Full Tilt Poker, the second largest online poker portal in the industry, recently announced the latest upgrades to its software, which have been widely applauded by players.
The upgrade, which was available to Full Tilt Poker players beginning on Thursday, vastly increases the number of disciplines offered. Draw Games that have been added to the site include No Limit versions of Deuce to Seven Triple Draw and Five Card Draw, a Pot Limit version of Five Card Draw, and Fixed Limit versions of Deuce to Seven Triple Draw, Five Card Draw, Badugi, and Ace to Five Triple Draw.
Full Tilt has also tweaked its Mixed Games. While the site still offers the familiar Seven Game format, a new Ten Game format has been introduced that adds Deuce to Seven Triple Draw, Deuce to Seven Single Draw, and Badugi. This is in addition to the HORSE and HOSE games that Full Tilt already had in action.
As a part of the new games being offered, Full Tilt’s upcoming Full Tilt Online Poker Series (FTOPS) schedule will feature these variations. Beginning on November 10th, FTOPS XVIII will feature a 34-event schedule, with the new Ten Game format tournament being held on November 17th. Team Full Tilt pro Howard Lederer will be the host of the tournament, which has a $150,000 guarantee for a $200 buy-in.
This is the first significant addition to Full Tilt Poker since the introduction of its last innovative game, Rush Poker, in January. Rush Poker, in which players are immediately moved to a new table once they fold their hands, has become very popular for those looking for non-stop action. The popularity of the game is easy to see in the numbers, with approximately 10% of the action on Full Tilt occurring at the Rush Poker tables.
Reaction to the changes has been positive on many of the top poker message boards. At PocketFives.com, the announcement was greeted with a “wooohooooooo FINALLY” from poster “aad.” Also excited was “MacGyver72,” who wrote, “I wish I were already good at any of those new games so I could clean up over the next two weeks vs the donkeys that are going to play it just to try it out.” Other posters have also appreciated some of the additional updates beyond the games, including changes to the last hand history feature and the elimination of several bug issues in Rush Poker.
The addition of these new disciplines of poker puts Full Tilt Poker on par with the industry leader, PokerStars, and could cut into the lead that PokerStars has enjoyed for several years. For quite some time, PokerStars offered many of the games in Full Tilt’s new upgrade and was the central point for players who wanted something beyond Texas Hold’em and Omaha. Now, Full Tilt Poker is stepping up to offer their customers a full range of poker options.
