Full Tilt Poker has made a comeback in a major way. At one point a defunct site, they were bought out by the giant PokerStars.com and never looked back. Being backed by Stars, you know that they will be around for a long time, and subject to very strict regulations and guidelines. The same attention to regulations that helped PokerStars become so trusted all over the world will now work in Full Tilt’s favor. They do not accept USA players at this time, but we will update this review as soon as that changes.
Tournaments
The Full Tilt Poker schedule is as robust as it is rewarding. With daily tournaments consisting of insane prize pools, you aren’t short on options. Let’s take a look at some of the more prestigious and special tourneys found at Full Tilt. Mind you, there are still tons of other online tournaments starting every few minutes with varying buy-ins. The huge traffic on the site means that there are also huge fields in some of these tournaments, but you can find smaller fields as well.
The Sunday Major is a tourney played every week at Full Tilt at 1:30 EST, with $150,000 in guaranteed in the prize pool. The buy-in for this tourney is $215. There is also a Sunday Brawl tournament which has a $100,000 guaranteed prize pool, at a buy-in of $255. You will find plenty of guaranteed multi-table tournaments going on every single day at Full Tilt Poker. There are also a tournament leaderboard, point tournaments, freerolls and Friday Night Fights.
Specialty Games
The most unique game at Full Tilt Poker is Rush Poker. This fast-paced poker game is similar to the Pokerstars’ Zoom version. In Rush Poker, you are playing against a large pool of players at the same time, and you may fold your hand and start a new one if you don’t like it. You will be taken to a new table, and will have a fresh hand.
This is great for players who do not have a ton of time to play, and want to get as many hands in as possible. There is also Adrenaline Rush Poker, which is similar to normal Rush except there is no betting after the flop. All action must be done pre-flop, and it makes the game even faster.
Another very cool game that you will find at Full Tilt is Irish, which allows you to play a Holdem variant where you start with four cards instead of two.
Stakes
The stakes at Full Tilt Poker are a thing of beauty, because nobody is left behind. You can start with as little as 40 cents in your bankroll at the $0.01/0.02 tables. On the higher end, you can duel it out with the world’s richest poker players in the $1000/$2000 NL tables. Those two are just the extremes though, because there are dozens of more levels found in between those two.
Deposit Options
Compatibility
Live Events
At Full Tilt, you can win your way from online to live events. There are plenty of opportunities to do so, and some players will only play at poker rooms with this feature. It truly is a great benefit to a lot of people to be able to flip a few bucks from their living room into TV time in Las Vegas. It’s thrilling, it’s a dream and it is very, very real.
Withdraw Times
Depending on what option you choose to cash out at Full Tilt Poker, the withdrawal times will vary. It will also depend on the frequency of your deposits and payouts, as well as the country of residence. You can withdrawal from Full Tilt Poker with Visa, Instadebit, QuickDeposit, Bank Transfer and more (depending on your country).
Software and User Experience
The Full Tilt custom poker room software is something you should experience for yourself. Most people really love it for its smooth gameplay and flawless animations. The graphics are crisp and clean, while multi-tabling is a cinch. Some people may not be fans of the more cartoonish avatar, but you can easily turn those off. Other than some people not liking the avatars, there have been little to no complaints over their amazing poker room software. They are certainly among the crème of the crop and years ahead of most sites.
Ownership
Rational Group
Customer Service
There is some pretty amazing customer service at Full Tilt Poker. They offer 24/7 support for any issues, via [email protected]. Like their sister site PokerStars, they do not provide a public support phone number. That being said, they will initiate a phone call if it is necessary or you ask for one. There is currently no live chat support, but e-mail is a very quick way to get a hold of them.
Traffic
Full Tilt is one of the highest trafficked online poker rooms. They consistently remain in the top 5 sites in terms of traffic, and they do not even allow US players. As soon as they open the door to some or all US states, they will probably be back in the top 2 in traffic. At any time of day or night you are going to be able to find a ring game, multi-table tourney or sit-n-go tourney with many different stakes.
Loyalty Program
The Full Tilt poker room offers the Edge program, where you can start earning major rewards as soon as you hit silver status. The top end of the program is the Black Card, and there are many levels in between. Each level up provides more player benefits than the last. There are Edge leaderboard tourneys, weekly cash payments, merchandise store and more. Overall, it is one of the top loyalty programs in the industry.
With a 100% sign-up bonus for new players, you have a lot to gain by joining Full Tilt Poker today. Make that smart choice and get started frying the fish over at Full Tilt!