As a result of the recent poker drama in the United States regarding the banning of US poker players from the online poker rooms PokerStars and Full Tilt Poker, there are a number of questions that are being frequently asked:
Is it still safe for UK, EU and Worldwide poker players to play at Full Tilt Poker and PokerStars?
In my opinion it is still perfectly safe to continue playing at these two sites, as well as signing up new accounts and depositing if you are from the United Kingdom or other European countries. Full Tilt Poker and Pokerstars have both stated that player accounts and funds are completely secure and it is “business as usual”. At the time of writing (non-peak, midweek hour) there are still over 150,000 players on PokerStars and over 50,000 at Full Tilt Poker. You can expect this number to greatly increase during the peak hours.
The websites Pokerstars.com and FullTiltPoker.com are not available! How do I sign-up?
PokerStars and Full Tilt Poker have simply changed their domain names to PokerStars.eu and FullTiltPoker.co.uk
The sign-up process to both these sites is exactly the same, just be sure to use the appropriate bonus code or marketing code in-order to get your 100% up to $600 signup bonus.
Full Tilt Poker Real Money Sign-up Steps:
1,) Visit FullTiltPoker.co.uk
2,) Create a new account and enter the Full Tilt April 2011 referral code: GETCHIPS600
3,) Make a $600 deposit to get your maximum bonus
4,) Start dominating at the tables
There is a large variety of poker games on Full Tilt and it is no wonder that the site attracts large player traffic, evening with out US players and has thousands of tournaments running at a given time.
PokerStars Real Money Signup Steps:
1,) Visit Pokerstars
2,) Create a new account and enter the PokerStars April 2011 marketing code: PSP3653
3,) Make a $600 deposit to get your maximum bonus
4,) Start dominating at the tables
Signing up is very easy, taking under five minutes. Once you sign up using the ‘PSP3653’ marketing code, you have to enter the PokerStars Bonus Code ‘STARS600’ to claim you free bonus of up to $600. Upon making your first deposit, your account will be credited with the 100% bonus.
What Is Online Poker Like Without US Players?
There has been a lot of speculation about what the games would be like on PokerStars and Full Tilt Poker once the US players were banned from playing. After being able to evaluate the games over the weekend, it seems that they are quite a bit easier with a lot less sharks (good poker players). PokerStars has shown its dominance in the online poker industry by showing a very little drop in overall traffic, while Full Tilt Poker has shown a larger drop of around 40%. Nevertheless, there are still endless numbers of poker tables available at both poker rooms.
What Non-US Poker Room Would You Recommend?
This is an easy answer and I would recommend either Titan Poker or Party Poker. Both poker sites are rolling out a number of large promotions at the moment to try and convert Full Tilt and PokerStars players. For example, they are both offering an instant VIP upgrade for any players that played at Full Tilt or PokerStars and had a VIP level there (e.g. Silver to Supernova Elite at PokerStars). This was covered earlier in the post about real money online poker for UK and EU players.
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