Review of Full Tilt Poker

(rated 1 to 5 beers)

Full Tilt Poker is one of the two largest poker sites and it is available for U.S. Players. They offer a generous 100% deposit bonus up to $600 for first time players.  Click this link to sign up and get your 100% deposit bonus. Full Tilt was established in 2004 and is based in Aruba. The poker room has outstanding software, a wide range of games and a large numbers of players.

Player Interface 

Full Tilt Poker offers the nicest player interface I have seen in all the online poker rooms. Full Tilt offers player cartoon type avatars which are capable of expressing 4 different emotions (normal, happy, angry & confused). Players can chat with each other in the built-in chat room. Each player can select their position on the table which is very convenient if you play multiple tables since you’ll always know where to look to find yourself. There are a variety of ways to customize your online poker experience at Full Tilt including 7 different room themes. My favorite is the Las Vegas theme.  A very cool option is the ability to resize rooms to fit your computer screen. You can make them as large or as small as you wish.

Trust & Security 

Full Tilt Poker has built a rock solid reputation of providing trustworthy service. They have internal safeguards to help protect players from fraud.  Due to these safeguards I strongly caution you to really think about your nickname because you can’t change it once you register, and you can’t start up another account. This is to prevent a cheater from playing in the same room under several different screen names. You can rest assured that you’re dealing with a 100% legitimate online poker room.

Player Bonus

Full Tilt Poker offers a generous 100% bonus up to $600. This is one of the best in the business and I recommend that you take full advantage of it. This makes Full Tilt a great choice for new players. The bonus is released in increments as you play poker on their site. These bonus releases are most welcome additions to your bankroll!

Game Selection

This is one of Full Tilt’s greatest assets. They have a game selection that is second to none. There are so many different games that you will welcome a very nice feature at Full Tilt. They provide custom search features that allow you to filter your search by type of game, buy-in amount, how many players, etc. They offer a wide variety of cash games, sit n goes and tournaments so you’re likely to find a game at virtually any hour of the day or night. They also have many of the popular short handed 6 player games going on. This is good for those of us who like a lot of action.

Limit and no-limit blind structures start as low as $0.05 – $0.10 and go up to $1000 – $2000.

Games offered include;

Preset Actions
Preset actions allow you to glance at a game and click a check box to automatically make your next move. This is very useful if you’re playing multiple games. I don’t generally like preset actions because they can provide tells to other players, but sometimes you really need to take advantage of this feature.

Player Support

Full Tilt Poker provides excellent player support. First you can review their FAQ section for most of the commonly asked questions. They also offer e-mail support 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. The response time to e-mail inquiries has been about 2 hours for me. They also have a very nice feature available for all members - a wildly popular message board that is devoted almost entirely to online poker. Players meet there to share their strategies and advice. I recommend that everyone spend a little time browsing the forums. You may be surprised what you learn. I recently picked up a few tidbits that have improved my sit and go games.

Deposit Options

Full Tilt offers a variety of deposit options. This is important for U.S. players who sometimes have trouble making deposits at online poker sites. They accept VISA, Mastercard, cash transfers, ePassporte, Click2Pay and Instant eChecks. I have been successful using my regular VISA card for deposits. Once my deposit was declined but I waited a couple days and tried again and then I was approved with the same VISA card. 

TIP: I only make deposits when Full Tilt is offering a bonus. I never withdraw so much from my account that I can’t withstand a temporary downward fluctuation in my bankroll. Click this link to get your bonus now.

Cash Out

A variety of cash out options are available. Click2Pay and ePassporte cash outs are instantly available once processed. Full Tilt also offers bank transfers which take 5 to 7 days. My favored method is a check that they mail to you. This takes about 15 days to receive but it is free and there are fewer records of the transaction (if you know what I mean).

Special Features 

Full Tilt sponsors quite a number of professional poker players and they frequently play in the cash games and tournaments. Some are willing to chat with players and observers while they play.  I have played with Chris “Jesus” Ferguson several times. Full Tilt offers some great branded merchandise that is available at no cost, using players points earned while you play poker.

I have earned my Full Tilt football jersey. That is 25,000 points – a whole lot of time on the tables, many of them earned at lower limit tables while I have been refining my game.