Are the Pros Playing On Full Tilt?

[RPatterson]

This is the 2nd post I made relating to full tilt in the last half-hour but I'm not paid by them. Don't worry. They are owned by pro's or something? Do Ivey and Lederer actually play very often at it? If so then I will download their software to watch. Or is it like Hellmuth playing now and again at UB. As in, not often enough to really care about.

Again I'm not a shill. I play mainly on Ultimat Bet.

[TomCollins]

I saw Lederer playing 2/4 Stud HL and Andy Bloch was watching (tried to sit but didn't get in). Whether or not its him or just someone using the name, there's no way to prove it. If I were Lederer, I'd have to have a pretty significant fee for playing 2/4 Stud H/L. Who knows if the site takes off, hard to get players with only 5 tables. But the celebrity draw might be the ticket to get over that.

[RPatterson]

Too bad I don't play Stud. Especially Stud Hi/Low. Never seen Ivey?

[Nagoo81]

I signed up at the site just before it went live w/ real money, and I've seen a number of pros on the various tables. Paul Wolfe and Perry Friedman are on there the most. Andy Bloch, Erik Seidel, Howard Lederer, Erick Lindgren and Chris Ferguson show up occasionally.
I have also seen Jennifer Harmon and David Oppenheim.

I have not seen Phil Ivey or Clonie, Juanda, nor Gordon.

At first I was very skeptical about 'pros' playing these low limit games, and thought these were some Props playing under these pros' nicks to start up games. The tables at which any pro is at gets very popular and the seats fill up quickly and there is action all over the place.

To test the authenticity of the pros, I tested Erik Seidel one time by asking him some obscure questions that he promptly answered. So, I really do think these are the real players logged on. They answer questions correctly and are authentic.

I think the site is really well put together with some very nice features and software.

[ohgeetee]

They do play there, and are really quite friendly, even though any table they sit at instantly becomes a shitfest.

One thing I liked most, was if one was sitting at an empty table in stud, and you asked em to join an omaha table, or a $5 tourney, they almost always do if they are at the keyboard, and it truely does help fill out the games.

Phil Ivey was on right after he won the Turning Stone tourney on TV and it was like a mini press conference in there.

It was nothing like talking with Annie Duke or Phil Hellmuth on UB on the rare occasion they do sit and play. I was reallt impressed with how polite and friendly the full tilt players were. They come across online the same way they do at the tables, and I think this mentality is only going to help poker.

[drewjustdrew]

Some of the "lesser pros" do not have their own avatars. I wonder if they are not affiliates with the site, but just confirmed to actually be who they say they are. They just have their names in red.

I saw Wolfe and Oppenheim on their last night - see above. I have seen bloch, clonie, lederer, juanda, friedman, and gordon on before. Still not enough players for me to deposit.

It's amazing how many different conversations these pros can have at the same time. Hounded by a bunch of star f'ers. "Yeah spike, yeah spike...Anything you say spike". It's pretty funny.

[Tom Bayes]

I've seen several pros playing in my few visits-typically there are 1 or 2 pros on at a time (maybe they have a schedule?) I played some play chip games with Bloch and Ivey before the cash games started. I played in a $5 NLHE SNG with Allen Cunningham a couple of nights ago and I knocked him out (I know, BFD). I still bubbled in that tourney [img]/images/graemlins/frown.gif[/img]

A lot of the chat when a pro is in a room is just embarassingly juvenile. It's either a bunch of inane butt-kissing questions or some unwarranted attack. I don't know how they put up with it-I'd probably either turn off my chat or cuss someone out.

I'm not sure what the relationship that the pros have with Full Tilt. I don't know if they are paid "consultants" like Duke and Hellmuth are at UB or if they are part owners of the site. Also not sure of the relationship some of the pros like Wolfe and Cunningham who haven't been in the ads and don't have avatars have-I'm speculating it's a lesser role than Ivey, Howard, Jesus, et al.

[Beavis68]

I played in a free-roll with Phil before they cash games went live.

Phil is ALWAYS really cool, he used to play on UB quite a bit, and was always talkative. He played strange games too 6-seat sit-n-gos, omaha hi-lo heads-up sit-n-gos.

Phil is usually pretty cool on UB, but he really gets inundated with chat, not all of it nice.

Does anyone actually LIKE fulltilt? I think it is the worst GUI I have seen (pokerstars is a close second).

[Nottom]

I played some NL with Lederer the other night and have seen many of the other pros on there as well at times. Seidel was chatting with Howard for a while and then sat down to play 3/6 the night I was playing.

Just from the chat, they were definately the real deal (or some mighty good actors). Howard also said the pros were all under contract in that they were the only ones who could play under their name so if you see one there it really is them. He also alluded to the fact that they still have a lot of work to do on the client and are striving to make the software the best available.

Personally I like the software (its certainly better than any of the other small sites that I have played) and as I have said elsewhere think the tourney structure is very good (i.e. nice gradual blind escalations) so once they get a larger userbase I think they have a real shot at becoming a force in the online poker world.

[ohgeetee]

Yes, i really enjoy the tourney structure as well. I wish heads up tourneys escalated a bit faster, but that is mainly due to the people joining being very timid.