The event starts on Sunday, March 28th at 0:00 ET with a $23,000 KO poker tournament that will be doubled to $46,000. From there, the prize pools will only get bigger with some tournaments offering millions of dollars. Some of the highlights of Double Guarantees Week include:

- Sunday Brawl on April 3rd at 14:00 ET: buy-in is $240 + $16, and the prize pool will be tripled from $400,000 to $1,200,000.
- $200,000 Guarantee on April 2nd at 15:00 ET: buy-in is $300 + $22, and the prize pool is doubled from $100,000 to $200,000.
- $450,000 Guarantee on April 3rd at 15:00 ET: buy-in is $150 + $13, and the prize pool is tripled from $150,000 to $450,000.
- $600,000 Guarantee on April 3rd at 16:00 ET: buy-in is $150 + $13, and the prize pool will be tripled from $200k to $600k.
- $600,000 Double Deuce on April 3rd at 16:22 ET: buy-in is $20 + $20, and the prize pool is tripled from $200k to $600k.
- $2.25 million Guarantee on April 3rd at 17:00 ET: buy-in is $200 + $16, and the prize pool will be tripled from $750,000 to $2,250,000.
- $600,000 Sunday Mulligan on April 3rd at 19:05 ET: buy-in is $200 + $16, and the prize pool is tripled from $200k to $600k.
- $2 million $1K Monday on March 28th at 21:00 ET: buy-in is $1,000 + $60, and the prize pool is doubled from $1 million to $2 million.

As you can see, many of the tournaments will be tripled, so in a sense, this promotion is like Triple Guarantees Week. And if the buy-ins are a little too much for you, there will be plenty of satellites running for Double Guarantees Week. Along with this, you can also take advantage of Full Tilt’s 27% rakeback deals for any satellite or tournament you play.

Robl announced the challenge through his poker blog at CoinFlip, and started out talking about his training experiences by writing, “I’ve been training MMA (mostly jiu justi) 3-4X times a week. I train at Sergio Penha’s, and I recommend it to anyone who wants to train Jiu Justi in Vegas. Sergio is the Man!”

Getting to the actual challenge, Robl wrote, “I was planning on doing a $50,000 cage fight with Sorel Mizzi come WSOP * time – but Sorel backed out of the bet. He’s had enough problems recently without having to worry about my fists breaking his face. Sorel has always been a great guy in my experience – and I certainly hope the rumors about him aren’t true.”

Besides the MMA fight challenge, Robl also made poker news after a great run in the NBC Heads-UP Poker Championship. Robl was a last minute substitute, but showed that he was certainly no substitute after making it to the final four of this poker tournament; he was beaten by eventual champion Erik Seidel.

Apparently the cameras must like Robl because he was also on High Stakes Poker this past week. Robl got onto the show when poker amateur and Silly Bandz founder Robert Croak vacated his seat after losing a $268,000 pot to Phil Ruffin.

And Robl must seriously be working on becoming a TV star since he also showed up on PokerStars Big Game show, where he caused a small controversy when Party Poker pro Tony G and Daniel Negreanu claimed he was being a “nit.” Fortunately, everything seems to be good between the trio now.

Levy is best known for his online poker play, where he’s earned over $3.6 million in online tournament winnings, which includes several huge victories at UB and Full Tilt Poker. In addition to his online poker tournament exploits, Levy has over $1.5 million in live tourney winnings. Some of his biggest live tournament cashes include ninth place in the 2007 WPT Ontario NAPC ($84,437), 5th place in the WPT Fiesta al Lago ($266,445), and 12th place in the 2010 WSOP *Main Event ($635,011).

After signing the deal, Levy issued a statement saying, “UB has been my home for the past two years, and I’m looking forward to another two years with them. They have really great tournament structures and schedules, and I’m excited to see what other great changes are coming to the site.”

As part of his deal, Levy will be hosting the Pro Bounty Madness tournament every week at UB, which offers a $60,000 guaranteed prize pool. In addition to this, any internet poker player who manages to knock Levy out of the tourney will receive a free seat to UB’s weekly $200,000 Guaranteed.

