Full Tilt Poker Review

Full Tilt Poker first opened its doors in 2004 and has since become one of the most populated poker sites on the internet, ranking 2nd only to PokerStars. Thanks to a combination of professional poker player endorsements, an aggressive advertising campaign and big signup bonuses, Full Tilt has managed to increase its market share at a rapid pace since 2004.

Full Tilt Poker Bonus and Rewards System

All new players automatically qualify for a 100% match bonus up to $600 on their first deposit when using the Full Tilt Poker Referral Code IPB600. This is a massive boost to player bankrolls and ranks as one of the most lucrative sign-up bonuses on the internet.

The bonus is released by earning Full Tilt Points at real money ring games and tournaments. Each point is worth 6 cents in bonus money and the money is released in $10 or $20 increments until the entire bonus has been released. After this, players are free to withdraw their bonus money.

Additional Full Tilt Points can be used to get free items from the Full Tilt Store. The store is full of all kinds of items ranging from Full Tilt clothing to high-end electronics and luxury items. One of the most valuable things players can get from their points is a new Harley-Davidson Night Train motorcycle.

Full Tilt Software

A part of Full Tilt's success can be attributed to its feature-rich poker software. Players can resize tables, choose from a variety of funny player avatars, keep notes on their opponents and change table themes.

The lobby can be used to organize game based on type, stakes and number of players. From the lobby players can view how many players are at a table, the average number of players seeing the flop and the average pot size.

Graphics-wise the software is solid but not amazing. Some people say the graphics are too cartoony for their taste but I actually like it this way. The graphics make it easy to see where the action is and what cards are on the table. There's nothing more annoying than trying to spot the cards on a cluttered 3D poker site.

Full Tilt Poker Pros

Full Tilt has signed some of the biggest names in the industry to help promote the site. Poker pros such as Phil Ivey, Chris Ferguson, Howard Letterer, Mike Matusow, Patrik Antonius and more can regularly be seen playing at various tables on Full Tilt.

Big name internet pros like Taylor Caby and the rest of the Cardrunners crew have also been signed by Full Tilt to sponsor the site. Full Tilt's ability to attract big name pros from live poker as well as online poker has been impressive to say the least. The Full Tilt pros are marked by red names and custom avatars so you'll know instantly if any join your table.

Game Variety and Traffic

Thousands of poker players are online at Full Tilt all hours of the day so it's easy to find games going on at all stakes. The games offered at Full Tilt include Texas Holdem, Omaha High, Omaha Hi-Lo, 7 Card Stud, 7 Card Stud Hi-Lo, Razz and Mixed Games.

Ring game stakes range from micro-stakes to nosebleed levels. Limit stakes start at $ .25/.50 and go up to $2,000/$4,000. No limit games start out at $ .05/.10 ($10 buyin) and go all the way up to $500/$1,000 ($100,000 buyin).

Tournaments

Full Tilt has worked to increase its tournaments offerings over the years and has come a long ways since the site opened. Players can choose from many tournament types including traditional freezeouts, shootouts, knockout bounties, rebuys, double-stacks, super stacks, turbos, sit-n-gos and matrix tournaments.

The tournament list can be sorted by buy-in, type and start date. Players can also view recently finished tournaments to see who's won how much. It's a nice system and has definitely improved over the years.

Two of Full Tilt's most popular tournaments are the Sunday 750K guaranteed prize pool tournament and the yearly Full Tilt Online Poker Series. This year's FTOPS winner took home over $450,000 after winning the main event.

Full Tilt Competition

The competition is soft at low and medium stakes games but is pretty stiff at the high stakes games. If you play anything higher than $5/$10 ($1,000 buyin) NL, you'll run across a lot of highly skilled opponents. If you stick to games lower than that, you should be OK but even the $3/$6 ($600 buyin) NL games can get pretty tough at times.

Limit games are pretty soft too until you get up to $15/$30 and higher. The games above that grow increasingly difficult and the games at $100/$200 and up should be approached with caution. Players who stick to low and medium stakes games will find the competition pretty soft at Full Tilt thanks to all the new players signing up each week.

FullTiltPoker.com Support and Security

The support system at Full Tilt Poker is sufficient but could definitely use some improvement. Just like PokerStars, Full Tilt doesn't offer any live support phone numbers for its players. Initial support questions must be asked by e-mail before Full Tilt will talk to players via telephone.

The good news is that the support team constantly monitors player e-mail and they usually respond within minutes. The customer support staff is on-call 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. I have e-mailed Full Tilt with a couple of quick questions over the years and have always received quick, satisfactory answers.

Full Tilt has done a nice job ensuring player security over the years and continues to do so today. Player funds are kept safely segregated from the site's operating account and player information is stored on encrypted databases located in secure locations behind locked cages.

Full Tilt Deposit and Withdrawal Options

Because Full Tilt is open to U.S. players, the deposit options are somewhat limited but they are all effective. All players may deposit using Visa, MasterCard, Ultra Prepaid Phone Cards and Cash Transfer Service.

Players can withdraw their money from Full Tilt using the Ultra Prepaid Phone Card or paper checks. International players may also use Click2Pay to transfer funds directly to their banks.