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A Review of FullTiltPoker.com
ADDON (1) - After writing this, I discovered three really unique features at FullTilt. Check for RED text below.
ADDON (2) - Learning more, so doing this (only one) addon in Green text. See note added under CAUTION ADDON below.
In case you haven't already figured it out, if you sign up with Neteller (or a similar service), you can then sign up at any number of poker sites in just a few minutes. I've thus far found Neteller valid at ParadisePoker.com, PartyPoker.com, UltimateBet.com, and now I've discovered FullTiltPoker.com.
I went to FullTilt in response to an ad in the Howard Lederer CD I that I described in Chapter 16. It told me that if I went to FullTilt and earned 100 FullTilt points, they'd send me Howard's "Winning Guide to Online Poker"! Hey, sounds like something we all could use, eh? I'm really curious on what'all Howard has to say and how it compares to my own Secrets.
Let me give you the bottom line first -- I REALLY LIKE FULLTILTPOKER.COM!
Now, I'll go into some of the good news and bad news. The site's not perfect, but it has many really neat options that I haven't seen at the other sites I've visited. Firstly, WATCH OUT FOR THE SIGNUP BONUS. When I signed up, I dropped in $50 and started playing. Later, I went to read the promotions. They're giving a 100% bonus on initial deposits! If I'd known that, I'd have put in my entire $500 bonus reserve (Chapter 15). I'm not sure if this is a constant thing or not. I sent an email to their support people, but never really got a clear answer. I think it's only 100% through 12/31/04, then reverts back to 20%, but I'm not sure.
The mention of bonuses brings up some of the bad news about the site, so I guess I'll cover that first.
BUT, before I start -- I also asked about the referral bonus. They don't have one yet, but if you decide to sign up, put "oldguy2" in the blank that says "referred by", then I might get a bonus later. I get the impression they're a relatively new site and haven't got everything set up yet.
Here are some BAD and GOOD points about FullTiltPoker.com:
BAD: I found it impossible to get a clear answer out of their support people. I think they're using contract labor that doesn't speak English very well. I tried to find out how many points I needed to qualify for the bonus on my $50 and haven't been able to yet. I also asked if there's a place I can go on the website to see my current bonuses, points earned, etc. No answer yet on that either. They continue to point me to info pages on the website that I've already visited.
BAD: I find their bonus scheme to be rather complex. At Paradise and Party, you earn a bonus by playing a certain number of raked hands at a minimum level. At FullTilt, you get points or partial points based upon the amount of the rake, which you don't see unless you go looking for it. As far as I can tell at the moment, I'm getting about 2-4 points per hour playing mostly one hand. After 4 long (3 or more hours) sessions, I've got 50 of the 100 points needed to get that free CD. I'm about $50 ahead, however, so I guess there's no hurry.
BAD: Since they're relatively new, there are very few tables to choose from. At the $.50-$1 level, for example, Paradise generally has 10 or more games going with empty seats, Party has 50 or so, and FullTilt has like 1 or 2. If you like to change tables a lot, that means you'll sometimes have to go to a different level of game to get a new table. It also means that sometimes you can't even find an empty seat at the level you're wanting. Plus, if you're using the multi-table strategy, you might find that you have to play games at different levels just to get into three simultaneously.
GOOD: They have a really great system for making notes on your competitors. To compare to others, Party has an adequate system, Paradise is better, and FullTilt is best! You can read about the others in the chapters I've already written about them. At FullTilt, you right-click to enter information. Later, you simply move your mouse over the person and see the notes. That's much like Paradise. HOWEVER, FullTilt has the added option that you can put a little color stripe on the person. You've got about 10 colors to choose from, ranging from purple to red to yellow to green to blue. It's really great, because you can look at a person when they bet, call, or raise, and know immediately what kind of player they are. You can, of course, use these however you like, but my system is: Purple=multi-table player; Green=plays alot of hands, nothing to fear; Yellow=caution, slow-plays and/or is a cautious player; Red=very cautious player that should be respected. These colors are GREAT! If someone bets or raises, and their color is anything but Green, I go check the notes to see what they've done in the past to earn their color.
GOOD: Their system for viewing past hands is really high-tech. All other sites I've played just show you a text listing of the action during the hand. At FullTilt, you get a graphic showing all cards that were exposed during the hand, in addition to the step-by-step textual history. In addition, you can easily step back through past hands -- I don't know what the limit is, but I've noticed as many as 30 hands stored in my "past hands buffer." The only semi-bad news here is that there doesn't appear to be an option to email the history to yourself for later examination. All other sites I've played have this option. FullTilt may also have it and I just haven't found it yet. ADDON - This is the only site I've seen that shows the mucked cards in the "Last Hand" replay! You see the cards of everyone who stayed to the end, even if the cards got mucked and not shown when the hand ended.
