Full Tilt Poker v Party Poker

Full Tilt Poker is the second largest poker site on the internet with Party Poker ranked 4th overall. Full Tilt caters to players from around the world while Party Poker does not allow players from the United States on their site. Which site is better when comparing all the factors? Let's do our analysis and find out.

Round 1: Bonuses & Promotions

Full Tilt Poker has a tremendous bonus offer for first time players with a $600 deposit bonus. The bonus, unlike a lot of other sites out there, is fairly easy to work off at the small stakes tables and doesn't expire for three months. Party Poker has the same 100% bonus offer but only up to $500. The bonus is not quite as easy to unlock but still is pretty simple to get to overall.

Round 1 Result : Full Tilt Poker

Round 2: Software

With recent renovations, Full Tilt Poker has a brand new engine under the hood that has taken care of a lot of lag issues for players with older computers or slower internet connections. On top of that upgrade was a brand new lobby interface that came with an entirely customizable set of filters for cash games and tournaments. In addition, the widget sidebar has a lot of neat features to make the lobby experience a positive one. Party Poker has a good lobby without the graphically pleasing interface and the software at the table is solid but uninspired. It's not to say that Party Poker isn't any good, it's just that this comparison isn't close.

Round 2 Result: Full Tilt Poker

Round 3: Traffic

Analyzing popular size PokerScout.com will reveal that Full Tilt Poker has a 7-Day Average of 15,400 players online while Party Poker has just 4,700. Clearly, the fact that Full Tilt Poker has triple the amount of traffic is widely contributed to the fact that they allow players from the United States to play poker on their site.

Round 3 Result: Full Tilt Poker

Round 4: Tournaments

When it comes to big time tournament action and a huge tournament series, Full Tilt Poker wins hands down. With their FTOPS and MiniFTOPs series, Full Tilt does a great job getting huge fields together for massive guarantees, sometimes in excess of $2.5 million per tournament. Regular tournaments throughout the day are plentiful on both sites, so as far as small and micro stakes players are concerned, there's really no difference between the two sites. However, big action players looking for big Sunday tournaments (Party Poker has one a month) and daily guarantees should stick to Full Tilt Poker.

Round 4 Result: Full Tilt Poker

Round 5: Ring Games

Both sites offer great cash game action at all levels of play. Specifically, Party Poker's player pool is general regarded as some of the worst online. This has brought some of the best European players to the site for a very polarized range of players. Either you're sitting with a bunch of donkeys or a bunch of donkeys and a really great pro. Most of the top players only play mid-stakes games ($2-$4 and higher) so climbing the ladder at Party Poker is easier than at Full Tilt. However, Full Tilt's ring games are also plentiful and have easy action to be had as well.

Round 5 Result: Party Poker

Round 6: Games

Full Tilt Poker has all varieties of Texas Hold'em games, as well as Omaha, Omaha Hi/Lo, 7 Card Stud, Razz, HORSE, HOSE and HO. Party Poker has just as good a variety of games with Texas Hold'em, Omaha, Omaha Hi/Lo and 7 Card Stud. There's really no huge difference between the two sites as both have plenty of Omaha action which seems to be the alternative game of choice to Hold'em.

Round 6 Result: It's a Draw

Round 7: Deposit/Withdrawal Options

Party Poker offers the ability to deposit via credit card, Neteller, Firepay and wire transfers such as Western Union. Withdrawals from Party Poker are handled much the same way with most people using Neteller. On the other hand, Full Tilt Poker offers deposit methods through wire transfer (Western Union), Instant eChecks, Cash Transfer and Click2Pay account transfers. You can withdrawal from Full Tilt through a premium bank wire, bank transfer or a paper check all of which are guaranteed within 15 days.

Round 7 Result: It's a Draw

Round 8: VIP Program

Both sites offer a point based program that awards site points based on a sliding rake scale every time a player plays in a real money poker game. The points on Full Tilt Poker can be spent in the store for either tournament entries or consumer goods like electronic devices. There's also the Iron Man promotion which awards monthly medals to players for playing on a daily basis which can be saved up for cash bonuses. Every six months Full Tilt awards an extra cash bonus for players based on the number of times they qualified for various Iron Man levels. Party Poker had a recent update to their VIP system which basically made every VPP worth 33% more and comparable to the PokerStars VIP system which is generally regarded as one of the best. At the Palladium level it's close to a 30% return on your rake which makes it a pretty worthwhile program, and is based on 3-month cycles. Because the Party Poker system is based on 3-month cycles and offers more of a cash-based incentive, we'll give them the nod in this section.

Round 8 Result: Party Poker

Round 9: Support

Full Tilt Poker's support is only available through email and has never been regarded as being helpful in terms of timing or depth to the responses they give. Unfortunately Party Poker has a similar level of customer support satisfaction, however they are also available via a toll-free phone number and not just through email. Both sites offer support 24/7, but this time around we'll give the nod to Party Poker for offering phone service.

Round 9 Result: Party Poker

Full Tilt vs Party Poker - The Verdict - Who Wins?

For US players there's no question that Full Tilt Poker is the winner because it's the only option. Nevertheless, for players anywhere else in the world you'll have to balance your priorities. There's good fishy action at the micro and small stakes on both sites but Party Poker is generally regarded as fishier. The VIP programs are different but Party Poker has more of an emphasis on money rewards. At the same time, the overall traffic and games are much better at Full Tilt Poker, who has much better software compared to Party Poker.

Final Score:
Full Tilt Poker: 4
Party Poker: 3
Draws: 2

Party Poker vs Full Tilt - And the Winner is....