,000.

The second FTOPS series is an extension of that success.

In August, Full Tilt held its first online poker series (FTOPS 1), offering nine tournaments guaranteeing $1,075,000 in prize money.

The first series drew 7,779 players, creating a prize pool of $1,962,200 and making FTOPS 1 Main Event champion "crownginger" the biggest single-tournament winner in Full Tilt history ($161,400).

Round two of this series is promising $2,775,000 in prize money for nine events, including a $1,000,000 No-Limit Hold'em Main Event on November 19.

This is the first time Full Tilt has held a $1,000,000 guaranteed tournament, joining Poker Stars, Party Poker and Paradise Poker as the only online poker rooms to do so.

To make the series more attractive, Full Tilt has at least doubled the guaranteed money for each of the events and added a Razz tournament to the list. The Omaha Hi-Lo tournament was also changed to Pot-Limit Omaha E/OB format.

Perhaps the biggest FTOPS draw in the Full Tilt arsenal is the group of professional players that endorse the site. While Full Tilt pros are not obligated to plays in the FTOPS, many of them do, giving amateurs a chance to compete with the biggest names in poker.

Howard Lederer, Roland de Wolfe and Eric Froelich all made the final table of the first event of FTOPS 1, a $200 + $15 No-Limit Hold'em tournament that enticed 2000 entrants. The final table attracted one of the largest crowds of observers in Full Tilt tournament history.