It felt just like old times logging into Full Tilt Poker today. At the time of writing, there were almost 50,000 players logged in on over 20,000 tables. The look and feel of the software is almost the same as it was before, with mostly the same avatars, lobby navigation, table themes, and games.
It does not appear that the tournament lobby is full with what the site plans to offer, but I did notice the guarantees on many of the tournaments are much lower than what was previously offered. For example, the Sunday Brawl has been reduced to a $50,000 guarantee and what was previously the $750,000 Guaranteed now has a $200,000 guarantee. Tournaments throughout the day also seem to have lower guarantees, but I expect that if traffic is consistent, the guarantees will increase over time.
Full Tilt has kept its old assortment of tournament types that many PocketFivers enjoyed, such as Rush, Cashout, and Multi-Entry. As was the case previously, you will often see these options offered in combination, such as a Turbo Rush Multi-Entry tournament.
The only new tournament types I have seen are the double and triple chance events, which are great for those who want to re-enter a tournament they busted out of early. Players can also decide to play more aggressively early on in the tournament since they can try to get a big stack or reenter.
The sit and go selection seems to be the same as it was before in terms of game variety; however, the buy-ins are now different. Previously, the buy-ins were odd amounts such as $33 or $35. Now, it seems that FTP took a page out of PokerStars' playbook by rounding off sit and gos to primarily round numbers such as $10, $20, and $30. At higher limits, the buy-ins are the same as they were before.
Step sit and gos appear to be offered in the same denominations as before. The one change I noticed is that the $2,100 Step 7 sit and go offers cash prizes instead of entries into live tournaments. I see this as encouraging high-limit sit and go grinders to move to FTP from Stars since the latter only offers prizes for its sit and gos.
Multi-table sit and go players will still have available to them on-demand sit and gos and a host of games like Multi-Entry, Rush, and Turbo tournaments. On-demand games allow a multi-table sit and go to start when it reaches a certain number of players, with late registration still open so there is no limit to how many players might join. This unique format is not available on any other site and many players who play tournaments should enjoy adding a few on-demand games when winding down a session to fill out their screens.
Surprisingly, FTP still offers Matrix Sit and Gos, which were not popular pre-shutdown. Matrix Sit and Gos allow you to play against the same people on four different sit and go tables at one time, with your prize being a function of how you perform on all of the tables. As expected, the lobby is pretty empty, with only a few games going off for this variety of sit and go.
For those of you who play heads-up sit and gos, there is now a button to play the same opponent on an additional table. This can be great for those in a heated battle with someone or for those having prop contests against others. The "Add Table" button also works on six- and nine-max sit and gos, but it just opens a new lobby for you.
Now to my bread and butter: cash games. FTP is offering cash games in a variety of formats with buy-ins from $0.01/$0.02 to $400/$800 for No Limit and Pot Limit games, and up to $2,000/$4,000 for Limit games. To me, FTP is sending a mixed signal, as it signed guys like Gus Hansen, Tom Dwan, and Viktor Blom, but also announced it will no longer offered the stakes as high as it used to, which included $500/$1,000.
I am pleased that Full Tilt kept the personalized tables some people had pre-shutdown. My $8/$16 WackyJaxon O/8 table (pictured) always has a reserved seat waiting for me. I am also looking forward to spending some significant time on the 10-Game cash tables, which are not available elsewhere online.
Similar to sit and gos, there is an option to add a table of the same buy-in on all cash tables. If you are playing a heads-up cash game, this option will allow you to play the same player you are already up against on multiple tables.
Rush Poker has the same games as before, ranging from $0.02/$0.05 to $2/$4 for No Limit Hold'em. PokerStarshas lower games available ($0.01/$0.02) and higher games available ($2.50/$5). You can buy in for the same amounts as pre-Black Friday, 40 to 100 big blinds. The one good change that now exists is that there is a "Sit Out Next Big Blind" button that wasn't previously there. When winding down your Rush Poker session, you can optimize when you sit out by utilizing this button.
For those of you using a third-party Heads-Up Display, there are many reported problems, including blank stats for Rush Poker. From reading Holdem Manager's forum, expect a new release to address this in the coming days. It appears that data is stored properly in your database; it's just the HUD that's not working.
A change that doesn't involve game play is the introduction of the Next Edge rewards program. It's very easy to earn 25% a week by averaging 250 FTPs a day. For casual players, there are smaller cashback rewards to be earned. Although those previously receiving rakeback won't optimize their rewards like before, this is a fair solution since everyone has an equal chance at the same rewards. Full Tilt has removed its Iron Man and Black Card promotions, but kept its FTP structure and rewards store.
Also, it appears Full Tilt added a few widgetsthat you can customize your lobby with, including a Session Information widget and a Next Edge Cash Rewards widget. These are just two of the 17 widgets currently available.
The last significant change is the ability to transfer from your PokerStars account directly to your Full Tilt Poker account and vice-versa. There is a one-time process to link your accounts together and, after that, you can easily move funds around. The only issue is that the sites treat the transfers as withdrawals. For those of you involved on either side of a staking arrangement, this means when you first receive a transfer from PokerStars or FTP, if you wish to move to the other site, you may need to play through some of the funds before you can move them around easily.
I am happy after a long wait that I have access to my funds and another site with options to play on.
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