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PokerStars versus Full Tilt Poker
Everyone loves to watch the two schoolyard bullies slug it out, and that is exactly what PokerStars and Full Tilt Poker are, the #1 and #2 trafficked online poker sites. The two online poker behemoths can lay claim to more online poker players than every other poker site combined –virtually 100’s of sites! In this article I will pit the two online poker giants head-to-head and see which of the two sites you should be playing at.
| FEATURES |
PokerStars |
Full Tilt Poker |
| US Friendly |
Yes |
Yes |
| Deposit Bonus |
100% up to $600 |
100% up to $600 |
| Rakeback |
No |
27% |
| Traffic |
7-day average 28,400 |
7-day average 18,800 |
| Rewards Program |
Yes [details below] |
Yes [details below] |
| MAC Software |
Downloadable and Flash |
Downloadable and Flash |
Pokerstars Cash Games
PokerStars cash games range in stakes from $.01/$.02 up to $200/$400 for their big bet poker games --No Limit and Pot Limit: Stakes for their limit games range from $.02/$.04 up to $1,000/$2,000.
Pokerstars offers the folloing games:
* Hold’ Em
* Omaha
* Omaha 8 or better
* 7-Card-Stud
* 7-Card-Stud hi/lo
* Razz
* 5-Card-Draw
* 2-7 Single Draw
* 2-7 Triple Draw
* Badugi
* Mixed Games
Full Tilt Poker Cash Games
Full Tilt Poker cash games range in stakes from $.01/$.02 up to $500/$1000 for their big bet poker games --No Limit and Pot Limit: Stakes for their limit games range from $.05/$.10 to $2,000/$4,000.
Full Tilt offers:
* Hold’ Em
* Omaha
* Omaha 8 or better
* 7-Card-Stud
* 7-Card-Stud hi/lo
* Razz
* Mixed Games
Advantage = PUSH
Multi Table Tournaments / Sit N Gos
PokerStars:
PokerStars can boast the largest tournament schedule in online poker as well as the largest weekly guaranteed tournament in the Sunday Million –with a guaranteed prize-pool of $1.5 million!
Additionally, PokerStars hosts the World Championship of Online Poker and the Spring Championship of Online Poker tournament series.
Full Tilt Poker:
Full Tilt is right behind PokerStars in terms of tournament availability with slightly fewer tournaments, and a slightly smaller weekly guarantee tournament – The $750k Guarantee.
Full Tilt also hosts its own tournament series, known as The Full Tilt Online Poker Series, and the Mini-FTOPS.
Advantage = PokerStars
Rewards Programs
Both PokerStars and Full Tilt Poker have very good rewards programs, and while PokerStars gives players more potential their VIP rewards system is geared toward the high-volume/high-stakes players. A player who achieves platinum status on Pokerstars will receive the equivalent of 20% rakeback. In fact to earn more than Full Tilt Poker's default 27% offer, a player must reach Supernoa Elite status which is unattainable for 99% of poker players.
Full Tilt’s rewards program is more flat in its incentive, basically giving the lowest stakes players the same potential as the highest stakes. This means that anyone who signs up on Full Tilt can immediately avail of 27% rakeback. Supernova Elite status on Stars will take a minimum of 6 months and often 9-12 months to attain.
Advantage = Full Tilt Poker
Promotions
PokerStars:
* Tournament Leader Board
* Deposit Bonus
* Satellite and Freerolls
Full Tilt Poker:
* Happy Hours
* Deposit Bonus
* Rakeback
* Iron Man Challenge
* Refer-A-Friend
* Satellites and Freeroll tournaments
* Free poker school - The Full Tilt Academy
Advantage = Full Tilt Poker
FINAL VERDICT Full Tilt Poker vs Pokerstars
Everything considered, both sites are top notch and deserve your business, but Full Tilt’s rakeback deal gives the slightly smaller site the edge in this matchup of online poker heavyweights. In my mind rakeback is the most important aspect of choosing an online poker site, and for PokerStars to overcome that obstacle they would have to crush Full Tilt Poker in every other category.
Get Full Tilt rakeback today or read our more in depth Full Tilt Poker review.
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