March 14 2011, Elaine Chaivarlis

On Friday, an announcement of an upcoming announcement was released regarding a high-stakes poker tour from Full Tilt Poker. The poker community was on pins and needles waiting for the announcement which came on Monday, March 14 at 13:00 EST.

Full Tilt Poker announced the Onyx Cup. A tournament series with buy-ins from $100,000 to $300,000, with an estimated $30 million prize pool across the entire series. There will be five preliminary events, culminating in a $250,000 buy-in Grand Finale that will see $1 million added to the prize pool.

The top three finishers in each event will earn points toward the Onyx Cup leaderboard. At the end of the Grand Finale, the person with the most points at the top of the leaderboard will earn the title of Onyx Cup Champion, and will be presented with the Onyx Cup, get a luxury sports car, and be acknowledged as “the player that conquered poker’s elite.”

Onyx Cup events will take place in the United States, Europe, and Asia and will be broadcast in 20 different languages across 40 countries. Qualifiers will begin on March 15 on Full Tilt Poker.

The announcement of the Onyx Cup came in the form of a video, hosted by Ali Nejad. He was joined by Phil Ivey, Patrik Antonius, Gus Hansen, Erik Seidel, and Tom Dwan to discuss the new event.

“It’s not just about the money in this event,” Ivey said. “It’s more about playing with the caliber of players that we’re going to be up against. You know, playing against the best players, and a lot of these guys here at the table are my friends and we’re friendly but we’re also super competitive against each other. There’s going to be a lot of pride that comes along with winning this event.”

When asked whether the event was a surprise to them or only just a matter of time with the way buy-ins have been increasing, Seidel said, “I do think it’s a natural progression because there’s so much money around and people are playing for such high stakes that it was inevitable. I think Full Tilt Poker was the only online organization that could pull this off because they have all the best players in the world.”

The first Onyx Cup event will be held in Las Vegas on May 11 and will feature a bevy of poker’s elite, including Team Full Tilt members, Howard Lederer, Erik Seidel, Chris Ferguson, Erick Lindgren, John Juanda, and more.

For your chance to qualify, sign up for a Full Tilt Poker account. Also, remember to follow us on Twitter for up-to-the-minute news.

March 14 2011, Gloria Balding

Anyone following the news in the past few days knows about the epic earthquake that shook Japan down to its core. The devastation played out like a Bruckheimer produced Hollywood movie with pictures only million dollar special effects can copy. In reality, the images will cost more than a few million dollars. The damage is so bad that preliminary numbers are not even on the minds of anyone. The loss of life is.

We here at PokerNews have had the situation affect us personally. Many of our staff has travelled to Japan in the past and have developed lasting friendships with folks in Japan who are now coping with an experience few can imagine, and in some cases waiting for lifelong friends to get in touch. Way worse than any run-bad or bad beat.

With all of the flack that poker seems to get about the “degen lifestyle,” we wanted to turn the spot light for a moment on the hearts of the players and community that we call home. When the earthquake struck, the final table of the Main Event of The Big Event at the Bicycle Casino in Los Angeles was under way. Chad Holloway, who was covering the event for PokerNews reported, “During The Big Event Main Event here in L.A., the whole poker room basically came to a stop to watch the developments on TV. Not only that, Joe Hachem and Victor Ramdin, who were playing heads up at the time, paused their tournament and contemplated pausing for the night in light of the events. They ended up finishing it up, but it was a really kind gesture.”

Shortly thereafter tweets started to pour in from all over the globe from players who were watching the devastation live and balking at the sheer enormity of what they were seeing. The visceral reaction towards the chaos aside, it was only a matter of time before poker players started to get involved and naturally, being that this generation of poker players lives and breaths on the Internet, the World Wide Web was set ablaze with ways to get involved.

Many players including Chino Rheem and Shane Schleger were posting the Red Cross text number, 90999, to raise awareness of how folks can get involved. The Red Cross 90999 text is an emergency service that makes it easy for people to donate – it adds a donation of $10 to your next phone bill with each text sent. In true Shaniac style, Schleger called on the poker community to spend money on something bigger than themselves saying, “And to repeat, if the money doesn’t get to Japan, even if the Red-X squanders $8 of the $10, still better than most crap we blow money on.”

Justin “BoostedJ” Smith threw out a challenge for everyone, not just the poker community, that he would donate $1 for every retweet of the Red Cross text of 90999. According to his tweets the response was so great that his twitter recount broke, so he was going to have to do it manually. If anyone who has not already retweeted wants to do so, check out his Twitter page for more. Go ahead and do it, I am pretty sure the Full Tilt Poker Red Pro can handle the down swing.

UB’s Maria Ho went so far as to give away a seat to her weekly $300 buy-in $50,000 guarantee tournament to the first person to ship her a twit pic of their $10 Red Cross text. When asked for comment, Ho replied, “The coverage on the devastation in Japan has been absolutely heartbreaking to watch and I think it’s important for us to take action. Something that is quick and easy is texting the word “REDCROSS” to 90999 to make a $10 donation instead of spending it on your Starbucks run in the morning. But it’s also important to remember that helping the relief effort does not have to be monetary, volunteering your time to go into your local Red Cross center to help put together disaster relief kits or going out and collecting items from donors would be a great way to help. But most importantly, we should remember that there is so much else going on in the world today between natural disasters, political turmoil, and social and gender inequalities that we should really step outside ourselves and find ways to get involved and help our global community.”

Time and time again, the poker community has stepped up when disasters occurred, like this recent disaster in Japan and the awful earthquake in Haiti, but also consistently at charity tournaments all over the world. Many players, as we have seen in the past, even patch themselves up for a cause near and dear to them. The old adage of, “to whom much is given, much is expected,” rings true now more than ever.

If you want to get involved in Japan Relief here are a few sites that are providing relief in Japan. It should be noted PokerNews does not endorse these charities directly, but are being included as organizations recommended for their own well known track record in the relief community. Also, let us know in the comment section below of any creative ways you are getting involved, and not just in Japan relief, but in your communities as a whole. Think of a donation as a thank you card to the culture that has given poker players one thing they cannot live without – sushi.

The Red Cross: The mothership of emergency relief agencies, they have numerous offices around the world. This link is for the American branch, but localized branch websites also have a donation page. And remember texting 90999 will automatically donate $10 to the American Red Cross. Donate Here.

Doctors Without Borders: Known also by their French name of Médecins Sans Frontières, they are a medical aid group in over 60 countries. They already have a team on the ground in Japan assessing and treating the critically injured. Donate Here.

Save The Children: They are mobilizing resources to children and families affected by the earthquake and the following tsunami. Donate Here.

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