Full Tilt Poker Details

Facts and Figures

Before launching into a players-eye-review of Full Tilt it makes sense to cast an analytical eye over some of the facts and figures of the site. Following each section is a chip stack rating ranging from 1 to 10. A single micro-donk stack indicates a poor rating, whilst a high-roller’s stack of 10 equates to an excellent rating.

Site Traffic

Full Tilt is the second largest poker room on the net behind Pokerstars and the fact American players can still play on the site means you’re guaranteed to find numerous fully stocked cash games.

The tournament fields regularly exceed 400 runners and many of the guaranties over the weekend attract 1000+. Peak times are when the US players log-in to the site but the large numbers of European players keep the action ticking over nicely 24 hours a day.

Players during peak times = ~17000
7 day avg. = 11800

Types of Games Offered

Variety is the spice of life and for the discerning poker players amongst you Full Tilt offers the full spectrum of games. In addition to staple Hold’em and Omaha games are the stud variants and for those looking to really test your poker dexterity there is a plethora of mixed games available.

Softness of Games

The large player pool means that the standard of play ranges from the sublime to the ridonckulous. The low level cash games feature a mix of loose passive fish for whom spelling poker would be difficult enough through to up and coming regulars.

The status of the site means that many of the mid and high limit games attract the very best players in the world. Game selection is crucial if you’re looking for some decent EV in these games and once you hit the highest levels you can forget about having any edge.

Tournaments are a mixed bag with the majority of the $30 and below fields being generally weak but once you venture in to the murkier waters of the $50+ tourneys you will find yourself swimming with many top MTT sharks such as Moorman1, Isaac Baron or Pearljammer.

The overall fishyness rating of Full Tilt, based on the scale system, is 6/10. Bountiful if you look in the right places.

Rake Structure

Full Tilt’s rake is in-line with all the major poker networks and charges a fairly standard 5% per hand up to a maximum value determined by level.

For example: NLH – 6 max – 0.5/1 = $0.05 per $1 in the pot, with a maximum rake of $3.00 per hand.

The site also operates a no flop – no drop policy, meaning that any hand which doesn’t see a flop, or fourth street in stud games, doesn’t incur any rake.

Forced Ante

Full Tilt’s crack team of programmers are constantly working on ways to keep the site at the top of the pack and their latest software update has seen some interesting additions. The recent boom of televised high stakes cash games has seen the poker community desperate to mimic the likes of Brunson and Greenstein and spice up their cash games with running antes.

Well, Tilt have obliged and cash players can now juice up the pots and fleece the fish with a range of forced ante tables in both No Hold’em and Pot Limit Omaha games. With antes mandatory before any cards are dealt there is no doubt that this latest feature will generate a new wave of action and once the high stakes players get involved we could see some truly astronomical pots.

Limit players haven’t been forgotten in this latest update as Full Tilt’s anti-ratholing check, common in No Limit games, has been extended to the more controlled version of the game.

Players who book a win over the minimum buy-in cannot now leave the table and return within thirty minutes with less than they left with. Hopefully, the days of the hit-and-run short-stackers are beginning coming to an end!! Tournament breaks have also been overhauled with all stops synchronised to start at 55 minutes past the hour.

At 55 minutes past the tournament will play out its final hands before all the tables pause. The tourney will then restart after five minutes. This means that restart times are more likely to be staggered and multi-tablers will have a decent break on all tables.

The final update is a completely re-written and improved communication process between the game client and the site’s servers. This update should eliminate those annoying loading times when you open a tournament lobby or switch between game tabs.

Although this is an invisible upgrade it is likely to be the most noticeable in terms of overall quality and gaming experience.

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