Online Poker » Site Comparisons » PokerStars vs Full Tilt

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Deposit Bonus

Full Tilt: 100% up to $600; transferred to bonus account in increments worth 10% of your initial deposit. To clear this bonus, earn Full Tilt Points by playing poker; each point is equivalent to $0.06; dispensed in 10% or $20 increments, whichever you get first. Bonus expires after 120 days.

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PokerStars: 100% deposit return, up to $600 on first three deposits made within 90 days. Must earn 17 times the bonus amount to clear; dispensed in $10 increments. Bonus expires in 6 months.

Verdict: Full Tilt Poker and PokerStars bonuses are equal, but PokerStars allows for three deposits, whereas Full Tilt only allows for one. You’ll also have two months more time to clear your PokerStars bonus.

Tournaments

Full Tilt: $750K Sunday Guarantee; buy-in: $216; 6:00 pm ET; $1 Million Guaranteed takes place one Sunday of every month with a $535 buy-in. Big Monday Sundays also include the $350K Knockout Bounty and the $200K Sunday Mulligan.

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PokerStars: Sunday $1.5 Million; buy-in: $215; 4th. Other weekly Sunday tourneys include the $750K Sunday Warm-up and the $250K Sunday Second Chance. All of these tourneys feature a $215 buy-in.
Verdict: PokerStars offers bigger guaranteed prize pools, but with this comes a larger player field. Both sites offer a decent amount of satellites that run all week to all of their big-money tournaments.

Games

Full Tilt: Texas Hold ‘em, Omaha, Omaha Hi/Lo, Stud, Stud Hi/Lo, Razz, HORSE, HOSE, HA, HO, HOE, HEROS, SE, OA, and OE.

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PokerStars: Texas Hold ‘em, Omaha, Omaha Hi/Lo, Stud, Stud Hi-Lo, Razz, 5-Card Draw, 2-7 Single Draw, 2-7 Triple Draw, Badugi, HORSE, HOSE, and 8-game mixed.

Verdict: Both PokerStars and Full Tilt are the biggest providers of mixed games; however, Full Tilt has gotten creative with their mixed game schedule, offering unique mixed game events that no other online poker site offers. On the other hand, PokerStars hosts 8-game mixed events, while Full Tilt does not.

Game Types

Full Tilt: Sit & Gos, Single-Table, Multi-Table, Speed, Turbo, Turbo Sit & Gos, Turbo Multi-Table, Rebuys, Heads-up, 4-layer Heads-Up, Shootouts, Cap Games, Satellites, Freerolls, Matrix

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PokerStars: Sit & Gos, Single-Table, Multi-Table, Turbo, Heads-up, Private, Rebuys, Satellites, Freerolls

Verdict: Both of these poker rooms offer quite a few different cash game and tournament options. You will find, however, some creative twists at Full Tilt, such as Matrix tourneys, which are an intense and fast multi-tabling experience.

Stakes

Full Tilt: micro-limit to high-stakes.

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PokerStars: micro-limit to high-stakes.

Verdict: Both Full Tilt and PokerStars covers the gauntlet when it comes to game limits.

Points

Full Tilt: 1 point for every $1 in raked hands; 7 points for every $1 in tournament fees paid; Happy Hour tournaments afford daily opportunities to receive double or triple points. Points can be redeemed for merchandise or used to buy-in to tournaments; points have no cash value.

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PokerStars: 1 point for every $0.40-$1 in raked hands; 2 points for $2-$3 in rake; and 3 points for $5 rake; 5 points for every $1 in tournament fees paid. The six-tiered VIP Club provides frequent players with enhanced benefits such as point multipliers, exclusive tournaments, and more.

Verdict: Full Tilt points may rack up at a seemingly faster pace, but PokerStars players pick up the pace once they excel in the VIP Club, which offers a wider range of benefits than Full Tilt.

Traffic

Full Tilt: up to 70,000 players on 20,000+ tables averaging 4,000 tournaments at peak hours

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PokerStars: Up to 200,000 players at peak hours in 6,000+ tournaments
Verdict: PokerStars has more than double the players of Full Tilt and almost double the amount of tourneys running. However, they are both gigantic online poker rooms, which doesn’t really differentiate the two from each other. Both of these poker sites have quite a bit of fish and just as many sharks.

Rake

Full Tilt: Maximum rake cap is $3.

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PokerStars: Maximum rake cap is $5.

Verdict: Rake is comparable.

Rakeback

Full Tilt: 27%

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PokerStars: None.

Verdict: If rakeback is a deal breaker, then you can stop reading now and sign up at Full Tilt.

Deposit Options

Full Tilt: VISA/MasterCard, Click2Pay, Cash Transfer, Instant e-checks

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PokerStars: Visa/MasterCard, Diners Club International, Visa Electron, Solo, Maestro, Delta, NETeller, moneybookers, ClickandBuy, WebMoney, EC ELV, PaySafe Card, Online Bank Transfer, Instant e-checks, Local Bank Transfer
Verdict: PokerStars offers so many more deposit options than Full Tilt. If you are a special-needs player when it comes to depositing, you may have a hard time funding your Full Tilt account. The four options Full Tilt offers, though, are all reliable and safe payment options.

Software

Full Tilt: This multi-lingual software features optimized graphics and gaming customization options. Full Tilt is best for multi-tabling; play on up to 15 tables at once.

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PokerStars: Also available in multiple languages, PokerStars has all the standard options and then some. Play on up to 24 tables at once.

Verdict: Both Full Tilt and PokerStars have exceptional software in terms of industry standards with options to personalize and refine your online poker experience. If you can actually play on more than 15 tables at once, then you’ll want to go with PokerStars.

Support

Full Tilt: 24/7 email support featuring 16 issue-specific email addresses

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PokerStars: 24/7 email support is available

Verdict: Both only offer player support via email; however, Full Tilt offers more email address options, so this may be a plus. They both answer problems in a timely fashion, considering all of the players they have to provide assistance to.