GOOD: FullTilt has options on how you see the game. You can change the background and set your own personal avatar. Plus, during the game, you can make your avatar look normal, angry, happy, or confused. Kind of cutesy, but provides some entertainment while you're waiting for a playable hand. The avatar also says something about the player -- I don't think most serious players would spend time making their avatar smile or frown .. or maybe they would?
GOOD: They provide the option to turn the table to put your seat in any position that you desire. This is especially good if you're playing multiple tables and want to put yourself at top-left on one game and bottom-right at another.
GOOD: They have many more options on level of games and No-Limit games at almost every level, from $.05-.10 to $5-$10. Fixed limit games run from $.25-.50 to $200/$400, with Pot-Limit games thrown in here and there. As with the other sites I play, the mode of play changes radically as you change levels. I've been really cautious while earning my initial bonuses, and I enjoy the no-limit games, so I've been playing primarily at either the nickel-dime or the dime-quarter level. Hey! Don't sneer! You can easily win (or lose) $20 an hour at the nickel-dime level. At the dime-quarter, I've managed to lose $30 in an hour. Then went back down to the nickel-dime, where things are much easier, and won the $30 back in 3 hours - and had a BUNCH of fun doing it.
GOOD/BAD: ADDON - This is good in one perspective, but can hurt you also. FullTilt has a "Find a Player" option under the "Requests" menu. Type in a name and it shows you all the tables that a specific player is on. It's good because it provides an effective way of determining who at your table is playing multi-table. It's good if you find a "fish' that you can beat easily -- record his name and then look for him each time you return. It's bad if you turn out to be the fish! And when you're playing with the likes of John Juanda and Phil Ivey, you might well be identified as the fish. I was playing with both yesterday and lost a little bit.
GOOD: ADDON - Due to the previous "Find a Player" option, I learned that many - and I mean MANY - players at FullTilt are PLAYING FOUR TABLES! This is the first site I've found that allows four. With the "turn the table" option noted above, it's possible to situate yourself so you can see all four hands simultaneously. I actually saw a guy last night with $375 at a $2-4 limit table and over $100 at each of three $.50-$1 no-limit tables. AND, he was playing somewhat strategically at the two tables that I shared with him!
CAUTION: This one is sort of a good news/ bad news thing. FullTilt advertises that many of the top players play there frequently. Their ad shows Howard Lederer, his sister Annie Duke, Jesus Ferguson, Phil Ivey, John Juanda, and some others that look familiar, but whose names escape me. The good news is that you occasionally get a chance to go up against the real pros. The bad news is that occasionally you find yourself up against a real pro. Guess it depends on your point of view on whether that's good or bad. There was a player with the name "Phil on Tilt" at my table the other night -- didn't know whether it was Hellmuth or not -- beat him out of some money, so maybe it wasn't.
CAUTION ADDON: I noticed the other day that one of the games was in Red text. Emailed support and learned that Red text means that there's a pro playing in the game. What's more, if you open the table, you'll note that the name of the pro is also in Red. And .. get this ... they have their own personal avatar that actually looks like them. I've noticed FullTilt has special games or tournaments now and then, where the prize is to get your own personal avatar. Don't think I'd want one. Would that result in other players giving you more respect or other players "gunning for you"? Who knows ...
Below, I've included a screenshot of me with 3 tables open at FullTilt. I usually only play two, but put up three for demonstration purposes. If you really want to see the names of the people, etc., click the graphic and you'll go to another page with a much larger version.
Note in the picture that I've selected three different backgrounds. The top-left is the "mountain lodge", bottom-right is "beach", and bottom-left is "jungle." I'm the guy with the smoking cigar at each table. In the top-left, I've set my avatar at "angry." At bottom-right, it's confused, although it doesn't change much on my avatar. You can see others with smiles, etc. Also notice the color codes on the bottom-right table. For example, THECAPPER is Green, the frog just above me is Red, etc. Notice also in the bottom right that I've just won that $2.60 pot with aces and sixes ... whoopee!
WebBook #17
Notice the text window in the bottom left corner of each table. There's a little white push-pin in the blue background corner of the text window. If you click on the push-pin, it opens a much larger version of the window higher on the screen that allows you to see about 30 lines of text. Good if you want to review some recent exchanges or to see what happened in the last few hands. More GOOD, I guess.
Much of the content in the WebBook assumes you've already read the Ebook Chapters 1-7. To get your free copy of the Ebook, CLICK HERE.
This is the WebBook portion of the "Secrets for Winning Online Hold'Em Poker" Ebook+WebBook