After re-signing Levy, UB now has a pretty impressive lineup of players that includes Eric “basebaldy” Baldwin (re-signed in February), Tiffany Michelle, Brandon Cantu, Joe Sebok, Maria Ho, Prahlad Friedman and others. With all of the pro players they have promoting their online poker room, UB is sure to attract more players to their 30% rakeback deals.

This is one of the biggest free poker tournaments in the game, and you can get in as long as you complete the aforementioned steps. After you’re signed up and have made a deposit, the next step is to register for the event.

To do this, go to the Full Tilt lobby and choose the “Lobby View” option, then pick “Standard View.” Next, change the poker tournament filters to “Tournaments” > “All” > “All” > “All Types” > “Freerolls/FTPs.” When you’ve completed these steps, just scroll down to the $100k First Deposit Freeroll and start registering. The $100k First Deposit Freeroll takes place on the first Sunday of every month and starts at 15:30 ET.

If you’re worried about the Full Tilt freerolls drying up after the $100k First Deposit Freeroll – don’t be – because they run 90 freerolls a week worth $85,000 collectively. To look for these tournaments, just perform the aforementioned steps in the Full Tilt lobby, and scroll down to register for the various freerolls. You’ll find a variety of freerolls, along with satellites for the $1,000 weekly freerolls.

Full Tilt Poker is an excellent place to build your bankroll using freerolls as Chris Ferguson proved when he turned a $0 bankroll to $10,000 in a little over a year. Ferguson started out with freerolls, then graduated to low buy-in sit and go’s after a little while. Of course, he also benefited from those rakeback deals that Full Tilt offers too!

But that’s exactly what UB Poker is doing with their Series 2011 promotion, where you’ll not only be able to win a $12,000 Main Event prize package, but also lots of other bonuses and incentives afterward. All along the way, you could be earning UB’s fantastic 30% rakeback deals too!

Getting back to the Main Event incentives, you will earn a $1,000 bonus just for showing up to the tournament after winning a $12k prize package. And the bonuses keep getting better as you advance in the tournament with the following cash prizes being offered:

Show up to Main Event = $1,000
Make it to Day 2 = $2,000 total
Cash in Main Event = $12,000 total
Make it to Day 5 = $13,000 total
Make it to Day 6 = $14,000 total
Make it to Day 7 = $16,000 total
Make it to Day 8 = $20,000 total

Assuming you make it into the November Nine through a UB prize package, here is a look at the huge bonuses you’ll receive:

1st Place = $1 million sponsorship deal from UB Poker
2nd Place = $700,000
3rd Place = $400,000
4th Place = $200,000
5th Place = $150,000
6th Place = $100,000
7th Place = $100,000
8th Place = $100,000
9th Place = $100,000

If you’ve always dreamed of being sponsored through a major online poker room like UB, this is your big chance. And the huge cash bonuses only make the deal more attractive! These are the different satellites that UB Poker is running for their Main Event prize packages:

Weekly Super Satellites: $530
Satellites to the Super Satellite: starting at $11
Step Tourneys: starting at $0.10
VIP Tournaments: invites comes through email
25-seat Guarantee: Sunday, June 12th at 4pm ET, $530 buy-ins
25-seat Guarantee: Sunday, June 26th at 4pm ET, $530 buy-ins
Satellites to both Guarantees: starting at $11

As if there isn’t already enough on the table with the Series 2011 satellites, UB is also running a King of Satellites Leaderboard. If you win one $12k prize package, then go on to win another prize package (UB gives you $12k in cash for each subsequent win), you will get a point for the King of Satellites Leaderboard. The players with the most points will receive additional prizes, which include the following:

1st Place = $5,000 in Tournament Dollars
2nd Place = $2,000 in Tournament Dollars
3rd Place = $1,500 in Tournament Dollars
4th Place = $1,000 in Tournament Dollars
5th Place = $750 in Tournament Dollars

If you’re interested in making it to the Main Event poker tournament this year, UB should definitely be your site of choice since they are offering prize packages and a whole lot more!

