Full Tilt vs Pokerstars in 2010
I've always preferred Full Tilt over Pokerstars for many reasons. One of the big ones, was when I first started I found the interface confusing, and the tables cluttered and messy. They still are, but as I got used to playing these things become less important to me.
Full Tilt really has done a lot of improvements in 2009. Various updates including the massive conversion to flash. This definitely allowed Full Tilt to be able to expand its features, but in doing so they lost other things including the 3rd party software "Poker Shortcuts" which is a must to multi tabling grinders.
But efforts to bring more and more improvements almost monthly really has shown that they're up for trying to overtake Stars. From their new live replayer, widgets, running it twice, making a deal, and even their new cashout tournaments, there always seem to be something new and exciting happening with every new update. As well as great promotions and talented Poker players representing them, their branding couldn't be better.
Stars seemed rather quiet in comparison. The only promotions I really heard of is the reload bonus. They did a rival World Record tournament when Full Tilt did theirs, but it just seemed that they have run out of ideas. Of course I'm totally biased tho, I haven't played on Stars much at all so I don't know what's going on. But its never been much of a stretch to say that Full Tilt was catching up for sure.
2010 is coming and Stars has announced a new VIP system to regular grinders. They've lowered it, and brought in cash bonuses too once you hit a new status. This is huge! You could say that Stars really has pulled this one out of the hat, like a secret weapon. The main reason why I say this is the fact that achieving the VIP status is basically rakeback for Stars. Full Tilt offer rakeback, but not to existing players. The "rakeback" system is also top heavy, so this will definitely persuade pure grinders to convert. How do you get the "rakeback"? Well you basically use the points to get cashback bonuses, which you unlock. Mathematically speaking, they are worth more then the 27% Full Tilt offers, and the main thing is that the "rakeback" is open to anyone. With the VIP system being lowered, there will be a lot more people realistically aiming to get the Supernova Elite status.
Another huge setback for Full Tilt is the fact that Poker Shortcuts is dead. The programmers, making it open source, basically saying that the updates are happening all the time, and he just doesn't have to time to be constantly adjusting the software, to the demands of all the Full Tilt grinders on the 2+2 forums. Since the major update, it has lost its best feature, the automatic table opener. And now, a new software called Table Ninja does just that on Pokerstars. You put in your limit/table type, set the amount you want open at one time, set the time or amount of tables you want to play in one session, and then click start. Now all you need to focus on is the Poker. The fact that this works on Stars and not Full Tilt is another major setback for them. Grinders like myself love the automatic registering and opening of these tables. It saves time and effort, and this makes a big difference in the overall scheme of things, especially if you are grinding every day.
Touche, Pokerstars... now the ball is in Full Tilt's court. How will Full Tilt respond? I certainly aim to grind up my stars account now, especially with these bonuses. Probably more so then Full Tilt, where i will probably play the minimum Iron Man and then move on.
Comments
Great read. I am currently grinding FT single table sng's and have been looking for something that can auto load tables for me. I didnt even know about poker shortcuts software.
Funny thing cause FT went down a couple of nights ago in the middle of 4 of my tourneys, and I logged onto Pstars just to make sure my connection was working. I havent played on stars in almost a year and the graphics seemed old to me. I feel like FT's is crisper. Anyway I didnt have any money left in my old account but I had FTP points so I freerolled a 2 table 210 FTP sng and won a $10 tourney buy in and unregistered to get the tournament dollars and then won a $3.40 single table for another $15. So i'll be giving stars another chance to grind up another bankroll in the weeks to come.
To FT's credit though, the same night they issued an email declaring the tourneys cancelled and refunded my entry fees plus a small percentage of the prize pool since I had higher then average chips in some. I didnt know they did that.
yankeefan, poker shortcuts doesn't autoload for Full Tilt anymore, ever since the major update actually. Where as Table Ninja for Pokerstars does.
I do prefer Full Tilt as well, and I like the graphics more as well, they are crisper! Pokerstars seem more messy to me, and really confusing when I first started.
I've email FT a few times asking for redunds when my computer had crashed and I timed out of all my tables, and they gave me Tournament Dollars. It takes a while, but there's no harm in trying!
yankeefanx23, I've got 1000s of FTPs that I would love to convert to cash but don't have only once had the VIP status to do it on Stars. Am I right in saying you collected 10$ effectively in cash by playing a 210 FTP to win a 10$ buy in for another tourney and then unregistered from it thus getting 10$ onto your bankroll? If so that's genius - I might try doing the same.
Yup, thats exactly what I did. Theres a 210FTP 18 man satellite sng on PS in the freeroll sng tourney section. If you finish in the top 6 you get an automatic buy-in into a future$10+1. All you have to do is open the lobby of that tourney and unregister and get an $11 credit back in tournament dollars. Usually a pretty easy one to cash.
I do the same on FT.
Theres a 1800FTP "Tier One" single table sng, that if you finish in the top 3 out of the 9 players you get a free $25 satellite token. From there, you can use that token to play the Tier Two $24+2 single table SNG where top 2 players get a $75 token, and 3rd gets $66 cash. If I get a $75 token, I usually play the single table sng satellite to the "$750,000 guarantee" where the top 3 get a free entry into that tournament. Same deal, if you get in, just unregister and get $210 plus credited back into your account.
Sounds like a long way to go, but the players are usually so much weaker at these sng's than at the standard ones with the same buy-in.
Where can I download the Drupal template you're using on your site? Could you just tell me the name and I'll find it?
An interesting read; having only dabbled in full tilt (and only recently), i was unaware of much of the history that you layed out. The VIP status thing for pokerstars is great news though, roll on 2010! =D