Starting on Sunday, June 27th, players on Full Tilt Poker can win their way into the upcoming World Poker Tour (WPT) Bellagio Cup VI. Direct and Step Sit and Go qualifiers will be available on the world’s second largest online poker site until July 4th.
The Bellagio Cup VI kicks off on July 11th from the Bellagio in Las Vegas and crowns a champion five days later. The $10,300 buy-in for the Bellagio Cup has been drastically reduced from last year’s $15,400 price tag. Full Tilt Poker is awarding $12,000 prize packages, which includes the $10,300 Bellagio Cup seat plus $1,700 in spending money to use for travel and lodging. The Bellagio Cup runs concurrently with the end of the 2010 World Series of Poker (WSOP) Main Event, which emanates from the nearby Rio All-Suite Hotel and Casino.
Three direct qualifiers will be held on Full Tilt Poker, the first of which takes place on Tuesday, June 29th at 21:00 ET. The first qualifier comes with a $322 buy-in. The second direct satellite to the WPT Bellagio Cup VI plays out on Thursday, July 1st and features a high-stakes $1,060 buy-in. The final direct qualifier occurs on Independence Day – July 4th – in the United States at 16:30 ET with a $640 buy-in. Satellites are available for as low as $1 or 50 Full Tilt Points (FTPs). In each direct qualifier, at least one $12,000 WPT prize package is up for grabs.
Step 7 Sit and Gos will also award prize packages to the Bellagio Cup and begin on June 28th. Every Step 7 Sit and Go comes with a $2,100 buy-in, while the first step costs only $3.30. For players who qualify for the Bellagio Cup through Full Tilt Poker, discounted room rates at the hallmark Las Vegas Strip hotel are available. Everyone who qualifies must be at least 21 years of age, which is the legal live gambling age in the United States.
Meanwhile, Full Tilt Poker has awarded 1,257 seats to the 2010 WSOP Main Event, which begins on July 5th with the first of four starting days. Only one day of qualifiers remains for those looking to punch their tickets to poker’s largest tournament. Last Sunday, Full Tilt coughed up 150 Main Event seats as part of a $640 satellite and is awarding a colossal $10 million bonus for qualifiers who go on to win it all.
In 2000, Full Tilt Poker pro Chris Ferguson won the WSOP Main Event for $1.5 million, besting poker veteran T.J. Cloutier heads-up in a final table that also included Hasan Habib, author Jim McManus, 2009 November Niner Jeff Shulman, and Mickey Appleman. 2000 also marked the year that UB.com pro and Poker News Daily Guest Columnist Annie Duke bubbled the Main Event final table, finishing 10th for $52,000.
Full Tilt recently kicked off the second season of its España Poker Series. Casino Castell de Peralada in Gerona hosted the first event in April, which boasted a €1,500 buy-in. Earlier this month, Málaga’s Casino Torrequebrada was the venue for event #2 of the España Poker Series, while Madrid’s Casino Gran will host the third stop in August. The Grand Final will occur at the Gran Casino de Barcelona from December 2nd to 5th.
Full Tilt happily accepts players from the United States. According to PokerScout.com, which keeps tabs on online poker room activity, Full Tilt is the second busiest site worldwide in terms of real money ring game traffic with a seven-day running average of 13,800 players. It weighs in at about half of the cash game traffic of PokerStars, the world’s largest site.
Head to Full Tilt Poker to qualify for the WPT Bellagio Cup VI.