Those who want to vie for the Player of the Month title just need to do one thing: email InterPoker. Okay, it’s a little more complicated than that, but the only thing you really need to do is send them an email detailing why you are deserving of the award. And the best part is that you don’t even have to take down InterPoker’s €75,000 Headhunter poker tournament or anything else overly-impressive to win. You just need to be a solid online poker player who’s had some success on some level or another.

Even if you don’t make Player of the Month at InterPoker, you can still be a winner just by signing up for their 30% rakeback offer. This will help you get back 30% of the money that you pay the house, which is great if you are interested in the aforementioned Headhunter tournament.

As the name implies, the €75,000 Headhunter tournament is a bounty tourney where players earn extra money for every player they eliminate. In this case, you would receive a bonus of €30 for each player eliminated, and 20% of the total prize pool goes towards the bounties. Of course, the largest portion of the €75,000 Headhunter event goes towards the prize pool, but the bounties still add some extra excitement. In all, the top 100 players will win a share of €60,000.

You can enter this tournament by paying the €150 + €10 buy-in, or you can also win your way in through satellites as low as €2.

PowerPoker is giving out two different types of prize packages with one being worth $2,500, and the other worth $13,000. As you may have guessed, the $13k prize package is for the 2011 Main Event poker tournament, while the $2,500 prize package is called a “Vegas Spree” package, and it enables you to build towards your own WSOP fund; this being said, you can win as many Vegas Spree packages as possible.

This is a lot like PowerPoker’s 33% rakeback deals since you can collect as much rakeback as possible too.

There are several different routes you can go through to win either of the prize packages, and here’s a look at some of the different ways you can win (all times are EST):

Main Event Qualifiers

- Series 2011 Final: Sunday at 4:00pm, $490 buy-in, one Main Event prize package for every $13k in prize pool.
- Series 2011 Semi-Final: runs daily, $90 buy-in, one Series 2011 Final ticket for every $490 in prize pool.
- Series 2011 Freezeout: runs daily, $16.50 buy-ins, one Series 2011 Semi-Final ticket for every $90 in prize pool.
- Series 2011 R&A: runs daily, $9.90 buy-in, one Series 2011 Semi-Final ticket for every $90 in prize pool.
- Series 2011 Freezeout Super Satellite: runs hourly, $2.20 buy-in, one Freezeout ticket for every $16.50 in prize pool.
- Series 2011 R&A Satellite: runs hourly, $1.10 buy-in, one $9.90 R&A seat for every $9.90 in prize pool.

Vegas Spree SNG’s

- Vegas Spree $2,500 Final: runs daily, $873.33 buy-in, two Vegas Spree $2,500 prize packages given out.
- Vegas Spree Step 6: runs daily, 316.11 buy-in, two Vegas Spree $2,500 Final seats available.
- Vegas Spree Step 5: runs daily, $114.37 buy-in, two Step 6 seats available.
- Vegas Spree Step 4: runs daily, $41.52 buy-in, two Step 5 seats available.
- Vegas Spree Step 3: runs daily, $15.20 buy-in, two Step 4 seats available.
- Vegas Spree Step 2: runs daily, $5.56 buy-in, two Step 3 seats available.
- Vegas Spree Step 1: runs daily, $2 buy-in, two Step 2 seats available.

Vegas Spree Satellites

- $2,500 Vegas Spree Step 3 $2 R&A: runs daily, $2.20 buy-in, one Step 3 seat for every $15.20 in prize pool.
- $2,500 Vegas Spree Step 2 $1 Freezeout: runs daily, $1.10 buy-in, one Step 2 seat for every $5.56 in prize pool.

The news, which broke on Monday, detailed the inception of the Onyx Cup Series and featured additional introductions by Phil Ivey, Patrik Antonius, Tom Dwan, Gus Hansen and Erik Seidel. The first five events of which will be preliminaries, followed by the sixth Grand Finale event with a $250,000 buy-in.

With the tournaments scheduled to be held across the United States, Asia and Europe the Series will attract the highest calibre of players in the world. The first of the events will take place in Las Vegas on 11 and 12 May where members of Team Full Tilt such as Howard Lederer, Erik Seidel, Chris Ferguson, Erick Lindgren and John Juanda will be in attendance.

