Full Tilt Poker Mini Review And Other Escapades

I took a few days off from poker this week, before getting back into the swing of things trying to work off the Full Tilt Poker bonus. Now I've played for a couple of days, I thought I'd post my initial impressions.

The user interface is very nice. Slick and fast. I know some people aren't keen on the avatars - finding them too 'cartoony' - but they can be turned off. Personally, I like them. More on that later.

I also like the 'sit me here' feature which lets you realign the screen to have your seat in whichever position you choose.

The site seems to be quite sparsely populated at present. That's not to say there are very few players. On the contrary, I think the issue is there is such a wide range of games that the players are spread a little thinly. This should improve as their marketing kicks in and more players join. The 2/4 Hold Em games are also a lot tighter than Party Poker, probably due to all the bonus grinders.

They are certainly working hard to build the user base. Not just with their 100% to $600 sign up offer. (Bonus Code: DIV1970 - Don't be shy. You know you want to!) They are also offering a 50% to $300 reload bonus for existing players. It DOES take a while to work off their bonus, but some is better than none, and if they are offering reloads some people must have already done their $600!!!

The next World Poker Bloggers Tour tournament will be a HORSE tournament on Full Tilt, which emphasises the range they offer. So sign up for Full Tilt and get ready for the tournament!

One area where the site does fall down a little is the lack of admin options. By this I mean things like requesting hand histories and checking how much money you took to-and-from tables. The site is still young and I believe these issues are already being addressed.

So, on the whole, I'd say Full Tilt has the potential to be a really good site. They just need to get the marketing campaign rolling and catch up on the shortcomings of the software - which are hardly showstoppers. Given the quality of the people behind the site, I'm sure they will succeed.

Now, on to the escapades. Before going any further, it's worth saying I posted a question on Two Plus Two about the following hand to double check I wasn't totally wrong here. So far the feedback seems to be that if anything I was under aggressive, but justified in playing the cards.

But I deliberately missed out one fact when I posted the question. I wanted to get the unbiased 'cards only' feedback, before revealing the final fact.....

When I was choosing an avatar on Full Tilt, I couldn't find one that matched me. None of the humans resembled me, and the most appropriate non-human was the rock - which I hardly want to advertise to the table!

So, if I tell you Mrs Div is a blue-eyed blonde, with impressive curves, you can guess which avatar I went for. If you don't know what I'm talking about you'll have to sign up here. Heh, am I starting to sound like Iggy? Of course, since my login name is non-gender specific, there's a possibility some players will assume I am female.

You can view the hand details here. In summary, I got sick of blind stealing, defended my blind, got lucky on the flop and two players didn't like it and started mouthing off at me, including a comment about sucking c*cks. I had the money so I wasn't bothered, but I had some fun with a bit of verbal sparring.

There then followed a period of sniping, until the following happened:

villain: take it
(villain folds to a raise - on the turn I think)
Dealer: Other Player shows [3s Ts] (Queen Ten high)
Dealer: Other Player wins the pot ($19)
Div1970: lol
villain: ouch
villain: I had a couple of sevens
Div1970: villain do you charge for lessons?
villain: straight worried me
villain: yeah my book is coming out soon
Div1970: all pictures I bet
(villain has about $160 on the table, I have about $130)
villain: I am sorry div but don't I have more money then you?
Div1970: do you?
(I bring $400+ to the table)
Div1970: the rest is on Checkered Flag
(I'm two tabling, as is the guy who raised me and made the c*ck sucking comment)
Div1970: aint that right villain2
Div1970: villain?
Div1970: are you still with us?
villain: yeah I just cashed out 500 from earlier today
Div1970: lolololol
Div1970: I'm gonna sue your !%@
Div1970: you just made me fall off my seat
Div1970: my sides hurt

This was a lot more fun than the poker. Some nights I can't be bothered with chat and disable it, other nights I love to chat. It just depends on my mood.

One thing I don't do is badmouth players. If someone is worth badmouthing, you want to keep them at the table as long as possible without them noticing what you are doing to their bankroll. If someone else throws the first punch, that's entirely different.

Do other players seriously take every dollar to every table? When playing 2/4 I tend to start with $100. If I need to rebuy, I know it's time to have a long hard think. Have I just been unlucky, or do I need a break? It's a good control mechanism to have in place.

I wonder if these guys would have been so miffed if I'd been a cowboy or a rock. They genuinely seemed to take me as a girl, and see getting beat as some sort of insult to their masculinity. I lapped it up. It's true - blondes DO have more fun!