Online poker site Full Tilt Poker this morning, through a newly released video hosted by Ali Nejad, unveiled the creation of a brand new tournament poker series called the Onyx Cup, built to pit poker’s most elite players against each other in competition.

Unlike other tournament series’ or leagues, that attempt to fill their tables with familiar faces by making events “invite only,” all six of the announced International Onyx Cup events will be open to anyone, yet should achieve the same level of exclusivity as invitational events thanks to absurd buy-ins ranging from $100,000 to $300,000, with a $250,000 buy-in, Grand Finale event at the end of the series- featuring an extra $1 million added to the prize pool.  Full Tilt estimates these event’s will generate over $30,000,000 in total prize pools.

Although these events will obviously reward players with substantial prizes, it is clear when watching today's video- which features many of Full Tilt’s top pros- that pride is also a major draw to compete in this new series.

...It’s not just about the money, in this event.   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.”  -Phil Ivey

The top three finishers of each Onyx Cup event will receive points towards an Onyx Cup Leader Board, and the player with the most points by the end of the series will be considered the champion and awarded with the actual Onyx Cup- as well as with keys to a brand new luxury sports car.

Full Tilt will run online qualifiers for these events starting March 15th.  For more information, check out the video by clicking here.