If the world of online poker were an ocean, Full Tilt Poker would be comparable to the Titanic, and no matter how many mysterious European investors come along, tossing out life preservers, the former Full Tilt customers seem to see only two options: jump ship and head for land, or go down with the ship (which is still holding all of their money).
More than half of the Full Tilt Poker players have left the site for calmer seas, which means that the other poker sites are seeing a surge in business. We’ve yet to see whether all of the sites picking up these drifters will be able to carry them all in terms of bandwidth, support, and funding, but only time will tell. In truth, many of the smaller sites, especially those in the US market, have been preparing for the day that Full Tilt ran head-on into an iceberg. After the Alderney Gaming Control Commission revoked Full Tilt’s license, followed just over a week later by French gaming overseers ARJEL pulling FTP’s ability to operate in France, it seemed that the site was gaining water far too quickly to survive. The class-action lawsuits against Full Tilt didn’t help matters any– the Poker Players Alliance recently released a legal guide that helps players determine whether they should proceed with legal action against a site with frozen accounts. They don’t call Full Tilt by name, but we all know who they mean.
Everest Poker has seen a 46% increase in clientele since the FTP debacle, likely due to the fact that former Full Tilt players are probably a little short on funds now, what with all their accounts frozen, and Everest offers a bonus that’s hard to beat when you’re low on funds. Unlike most sites, which offer a matching bonus on up to a certain amount, Everest Poker will give you $500 regardless of how much money you deposit. It’s a very appealing prospect for non-US players who are looking to build up their bankroll. Everest had 315 new customers, giving it a substantial increase in size, but it’s still small in terms of new clients when compared to bigger sites, which brought in more people.
PokerStars, despite being affected by Black Friday like FTP and Absolute Poker (which is down 96%), has managed to gain 3382 new players, while partypoker, the iPoker Network, and 888 Poker have all taken advantage of this opportunity and gained more clients and popularity. 888 Poker was one of the first online poker sites to come up with new and improved bonuses immediately following the FTP license revocation, while PokerStars is living off their reputation as the number one site by bolstering it with advertisements pointing out all the differences between PokerStars and Full Tilt (PokerStars has returned a good portion of players’ money, for instance).
Surprisingly enough, Everleaf Gaming Network has also taken a small hit, likely due to the novelty of their two largest sites, PokerView and No Bad Beats Poker, wearing off.
Our Recommendations
Max Poker Bonus’ recommendations, since we are a UK focused poker portal after al, would be in respective order: bet365 Poker (which is the largest and fastest growing room of the iPoker Network), partypoker (the second largest room in terms of traffic), and 888 Poker (a great alternative which you can try with $8 free). Make sure to read the reviews about these poker rooms we have just updated, and be sure to know that we carry the best poker bonuses available for these rooms.
Another great alternative would be PKR Poker, an innovative 3 dimensional poker room with lots traffic and games, available for both Windows and Mac computers.