FULL TILT FULL SITE REVIEW

SITE HISTORY

Backed by one of the brightest groups of professional poker players, Full Tilt Poker has used solid software, great tournament structures, pro endorsements and a fantastic rewards program to propel themselves to become the 2nd largest poker room in the world. Full Tilt Poker is famous for their popular "FTOPS" tournament series as well as their juicy cash games. As one of the longest standing poker rooms, it has become a popular destination for seasoned pros and beginning poker players alike.

GAMES OFFERED

Full Tilt Poker offers the full variety of poker games that one could hope for in an online poker room.  Obviously, their Texas Hold'em games are the bread and butter of the site for both cash and tournaments.  Beyond that, they have one of best and most populated Omaha sections on the internet for both High and Hi/Lo games.  There are also regular 7 Card Stud, 7 Card Stud Hi/Lo, Razz and HORSE (mixed) games running around the clock.  Tournaments also are varied amongst all the games offered at the site.

TRAFFIC

Full Tilt is the 2nd most populated poker room on the net according to all industry monitoring sites with more than 4x the traffic of its nearest competitor.  There are plenty of cash games running 24/7 and the tournaments are so popular that their guarantees are often the biggest going for the night.  During their FTOPS tournament series there are guaranteed tournaments over $2 million due to the massive fields.  Often times during this promotion, failed tournament players will flock to the cash games giving more action to already juicy tables.  If full cash game tables or quick fill-up times for Sit & Go tournaments are of a concern, then Full Tilt Poker should be your poker site destination.

VIP PROGRAMS & BONUSES

Through AbsoluteIncentives.com, players can receive 27% rakeback on all real money games played at the site.  Of particular note here is that Full Tilt Poker uses the "dealt" method of calculating rake, meaning you do not have to play the hand, just be dealt one, in order to accumulate rake.  That makes this offer amongst the best in the industry even though 27% max rakeback might be below what other poker sites offer who use the "contributed" method.

Beyond the amazing rakeback deal there are always promotions going on including double and triple FTP happy hour points sessions where players can really rack up the FTP points which can be turned in for some really great swag.  The popular "FTOPS" series brings players of big and small bankrolls the opportunity to play for guaranteed millions in huge field tournaments.  There are also "Sit & Go Madness" events which run periodically through the year that offer players the chance to rack up points during a weekend for a shot at cash bonus prizes and entry into $50,000 freeroll tournaments.

Finally, after all that there is still the "Iron Man" promotion for cash game players, where logging in daily and accumulating FTP points awards you medals which can be saved up for free cash bonuses or entries into monthly freerolls.  As players qualify on a per-month basis for the Iron Man promotion the number of medals they receive actually increases.  Every six months, Full Tilt is known to award cash bonuses for every player based on the number of medals they have accumulated for that period.

LOBBY & TABLE SOFTWARE

Many feel that the Full Tilt Poker lobby is the best in the business.  Prominently displayed is a big button that takes you to the cashier where setting up your account and deposit/withdrawal methods are found.  The core of the main lobby software are the games, laid out in tabs above the lobby grid.  If a player wants to play Texas Hold'em, simply click on the "Hold'em" tab and all games for that type come up within the grid, which can be sorted by Game, Type, Buy-In, Status and Players (for tournaments) and Table Name, Stakes, Type, Players, Wait, Average Pot, Players Per Flop and Hands Per Hour (for cash games).  There are also custom reports for tournaments so players can only see the tournament type they want to play in and can be sorted by game, buy-in or many more filters.

The table software can be enjoyed by both recreational poker players and seasoned veterans alike.  For the newbies there are vibrant and avatar-driven tables that let you pick your own avatar to display with custom emotion types.  The backgrounds are fun, colorful and aesthetically pleasing.  For the players that don’t like all the "fun" that comes with avatars, there is a traditional racetrack layout that works perfect for a HUD (Heads Up Display) and minimizes the avatars.  The buttons and controls are customizable from within the table software window and the animations and graphics only add to an already fun experience.

OVERALL IMPRESSIONS

Full Tilt Poker is the poker room of choice for not just the professional poker player, but for the player that aspires to be one.  Although there might be "higher" rakeback percentages available at other sites, the advantage with rakeback at Full Tilt Poker is that it is calculated via the dealt method which means in the long run, tighter players can benefit from rakeback.  The promotions at Full Tilt are arguably the best in the business with the lobby and table software easy to use and fun to interact with while playing.