There is a consensus that the most prestigious series in the live poker world is the World Series of Poker, which is topped off by the WSOP Main Event. While unanimously looking at the WSOP as the biggest and most coveted tournament competition on the live poker realm, there’s mixed opinions regarding the best online series of tournaments in poker. PokerStars and FullTilt Poker respectively throw quite a few parties that could be dubbed the best online series in poker.

FTOPS

FullTilt makes a compelling argument for top honors amongst the online poker tournament series by bringing FTOPS – the FullTilt Online Poker Series back for a thirteenth time. FTOPS XIII consists of twenty-five diverse poker tournaments with over $16 million in guaranteed tournament prizes. Each FTOPS tournament is hosted by a recognizable pro from FullTilt Poker, and plenty of pros can be spotted at the tables during FTOPS.

Most notably in the FTOPS competition is a two-day poker event with $2 million in guaranteed tournament dollars on the line, which was hosted by Patrick Antonius. Additionally, FTOPS caps itself off with a $2.5 million guaranteed main event – where Gus Hansen played host.

Mini-FTOPS

FullTilt puts forth its second entry with the Mini FullTilt Online Poker Series. The MiniFTOPS is to FTOPS as Mini Me was to Dr. Evil. MiniFTOPS is exactly as the name suggests; a miniature version of its larger namesake. The events of MiniFTOPS are clones in terms of structure and game type at a 10% scale. This means that poker players can play in the main event of MiniFTOPS for $50+5 and will compete for a guaranteed prize of $500K.

MiniFTOPS is set to kick off Wednesday September 9 at 21:00 Eastern Time. The big main event wraps up on Sunday September 20 at 5pm.

SCOOP

The 2009 Spring Championship of Online Poker put together an amazing run at online poker’s most coveted event by offering up over $30 million in guaranteed prizes. The SCOOP was twenty-two events long, and encompassed a diverse selection of poker tournament variations.

The SCOOP was offered in various levels simultaneously, as the buy-ins were divided into low stakes events, medium stakes events, and high stakes events. The collective main event of the SCOOP saw $10 million in prizes change hands.

WCOOP

Looking to become the richest online poker tournament series, the World Championship of Online Poker is by far the premier online poker series to play. The 2009 WCOOP is expected to contain over $40 million in guaranteed prizes spread throughout 45 events, with the main event sporting a guaranteed payout of $10,000! The World Championship of Online Poker is set to begin on September 3, with the six-max no limit holdem tournament. This inaugural event features a $215 buy-in and guarantees $1.25 million in tournament prizes.

The final event is the two day no limit holdem main event, which is scheduled for September 20. $10,000,000 will be on the line for this main event. The buy-in for the WCOOP main event is $5200, and the tournament will be televised on PokerStars TV.

While each of the online poker series mentioned are well worth their weight in gold, none of them compares to the PokerStars WCOOP. The WCOOP is by far the most prestigious event in online poker.