Full Tilt Poker Nearly Kills Ring Games

In what had to be one of the biggest blunders in recent online poker history, popular online poker room Full Tilt Poker (currently ranked second in the world in terms of overall ring game traffic) conducted an “action update” with the idea that adding cash games with antes would create action tables. The update revealed that ante tables were only coming to the highest limits, with future expansion likely. Also included with this update are Ring Game Lobby Icons and Synchronized Breaks for multi-table tournaments, meaning that players can enter several tournaments at the same time and all would break simultaneously.

What Full Tilt Poker did, unwittingly, is put in a new feature that nearly killed the site for every regular in low- and mid-stakes ring games. Affectionately known as “Deep-Gate” within the online poker community, Full Tilt Poker added a new type of lobby filter system that forced “Deep” tables down to the bottom of the list for any given stakes. The deep tables allow a minimum buy-in of 40 big bets and a maximum buy-in of 200, meaning that short-stackers can’t buy into this game and play their brand of ball-busting poker. This would also allow solid regulars that play a standard buy-in game the ability to be free of short-stackers at their tables and for recreational players to easily sit down with the pros and play poker.

With the deep tables segmented from the rest of the lobby, all of these tables effectively (and rather immediately) died a horrible death. Online poker forums went ballistic with regulars threatening to burn the Full Tilt fortress down to the ground, or worse, move en masse to PokerStars. With no places to play without massive amounts of short-stackers sitting at the tables, Full Tilt regulars simply couldn’t find anywhere to play. Some players tried to start deep tables, as they usually do, but because they remained segmented at the very bottom part of the lobby, nobody would join.

Zach “Umbrella Man” Hall commented that the deep tables at Full Tilt make the room a better option for low- and mid-stakes players over PokerStars because of their widespread use in comparison to the “50BB minimum” tables at PokerStars, which aren’t as populated. He estimated that at $200nl ($1-$2 blinds), he could get around 16 “deep” tables running during peak hours. After the update? Exactly zero.

Fortunately, after two days of flaming on the forums and numerous threats of bankrolls being pulled from the site, a Full Tilt Poker spokesperson announced that an update would be released fixing the issue. True to his word, an update was released Friday morning that once again placed the deep tables intertwined in a given stake and all has returned to normal.

The update, beyond the issue with the deep table segmentation, was applauded by the industry for upgrading the lobby and playing experience. Tournament players were ecstatic at the notion of synchronized breaks, meaning that they could better make use of time management and play in more tournaments. The ante tables are also something that most ring game players are excited for because it means more action at the tables; however, their implementation at the micro- and low-stakes has yet to occur.

The one missing element from the update being asked for by users is additional security features beyond the simple login/password to access the site. Players are begging the site for a PIN code (similar to PokerStars) and a synchronized security token that would guarantee that the account on the site would remain secure. Given that Full Tilt Poker is now taking extra steps to listen to its customer base, there’s finally light at the end of the tunnel that the features players are clamoring for are on their way.

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Poker talk:

LATE BLIND - In addition to "regular" blinds, some games allow a player (particularly a new one) to post a blind bet in return for the right to enter the game immediately and act last on the first betting round. The amount of the blind is determined by house rules, usually somewhere between the last blind and double the last blind. It is frequently a LIVE BLIND.
RAGS - Board cards that are small, not suited and not in sequence, e.g., 9-5-2. When "rags flop", it is unlikely that anyone has a good hand, except possibly the big blind in an unraised pot.
OPEN - Make the first bet in a hand, especially in draw poker.
LATE POSITION - For a particular betting round, a player who does not have to act until most of the other players have acted.
BUTTON CHARGE - A periodic fee paid by whoever is the button, perhaps every 20 minutes or 30 minutes. Constitutes part or all of the HOUSE CUT.
QUARTER - [1] Twenty-five dollars, often symbolized by a green casino chip. [2] To divide half a pot between two tying hands. In split pot games, a player who "ties" another player for their half of the pot is said to be "quartered". One might say "I didn't bet my A-2 because I figured I'd get quartered".

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