Full Tilt Poker Onyx Cup Series Suspended

Full Tilt Poker has put the brakes on its Onyx Cup Series, a tournament series that was scheduled to have buy-ins ranging from $100,000 to $300,000. While Full Tilt Poker did not immediately give a reason for the cancellation, it seems clear that this was a reaction to the FBI seizing the domain names of Full Tilt Poker, PokerStars and Absolute Poker, as well as indicting two of FTP’s founders, Ray Bitar and Nelson Burtnick.

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According to reports in Bluff Magazine, the first two events – one scheduled for early May, the other for early July – have been officially postponed. Though FTP did not make an official statement on the future of the series, it is likely that the entire Onyx Cup Series will eventually be cancelled.

The Onyx Cup Series was envisioned as an elite series of tournaments that would attract only the top players with the massive bankrolls necessary to compete in events with six-figure buy-ins. While satellites would exist that would plump the fields with some wild cards, the massive buy-ins would make the number of seats available very small, giving the tournaments a true ‘best-of-the-best’ feel. The tour was scheduled to have six stops in total.

Full Tilt Poker has already run qualifiers for the first Onyx Cup tournament; it is unclear how or if players who qualified will be compensated.

The Onyx Cup is not the only casualty of the US government’s move against online poker, as many companies have already cut ties with online poker companies in the last few days. Agreements between casino groups and poker sites have been annulled, many poker television shows have been cancelled, and even other sponsored tours – such as the PokerStars North American Poker Tour – may very well be at risk. ESPN and other networks have also removed online poker advertisements from their programming and websites.