Full Tilt Poker, the world’s second-largest online poker room, unveiled a software update Thursday that includes a new bonus rewards system for its valued customers. The site introduced the Full Tilt Black Card, which hopes to compete with the Supernova Elite program of PokerStars and offers various benefits for high-volume players.
All players who average 500 Full Tilt Points (FTPs) over a 100-day period will be awarded with a Black Card, giving them elite Full Tilt Poker status. Black Card members will receive double FTPs, entry into value-added tournaments, a dedicated customer service representative on-hand to answer any questions, and the privilege of shopping in the Black Card Store. Players may redeem their FTPs for items such as cash bonuses, HDTVs, camcorders, and even luxury vehicles. Many more items are expected to be added over the coming weeks and the site has requested that all current Black Card members suggest items they’d like to see in the store.
If a Black Card member dips below their necessary 500 FTP average at any point, they will be given a 50-day grace period to bring their average back up. This allows players to take a day or two off when needed without losing their elite status. Full Tilt released a new widget in its lobby to make it easier to keep track of 100-day averages.
Full Tilt also made modifications to its calculation of FTPs, which in turn will help players reach Black Card status. The site’s old system awarded one FTP per dollar in rake for cash game players. Now, Full Tilt is rewarding 10 FTPs to the entire table per raked dollar. The site will distribute the FTPs to each player at the table. For example, if a 10-handed table plays a hand that gets raked $3, then 30 points are awarded to the table and each player dealt into the hand gets three FTPs.
For tournament players, instead of seven FTPs per $1 in tournament fees, they will now receive 10. This includes multi-tables tournaments, sit and gos, Double-or-Nothing sit and gos, and Matrix sit and gos.
Full Tilt also made changes to its rake calculation method, which will directly affect those with rakeback. The site is shifting from the “Dealt” method of calculating rake to the “Weighted Contributed” method. This means that instead of every player who gets dealt into a hand getting an equal share of the rake credited to them, it’s only the players who put money into the pot that get any rake credited. The credit is split by what percentage of the pot each player contributed.
The new rake system will only affect ring game players. Heads-up cash and tournament players will see no difference in rake calculation. According to a site representative, the change was made because the prior method unfairly punished the more active players by giving them credit for less than their fair share of the rake.
Other modifications made as part of the software upgrade include a visual indication for ring game waiting lists, a wait list number widget, a new Bonus Account Dialog, and an improved player notes icon. To see all of the new enhancements, simply install the new update when logging into the Full Tilt Poker client.
Stay tuned to Poker News Daily for more Full Tilt Poker news.
