First Info for Full Tilt 2.0 Incentive Programs Released
This week FTPShyam (Shyam Markus), formerly known as “FTPDoug,” released the first specifics about the new bonus and incentive programs to be offered by the reworked Full Tilt when it reopens for real-money play on November 6th.
We’ll post the complete context of Shyam’s missive at the bottom of today’s post, which has already appeared in several spots around the web, to give you something to bookmark and refer to after the site actually goes live and you’d like to check the advance notice against the actual reality.
One of the biggest revelations is that a lot of the deals between the old Full Tilt and its various affiliates are being dropped, along with much of the perpetual pay that rakeback-centric sites had formerly received.
As one would expect, those sites which offered cutting-edge rakeback deals and little else greeted FTPShyam’s post with alarm, as over at rakeback.com, which alleged “broken promises” in this post.
Broken Promises?
The sudden change seems to throw a coal in the eye of thousands of players world-wide who expected a smooth transition back to the old Full Tilt Poker and weekly 27% rakeback.
— Rakeback.com
Well, no, not really. PokerStars purchased the assets of Full Tilt, not all of Full Tilt’s previous business agreements, and while that might make some folks unhappy, Stars was under no obligation to drop its own business models and assume Full Tilt’s.
We could head off on an entirely separate tangent talking about rakeback and affiliates, and yes, such things are always of interest to the FlushDraw crew. But the short truth of it is that sites offering steadily increasing rakeback deals and no other content or services to its customers, readers and visitors have always been chasing their own tales around the inside of a room with walls that are closing in.
You can only cut rates and hike rakeback percentages so far; a dollar only slices so many ways. One of the things that’s not widely publicized is that the reload and bonus dollars offered along with those rakeback deals often clear at a much lower rate, and depending how much you play and at what stakes, the deals at other sites can be just as good, if not much better for your overall liquidity.
You want real value? Look for sites that offer good signup deals (in any of several forms, rakeback or no), reviews, original news and reports, and other special content of value to the reader. FlushDraw’s one of those, and such sites are the wave of the future. Support them with your business, and they’ll support you back by keeping you informed and finding you the best deals.
End digression. Back to Full Tilt 2.0.
Stars will be continuing its rakeback deals to players, a bit contrary to the Rakeback.com claim above. They’ll be paying up to 25% (not 27%), and another 5% or so will be available through rebates and other promotions, creating a top real effective rate of about 30%.
That’s not great, and it is a reduction from what the top tiers at the old Full Tilt produced, when all the extra programs such as Iron Man and Black Card were tossed in. It is, however, very much in line with the programs Stars has had all along, and again, Stars was never under any obligation to honor Full Tilt’s prior agreements.
Maybe that sucks, but it is business.
About those special programs, Iron Man and Black Card. Iron Man goes away entirely, though previously-earned tokens will be honored, and Black Card disappears temporarily, with its benefits to be rolled into the uniform bonus package that’s still being fine-tuned.
As was mentioned in a post over at BestPokerRooms.com, Full Tilt 2.0 will honor all the old FTPs as well. “Rest-of-world” (meaning outside the US, and it’s something of a US-centric phrase) players can use those FTPs immediately, while former US players cannot, and those points will remain frozen in the old US FTP accounts.
However, it appears that former US Full Tilters who have repatriated outside the US or are willing to do so in the near future could reactivate those FTPs as well, and that means we may see some more shelved American online grinders finding a temporary offshore residence.
Lots more on the topic, but it’s best to wait for the next round of specifics, at which time we can also check in on the best of the player feedback. And here’s that missive from FFTPShyam about the FTP 2.0 general specs:
. . . . .
Hi all,
Some of the biggest remaining questions are being answered today.
At the beginning of this year, well before PokerStars entered the picture, we had begun work on a new rewards program that would combine aspects of Iron Man, Black Card, and affiliate-paid rakeback. The three programs had their advantages, but overall it was too many programs, and they were confusing to many players.
By the time the PokerStars deal came along, most of the major work on this new program was done, and it was just a matter of deciding whether or not to go with it. This was not a trivial decision, but in the end we decided that the benefits of having a unified program were worth the change. So when we re-launch on November 6th it will be without Iron Man, Black Card, or affiliate-paid rakeback.
