Full Tilt Poker ReviewURL: www.fulltiltpoker.com Founded: 2004 Based: Ireland Registered owner: Full Tilt Poker Licensed (1): Alderney Licensed (2): Kahnawake, Canada Network: Not part of any network Software verified by: Cigial & Technical Systems Testing (TST) Accepts US players: Yes Supported languages: 20 Official forums: pokerforums.fulltiltpoker.com Support: Email (within 1-24 hours) Total Score: 8.1/10
Player activity: 9/10 Promotions: 7/10 Game selection: 9/10 Software: 8/10 Cash games: 10/10 Tournaments: 8/10 Support: 6/10
The Good  Incredible high stakes action Plenty of activity around the clock Excellent cash game standards Chance to play against famous pros
The Bad  High tournament fees on low buy-ins Customer support is slow to respond
First Deposit bonus: 100% up to $600Referral code:
Full Tilt Poker was formed back in 2004 at the onset of the poker boom. The poker room was conceived and brought to life by a team of professional poker players including Chris Fergusson, Howard Lederer and Phil Ivey. Their vision was a poker room by poker players for poker players and considering the impressive number of players currently flocking to their tables they must have gotten it right. It is one of the few poker rooms that still accepts US players and it is currently the second largest poker room in the world with an average daily concurrent real money peak player count near the 100,000 mark.
True to its roots, Full Tilt Poker keeps a rooster of exclusive professional players, giving the poker room a distinct touch and the players an ultimate way to measure their skill - against the very best in the world. There are also regular scheduled chats where players can question the pros about all their poker stratagems. All such chat transcripts are publically available on the website. And let us not forget the Full Tilt Poker Academy that comes complete with video tutorials, interactive challenges, tips and poker strategy lessons - all endorsed by the professionals that have rallied under the Full Tilt Poker banner.
Full Tilt Poker has its own software developed by its subsidiary TiltWare LLC. The software is innovative, secure, loaded with features and easy to personalize. The poker client is on top of that extremely pretty and very smooth to interact with. It is after all the product of professional minds and goes well in hand with the knowledgable support. Unfortunately, the support is slow to respond and the client/program lacks a few handy features and this lowers what would otherwise have been two fine scores. The cash games standards are excellent with great table selection, the highest stakes in the business and players who actually play them to go with that. The tournament program is fairly packed but the entry fees are unreasonably high at the lower buy-ins which makes it more or less impossible to build a bankroll from scratch by playing tournaments. Lastly we come to the promotions and there is nothing remarkable about them. They are perfectly fine but they won't rock your world.
Ultimately, Full Tilt Poker is a paradise for both high stakers and fans of the famous professional players on the team, and its sheer traffic volume makes it attractive to the more casual players as well. Full Tilt Poker also brings many unique features to the table which can't be found in other poker rooms. With all things taken into account, Full Tilt Poker is a formidable contender for the online poker crown - a poker room which is more than worth your while.
Promotions First Deposit Bonus: 100% up to 600Bonus ratio: $0.42 bonus per $1 fee/rake Bonus release: 10% of deposit Time limit: 120 days
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General promotions Reload Bonus: Not at the moment of writing Rakeback: Yes, max in the 30% range Freerolls: Over 500 monthly freerolls with a combined prize pool of $60,000 GTD tournaments: Over $33 million in guaranteeds every month + main events Satellites to live events: Yes
Races/Leaderboards Monthly Sit N Go leaderboards where top 100 win buy-ins to new Sit N Go tournaments Monthly multi-table tournament leader board with $1000 1st prize, $500 2nd prize and satellite & freeroll entries for remaining top 200
VIP Program Point system: Full Tilt Points (7 FTPs per $1 fee/rake) VIP store (spend FTPs): Tournament entries, electonics, apparel etc
Poker GamesStandard Texas Holdem Omaha Omaha Hi/Low 7 Card Stud 7 Card Stud Hi/Low Razz
Mixed HORSE HOSE HA HOE OE HEROS 7-Game Mix Mixed Holdem Mixed Omaha Hi/Low
SoftwareGeneral Developer: Internally developed by the subsidiary TiltWare LLC Network: Not part of any network Compatibility: Windows / Mac OS Client size: 61.7 MB Flash client for browser play: No Encryption: SSLv3/TLSv1 Random number generator: TRNG Verified by: Cigial & Technical Systems Testing (TST)
