There are really only two poker sites in the U.S. worth playing at in the United States: Poker Stars and Full Tilt. The United States passed legislation in 2006 that forbid online gambling establishments from accepting transfers from U.S. financial institutions. When this happened, most poker sites in the U.S. closed up shop. One of these was the largest poker site at the time, Party Poker. However, the law provided a lot of grey area, and these two sites decided not to leave. Now, they are the largest poker sites in the world.
Here are a few things you should know before signing up to either site:
1. Number of Players
Both sites have a ton of players. Full Tilt usually has more than 100,000 players at any given time. PokerStars usually has more than 250,000. Obviously, PokerStars has more players, but both have so many that you’ll be able to find the exact game you want at any time. Also, Full Tilt seems to spend more money on advertising which brings in new players. This seems to keep the pool of players there fairly weak.
2. Rakeback
If you like to play poker a lot, rakeback can be important. Simply put, PokerStars doesn’t offer rakeback, and Full Tilt poker does. There is a clear advantage here.
3. Game Selection
Most poker sites offer the same games. Holdem, Omaha, Stud, tournaments, sit-n-gos, high stakes, low stakes, etc. However, Full Tilt has recently begun a new game called Rush Poker. This is an innovative new game that deals you into a new hand at a new table as soon as you fold so that you never have to wait for another hand. Many poker purists aren’t impressed, but there is no doubt that this is a unique game to Full Tilt.
On the whole, I think there are some advantages to Full Tilt. If you’re deciding which poker site to sign up for, I’d give them a shot.