Full Tilt Poker

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Full Tilt Poker logo

Full Tilt Poker is an online poker card room launched in June 2004 with the involvement of a team of poker professionals, among them Howard Lederer, Phil Ivey, Andy Bloch, Mike Matusow, Jennifer Harman and Chris Ferguson.^[1] It is the second largest online poker card room in the world, after Pokerstars.^[2]

Games offered

Full Tilt offers both play and real money ring games (also known as “cash games”) and tournaments. Freeroll, satellite, sit-n-go, and multi-table tournaments take place throughout the day and often include participation from Full Tilt’s sponsored professionals.^[3][4] The site offers the following poker variations in limit, pot-limit, and no-limit: Texas Holdem, Omaha, and Omaha 8 or Better (a.k.a. Omaha hi/lo). The site also offers limit Razz, Stud, Stud 8 or Better, and mixed games such as HORSE. ^[5] Stakes range from $0.01/$0.02 blinds to $2000/$4000 blinds.^[6]

In early 2010, Full Tilt introduced a new poker variation called “Rush Poker” designed to increase the number of hands a player receives. In “Rush Poker” players do not remain at a specific table. Instead, they join a pool with hundreds of other players. When they fold, they are transferred to a new table and dealt a new hand.^[7]

Team Full Tilt

Full Tilt’s team of professionals is an integral part of the company’s marketing strategy, its slogan being “Learn, Chat and Play with the Pros.”^[8]

“Team Full Tilt” is comprised of 14 noted professionals who play regularly on the site and are considered full-fledged members, including Howard Lederer, Phil Ivey, Andy Bloch, Chris Ferguson, Mike Matusow, Jennifer Harman, John Juanda, Phil Gordon, Erick Lindgren, Erik Seidel, Gus Hansen, Allen Cunningham, Patrik Antonius and Tom Dwan.

In addition to Team Full Tilt, several other pros are “Full Tilt Pros,” who are sponsored by the site but are not full-fledged members. This group includes Farzad Bonyadi, David Chiu, John D’Agostino, Layne Flack, Perry Friedman, Rafe Furst, David Grey, Berry Johnston, Eli Elezra, Jeff Madsen, Paul Wasicka, Erica Schoenberg, Mark Vos, Brad Booth, Nenad Medic, Eddy Scharf, Carlos Mortensen, Chip Jett, Karina Jett, David Oppenheim, Roland De Wolfe, Robert Mizrachi, Michael Craig, Andrew Black, Huck Seed, Rob Hollink, Gavin Smith, Marc Karam and Lee Watkinson. The Hendon Mob (Joe Beevers, Ram Vaswani, Barny and Ross Boatman) also makes its online home at Full Tilt.^[9] In March 2008 Team CardRunners (including Mike Schneider and Brian Townsend) were announced to have been signed as Full Tilt pros^[10], though on December 21, 2009, Pokernewsdaily.com reported that Townsend’s Red Pro status was suspended for a month for using another player’s hand histories to study high stakes player Isildur1, from whom he won $3m in a single day earlier that month. ^{[11] [12]}

In late 2008 it was alleged that Full Tilt Poker owned a number of domain names, including ones incorporating the names of rising players – even some of those who are not affiliated with the cardroom. These domains ultimately redirected to Full Tilt Poker’s main site.^[13]

Full Tilt on Television

Full Tilt Poker is or has been the principal sponsor of a number of poker television programs, including:

• Learn from the Pros
• Poker Championship at Red Rock
• Poker After Dark
• Poker Equalizer
• Face the Ace

American players

On September 29, 2006, the U.S. Congress passed a harbor security measure, the SAFE Port Act, which included a last-minute amendment known as the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act. While the law does not outlaw online gambling, it does make it illegal for financial institutions, such as banks and credit card companies, to transfer funds to online gambling sites.^[14]

In response to passage of the UIGEA, Party Gaming, owner of Party Poker, left the US market, creating a vacuum largely filled by Pokerstars and Full Tilt Poker.^[15]

Lawsuits

On September 11, 2009, Full Tilt was sued civilly in Nevada by Jason Newitt in the case of Jason Newitt v. Tiltware; Full Tilt Poker; Pocket Kings Ltd.; Pocket Kings Consulting Ltd.; Raymond Bitar; Howard Lederer. Mr. Newitt alleges that he was unfairly fired and that his distribution payments were unfairly ceased.^[16]

On April 29, 2009, Full Tilt was sued civilly in Los Angeles, California, by James Hicks in the case of JAMES HICKS v. TILTWARE LLC; FullTiltPoker.com; TILT PROOF INC.; CHRISTOPHER FERGUSON, a case alleging unfair business practices and the conduct of illegal Internet gaming.^[17] The case primarily seeks an injunction and no specific monetary damages are requested. James Hicks, the plaintiff, is also a Los Angeles lawyer whose firm is representing the plaintiff.

In late 2008, Full Tilt was sued in Nevada by Clonie Gowen, prominent poker professional and former Full Tilt endorser. She claimed that during Full Tilt’s formative year of 2004, she was offered a 1% ownership in the company in exchange for her promotional efforts. PokerNewsDaily.com reported that Ms. Gowen’s claims were dismissed (many, with prejudice) by the US District Court in Las Vegas on April 27, 2009.^[18]

Full Tilt Online Poker Series

The Full Tilt Online Poker Series (FTOPS) is Full Tilt’s premier tournament series.^[19] It was established in August 2006 ^[20] and is held approximately every three months.^[21] The FTOPS consists of multiple tournaments in a variety of different poker games and formats, each of which is hosted by a different Full Tilt professional.^[22] Throughout the series, Full Tilt offers a number of challenges and prizes that reward players for accomplishing certain feats.^[23]

Full Tilt also sponsors a Mini FTOPS, which takes place one month later and features the same events at 1/10th the buy-in.^[24]

Records

On July 19, 2009, Full Tilt attempted to beat the world record for the highest number of players playing in an online poker tournament.^[25] This event was part of their fifth anniversary celebration. They broke the old record of 35,000 by hosting a tournament with 50,000 players, but this record was surpassed later that day by PokerStars.

According to the hand history database at Pokerlistings.com, Full Tilt, known for hosting the highest stakes games in online poker, was site to the 100 biggest online pots of 2009, including the ten largest pots in online poker history. On November 21, 2009, Team Full Tilt Professional Patrik Antonius beat anonymous Swedish player Isildur1 for a $1,356,947 pot in a hand of Pot Limit Omaha: the largest online poker pot to date.^[26]

Notes

External links

• Official site