Qualifying for the events will commence on Tuesday 15 March, exclusively on FullTiltPoker.com.

Any players who can meet the six figure buy-in can enter the No Limit Hold’em tournaments. Those finishing in the top three of each event will receive Onyx Cup leaderboard points; after the Grand Finale the player with the most points will take the title,  the Onyx Cup and a luxury sports car. The series is to be televised so there is a great deal of prestige riding on this for the players involved, aside from a serious amount of money.

Visit Full Tilt Poker to find out more

Sign Up for Rakeback at Full Tilt Poker

As the name implies, each buy-in level caters to different bankrolls so that everybody can compete. Of course, if you can’t afford the normal buy-ins for these poker games, there will also be 2011 SCOOP satellites starting on March 14th that run until the SCOOP ends in late May. But before you think about the satellites, you might want to have a look at some of the 2011 SCOOP buy-ins first.

When the festivities kick off on May 8th, Event #1 will feature a Low poker tournament ($22 buy-in, NLHE 6-Max, $300,000 guaranteed), a Mid tourney ($215 buy-in, NLHE 6-Max, $750,000 guaranteed), and a High tournament ($2,100 buy-in, NLHE 6-Max, $1,000,000 guaranteed). As you can see, the buy-ins are divided up very nicely so that everybody has a chance of playing.

If you’re interested in playing in the 2011 SCOOP, here are some other highlights:

- Event #2, May 8th: Low tournament ($22 buy-in, NLHE, $300,000 guaranteed), Mid tournament ($215 buy-in, NLHE, $1,500,000 guaranteed), and High tournament ($2,100 buy-in, NLHE, $1,500,000 guaranteed).

- Event #19, May 15th: Low tournament ($22 buy-in, NLHE, $300,000 guaranteed), Mid tournament ($215 buy-in, NLHE, $1,000,000 guaranteed), and High tournament ($2,100 buy-in, NLHE, $1,000,000 guaranteed).

- Event #20, May 15th: Low tournament ($22 buy-in, NLHE, $350,000 guaranteed), Mid tournament ($215 buy-in, NLHE, $2,000,000 guaranteed), and High tournament ($2,100 buy-in, NLHE, $2,000,000 guaranteed).

- Event #37, May 22nd: Low tournament ($22 buy-in, NLHE 6-Max, $300,000 guaranteed), Mid tournament ($215 buy-in, NLHE 6-Max, $1,000,000 guaranteed), and High tournament ($2,100 buy-in, NLHE 6-Max, $1,000,000 guaranteed).

- SCOOP Main Event, May 15th: Low tournament ($109 buy-in, NLHE, $100,000 guaranteed), Mid tournament ($1,050 buy-in, NLHE, $3,000,000 guaranteed), and High tournament ($10,300 buy-in, NLHE, $5,000,000 guaranteed).

Seidel added to his amazing two-month run by winning the 2011 NBC Heads Up Poker Championship on Sunday. The final match was a great story in itself as Seidel faced 2003 WSOP* Main Event champion and PokerStars pro Chris Moneymaker. Moneymaker put up a nice fight, but he was taken down by Seidel in two straight poker games during their best-of-three series. With the win, Seidel pocketed $700k, and Moneymaker earned the second largest cash of his career at $300k.

The road to the Heads Up Championship title wasn’t easy for Seidel because he faced good competition every step of the way. The first four rounds saw Seidel face off against noted pros Allen Cunningham, Jennifer Harman, Phil Gordon and Vanessa Selbst. Seidel is certainly a deserving champion since he had no cupcake games along the way.

Aside from winning the NBC poker tournament, another big plus for Seidel is that he passed Daniel Negreanu to become the all-time leader in live tournament winnings. Seidel now has over $14.6 million, while Negreanu is sitting in second with over $14.1 million.

It’s only fitting that Seidel would pass Negreanu on this list since many are comparing his 2011 year to Negreanu’s incredible run in 2004. In 2004, Negreanu managed to earn almost $4.5 million en route to winning two WPT titles, and a WSOP bracelet. However, the key thing to remember is that Seidel has almost 10 months to go to set the new standard for an amazing year.