We aren’t quite ready to give all of the details of the new rewards program, but the general idea is that it will be available to everyone, and the main benefit of the program is weekly cash payments that are based on the number of Full Tilt Points earned that week. The program tops out at paying $2.50 for every 100 Full Tilt Points earned (which works out to 25%).
Some notes:
- Unlike affiliate-paid rakeback, there are no deductions of fees (store purchases, promotions, etc…), so the 25% mentioned above will almost always beat the 27% that rakeback was giving.
- Because the weekly cash payments are now based on points earned, FTPs will now be earned using the Weighted Contributed method instead of the Dealt method.
- The weekly cash payments don’t use up the FTPs earned, so you can still spend them in the store. This means that, depending on how you spend them, points add an additional 4-5% to the program, giving the top level of the new program a giveback of up to 30%.
- Since there are no fee deductions, all FTPs are worth more to former rakeback players than previously, which increases the value of promotions like Happy Hour and Take 2.
- We will have a transition from Iron Man and Black Card to this new program, so long-term players of both promotions will likely get a leg up in the new program from the start.
- The top level of this program is significantly easier to achieve than Black Card was.
- The Black Card store will be changed so that anyone in the new top level can use it. This means that many more players will be eligible to purchase cash bonuses in the store.
- If you qualified for the 2011 Iron Man Mid-Year Bonus, you will still get it when the site re-launches.
- The Black Card program will return (not at re-launch, but eventually) in a brand new way. Expect a little news about that soon.
An email will be going out today to anyone that was in Iron Man, Black Card, or had affiliate rakeback, although the email itself will be less detailed than this post. I expect there will be a lot of questions and comments about this (quite large) change, and I will do my best to answer what I can. Many more details will be announced before re-launch, including what the levels are and how to achieve them.
To the questions:
1. Is the countdown on the website also counting down how many days until we can download the software?
Actually, no. The current plan is to allow players to download, install, and even log in before November 6th. We want to make sure the 6th runs as smoothly as possible, so there will be some heavy testing time built into the re-launch.
2. Will the rakeback we were due to get paid be in our accounts when it re-opens?
Yes, that last week in June will be still be paid out. Expect an email in the next couple of weeks detailing any changes to your account balance since we went down (because of various promotions that are going away or were interrupted, or tickets that expired, etc…).
3. Will the log-in PIN (not the name/password) still be used and unchanged?
Yes, any additional security you were using will still be in effect when we come back up.
4. Could you expand on why you’re discouraging moving money from FTP to PokerStars?
Sorry, that was a joke. I just want all the players on FTP, that’s all. I definitely expect plenty of money to move back and forth fairly freely, especially when big promotions or big tournament series are running on one site.
5. Can you please make heads-up games king of the hill?
There are no plans for that specifically. However, we’ve given heads-up games a lot of thought, and we do have something in the longer-term pipeline that I hope will have a positive effect on those games.
6. Will the new FTP lobby will have information about players countries, like in PokerStars now?
There isn’t a new FTP lobby. It’ll be pretty much the same as when it went down. We’ve actually shown country information for players for a very long time and there are no plans to change that.
7. Will there be accounts in both € and $ like on PokerStars?
Not at re-launch, but there is a project to allow for a multi-currency cashier.
8. Will Full Tilt Poker start on November 6th at midnight?
No. The actual start time on the 6th hasn’t been announced yet, but it won’t be exactly at midnight.
9. Has it been confirmed that the site to site transfers will be up at re-launch?
That hasn’t been confirmed yet. I can say that it’s looking likely it will be ready in time, though, so we have high hopes the feature will be available at re-launch.
10. Will there be a fulltiltpoker.eu similar to pokerstars.eu?
Yes, that’s the plan. It won’t be there at re-launch, but it’s one of the next highest priorities, so expect it in one of the first couple of real updates after re-launch.
11. Are there any plans to allow US players to redeem their points for merchandise or for anything else?
Assuming the current US laws don’t change, the only way a US player would be able to redeem their points is if they move to a country that allows them to play on fulltiltpoker.com for real money. Once verified, they’d be able to make use of the points still in their account.
12. What will the process be for pairing Stars and FTP accounts?
The exact process hasn’t been announced yet, but it will be as quick and painless as possible. It will involve logging into both sites and using a “pairing code” to link the accounts.
COMMENTS