Lobby Signup process integrated: Yes Cashier screen integrated: Yes Live chat support: No Change language: Yes
Search Search for player: Yes Buddy list: Yes Hide from player search: No Bookmark feature for tables/tournaments: Yes
Table Seat preference: Yes Max concurrent tables: 18 Increased time bank when multi-tabling: No Option to show/hide lobby when opening tables: Yes Option to keep current table in focus until you have acted: Yes Custom table size: Yes Save custom table layout: Yes Remember table positioning: No Predefined table sizes: Only 1 Fullscreen mode: No Set all tables to predefined size: Yes Cascade tables: Yes Tile tables: Yes
Analysis Hand history: Yes Tournament history: Yes Replay hand (recording): Yes Take notes on players: Yes Chat with players: Yes
Aesthetics 3D graphics: No Four color deck option: Yes Change table theme: Yes Create table theme: Purchasable VIP feature Change card theme: Yes Change avatar: Yes Custom avatar (global): Purchasable VIP feature Remove avatars: Yes Switch off animations/sounds: Yes
Cash GamesGeneral features 1on1 (Heads-up): Yes Standard seats: 2, 5, 6, 8 or 9 No-flop, no-drop? (No rake if hand ends pre-flop): Yes Rake: 5% Rake cap: $3 Disconnect protection: No
Time banks Fixed limit: 25 seconds No limit/pot limit: 35 seconds Extra time: Depends on how long you have been seated Disconnect time bank: 90 seconds per 24 hours
No Limit Holdem stakes Fullring (9 seats): $0.01/$0.02 - $500/$1000 6-max (6 seats): $0.01/$0.02 - $500/$1000 Heads-up (2 seats): $0.25/$0.50 - $500/$1000
Fixed Limit Holdem stakes Fullring (9 seats): $0.05/$0.10 - $1000/$2000 6-max (6 seats): $0.05/$0.10 - $1000/$2000 Heads-up (2 seats): $1/$2 - $2000/$4000
Lobby info Players per flop: Yes Average pot: Yes Hands per hour: Yes
TournamentsSpecial features $8 million guaranteed weekly prize pool Monthly $1,000,000 Guarantee tournament Weekly $200K Double Deuce with a $20+2 buy-in and a guaranteed first prize of at least $30,000 Plenty of Shootouts Bust-Out Bounties where you get your buy-in back (excluding entry fee) up to $200 if you knock out a "red" pro from the tournament Sit and Go Matrix where you play the same players on four different tables at the same time Full Tilt Online Poker Series (FTOPS) 3-4 times per year with 25 events and a combined guaranteed prize pool of $16 million + miniFTOPS with 25 events and $4 million guaranteed
Leaderboards Monthly MTT leaderboard where top 200 get paid; winner gets $1000, 2nd place $500 and 3-100 get satellite tokens. 1-200 wins entry to monthly Winner's Choice Freeroll tournament Monthly Sit and Go low limit (less than $24+2) leaderboard where top 100 win buy-ins to Sit and Go tournaments. Monthly Sit and Go high limit (more than $24+2) leader board where top 100 win buy-ins to Sit and Go tournaments.
Hosted main events Full Tilt Online Poker Series (FTOPS) - $20 million guaranteed (3-4 times per year) WPT Cyprus Classic - Around $2 prize pool
Title sponsored tours Full Tilt Poker Series Espana
Hosted exclusive televised live events Poker Million Late Night Poker
Satellites to external events World Series of Poker (WSOP) English Poker Open
General tournament features Disconnect protection: No Disconnect time bank: 90 seconds per 24 hours Final table deals allowed: Yes Standard time bank: 25 seconds Refreshment time bank: Progressive 1on1 (Heads-up): Yes Private tournaments: Available to VIP and affiliates
Tournament info Payout displayed before tournament: Yes Number of entrants displayed: Yes Blind time remaining: Yes - lobby View own position: Yes - lobby All players position: Yes Exiting players displayed: Yes
Multi Table Tournaments (MTT) Standard starting stack: 1500 Standard blind increments: 10 minutes Buy-in fee: 10% at average Standard seats: 9
Freerolls Over 500 freerolls every month Total monthly freeroll prize pool of $60,000 VIP freerolls with FTPs buy-in Nationality exclusive freerolls $100 NL Holdem freerolls every 3 hours
Satellites Standard starting stack: 1500 Standard blind increments: 10 minutes Entry fee: 10% at average Standard seats: 6 or 9
Sit and Go (single table) Fullring buy-in (9 seats): $1+$0.25 - $5500+$200 Heads-up buy-in (2 seats): $2+$0.15 - $5500+$100 Entry fee: 3.6-25% Standard starting stack: 1500 Standard blind increments: 6 minutes Turbo: 3 minutes Standard seats: 2 or 9
Sit and Go Matrix Description: In the Matrix you play 4 SNGs simultaneously against the same players. Earn points/prizes by winning or alternatively outlasting others. Buy-in: $1+$0.25 - $2100+$90
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