Full Tilt Poker is one of the fastest growing online poker rooms. Founded only in July 2004, Full Tilt Poker is currently the 3rd largest poker site with over 20,000 players during peak times.
Besides the software, you will be attracted to Full Tilt Poker by the quality and number of pros that represent and play on the site. Few people will ever have the opportunity to play or chat about golf with Tiger Woods, but on Full Tilt Poker you have lots of opportunity to play with and learn from the poker celebrities you see on TV.
Poker pros that regularly play at Full Tilt include Phil Ivey, Howard Lederer, Chris Ferguson, Jennifer Harman, Mike Matusow and many more. Together they are known as "Team Full Tilt" and they share 26 WSoP bracelets between them (see photo below).
In the Full Tilt Poker lobby pay attention to any game that's highlighted in red - that's a table where a pro is playing. They have their own custom made avatars and it's really fun to watch them play. It's even more fun to play against them. Nothing beats winning a pot from a WSoP golden bracelet winner!
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Team Full Tilt at the final table
The Interface
Anyone who has read my other reviews already knows I like simple sites without lots of fancy extras like chat options and “congratulations” messages. Full Tilt Poker was simple to use with lots of great and innovative features. The Avatars were annoyingly cartoonish, but if you don't like them you can turn them off.
Two years ago Full Tilt didn't have that many players, but that has changed considerably since then. They now have 20,000+ players at peak hours. Not that much as market leader PartyPoker but more than enough to find any game that you like, both ring games and tournaments.
The screen gave you all of the information you need and all of the buttons to let you play quickly, including the “Fold to Any” button, which is not usually found and makes play progress more quickly. I liked where the buttons were located. Instead of making space for the buttons, the designer put the buttons in the empty spaces around the table.
The one feature I really liked was the “Last Hand” feature. It allowed you to quickly take a look at the last few hands and was easy to understand. Other useful features are the "sit anywhere" and the "auto center" options. Finally you can change the background theme to anything you like by simply right clicking on the table. If you make it to the final table of a tournament you get a special arena-like background, reminiscent of a World Poker Tour final table.
Signing Up and Depositing Money
This process was very simple. The information required was minimal and the Neteller deposit took seconds to arrive. You can also deposit with your VISA or Mastercard, and besides Neteller they also support FirePay.
Game Play And The Players
This site has low limit games starting at .05 cents for beginners and a good selection of high-limit games for the better players. Normally I see a site this size either full of high limit players or low limit players. Full Tilt had a few of each so the game you are looking for is usually available. The players were all over the place. I sat at one table and the players were all tight. At the other table I found three players throwing money around like it was worthless. You should be able to tell the type of players at the table by the average pot size in the lobby. There is a wide range of pot sizes to choose from.
The Deposit Bonus And Promotions
The “First-Time” deposit bonus was 100% (Up to $600!), which is excellent. They also paid the bonus out more quickly than most other sites, especially for tight players. Most sites hand out the bonus based on the amount they rake from you. Full Tilt credited everyone at the table with the amount wagered on the hand so everyone earned their bonus at the same pace. This is a welcome relief for players who are not in every pot.
Full Tilt also has a 50% reload bonus, and offers many qualifying opportunities into the WSoP main event. If you qualify for the WSoP through Full Tilt Poker and you are so lucky to win it, Full Tilt pays you an extra $10 million dollars!
The Games Offered
Full Tilt Poker has a decent selection of games available, including Limit and No Limit Holdem, Omaha, Omaha Hi/Lo, Seven Card Stud, Seven Card Stud Hi/Lo and Razz. Most games are available at all monetary levels, from micro limit ring games to $1,000 buy-in NL Holdem tournaments.
Full Tilt also recently introduced No Limit and Pot Limit "CAP" games, where you can never lose more than the Cap on a single hand. This lets you enter a lot of pots without a lot of risk. Full Tilt is the only poker room that currently offers Cap games.
Tournaments
Full Tilt Poker has some of the best selection of low limit tournaments in the business, especially in different games aside from No Limit Texas Hold’em which is rare these days since NL has become super popular. They have plenty of Limit Hold’em, Pot-Limit Hold’em, Seven-card Stud, Seven-card Stud Hi/Lo, H.O.R.S.E., Razz, Omaha Hi, and Omaha Hi/Lo. It’s rare to find H.O.R.S.E. tournaments and especially Razz.
Full Tilt Poker also has a great selection of Sit & Gos (SNGs) ranging from $4 up to $200. Most sites specialize in only NL SNGs, but Full Tilt offers SNGs in every single game that they spread. Yeah, you can even play a Razz SNG!
Summary
Full Tilt Poker is one of the best poker rooms in the industry. They started out small but quickly have grown into one of the Top 3 poker rooms worldwide. They offer some of the best bonuses available. They are endorsed by many well-known professional poker players, making this site truly a must visit for every serious poker player.
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