Full Tilt Poker

Full Review of Full Tilt Poker

Mention Full Tilt Poker to anybody that's ever played the game of poker online, and you'll be sure to find a glowing testimonial of a site that continues to go from strength to strength as more players come online to bid for their share of the various riches that online gaming can bring.

Even though Full Tilt Poker find themselves listed as the second-biggest name in online poker, the fact that they remain independent of the major gaming networks means that players of all abilities can enjoy a unique playing experience while still being associated with one of the true giants of the game.

For the new player, there's a handsome sign-up bonus that's as good as anything being offered elsewhere while the more experienced player can enjoy an action-packed tournament schedule of high quality games boasting guaranteed prize money 24 hours a day.

But the really big pull of Full Tilt Poker simply has to be the presence of at least one senior professional poker player online no matter what time of day or night. And these guys don't only play poker, but also pass on their valuable experience via the assortment of live chat mediums available on the site.

The list of names is endless. Howard Lederer, Phil Ivey, Jennifer Harman, Phil Gordon and Chris Ferguson are just a few of the professionals putting their names and reputations into Full Tilt Poker. Quite simply, online poker just doesn't get any bigger than this!

Thankfully, the professional stance of Full Tilt Poker doesn't mean that newcomers to the game are alienated. Indeed, Full Tilt Poker boasts one of the best sign-up bonuses available and offers a full 100% deposit match bonus up to a maximum of $600.

And once you start playing, the rewards just keep on coming in the shape of Full Tilt Poker Points. Simply earn as you play and as your points total grows, extra cash will be deposited into your account to keep you playing and bulking up that all-important bankroll. Even better, you still get to keep your points once you've been rewarded and can use them to buy Full Tilt clothing so you don't just play against professionals, but get to dress like them as well!

It goes without saying that an online poker site with such a strong reputation is going to attract a vast amount of traffic and Full Tilt Poker averages out at almost 40,000 players at any one time. Peak hours tend to be during US evening time when as many as 110,000 visitors can be online. This means the action is always fast-paced and lively and there's sure to be a table to cater for all pockets.

Because of the amount of traffic that Full Tilt Poker enjoys, guaranteed tournaments can take place as often as five times every hour. Buy-ins start from as little as $5 although prize money can range from between $3,000 and $50,000. In many of the tournaments, tokens are awarded as well as prize money that offer players free buy-ins into larger tournaments and satellite events.

Even the freerolls are designed to elevate even the most average of players onto the bigger stages of online world poker. Instead of offering small cash prizes to freeroll winners, Full Tilt Poker reward them with free entry into a bigger real money tournaments that not only offer bigger cash incentives but valuable playing experience against more accomplished players.

The game software itself is simply fantastic and combines a genuine user-friendly interface with some unique features that add a fun feel to things. Unsurprisingly, the action seems to mirror other high-volume traffic sites and zips along at an incredibly fast pace but the software copes with this quite comfortably and never seems to experience any lagging or stalling.

Even so, the pace of the action doesn't leave the novice player struggling to keep up and the cartoon-like graphics are incredibly easy on the eye. For those who like a few quirks with their poker, there's the ability to right-click on your avatar and use a variety of facial expressions to spice up your game and the backgrounds can be changed to display some wonderfully colourful themes including jungles, space and even Las Vegas!

The history feature is graphically superb and simple to understand and player notes are easy to record for the more serious poker player. Up to eight tables can be played with ease at any one time and can be resized easily.

The lobby itself is, unfortunately, a little complicated due to the sheer number of different games and tournaments taking place. Thankfully, Full Tilt Poker allow you to customise the lobby using a filter system that narrows down the amount of action going on and soon gets you on to a table and playing the game itself.

Full Tilt Poker is also fantastic for game variety and offers some amusing options to the normal poker fare of Texas Hold 'Em or Omaha. There's the chance to play a full range of Stud games and Razz as well as such rarities as H-O-R-S-E.

Table limits start from as little as 5c/10c and go all the way up to $1,000/$2,000 for the really serious player.

Customer support is entirely by e-mail and is split into several service areas to make sure players get through to the right service representatives quickly although replies can sometimes take a while to come through. Withdrawals are simple to negotiate and are normally made within 24 hours on electronic payments.

Full Tilt Poker genuinely deserves to sit in the top tier of online poker based on the current format it uses and the exemplary history that goes before it, and looks set to be amongst the leading innovators of online poker for many years to come.