On September 30th, Full Tilt launched Black Card, as well as making a couple other important changes. Full Tilt will now use the weighted contributed method to calculate rakeback and the rate at which Full Tilt Points are earned will also be changed. Overall, the changes seem to be positive for players, as Black Card is a totally new promotion where nothing previously offered is sacrificed. FTPs and bonuses are now also easier to earn/clear. The only thing that some players may have mixed feelings about is the new weighted contributed system to calculate rakeback.

Rake Calculation Method

Full Tilt Poker will now be using a weighted contributed method of rake calculation, instead of a Dealt system. Only cash game (non heads-up) players will notice a difference. Generally, many aggressive players will actually like this change, whereas tighter "nitty" players oftentimes prefer dealt. Weighted contributed is often thought of as the most "fair" way to calculate rake. Dealt is nice for tighter players but it doesn't reward the players who are actually contributing to the size of the pot, and thus the rake being taken.

For those of you unfamiliar with how weighted contributed works, I will provide a simple example: Nine players are dealt cards. The pot ends up being $80 with a $3 rake taken. Only three players contributed to the pot, and the rest either folded before the flop or didn't put in a blind. Player 1 and 2 each contributed $30 to the pot and player 3 contributed $20. Player 1 and 2 would receive 37.5% of the rake ($30/$80) while player 3 would receive 12.50% of the rake.

Black Card Details

Black Card is Full Tilt's newest reward system for higher raking players. Players qualify for Black Card by earning a minimum of 500 Full Tilt Points over a 100 day rolling period. The primary benefit of the Black Card program is that players will receive 2x the normal rate of Full Tilt Points. Players will also be given access to a special store that consists of additional merchandise and cash bonuses. Other benefits of the program include: entry into exclusive Black Card tournaments, preferred treatment during live events with Full Tilt pros, and Black Card personalized customer service. Players will also receive a physical Black Card in the mail, although its full use is unknown at this time.

Earning 500 Full Tilt Points a day over 100 days is the equivalent of generating $5,000 in rake over 100 days at any game. If a player is to fall below a 500 FTP average at any time, they will be given a 50 day grace period to regain the average. Like many of Full Tilt's promotions, progress can be monitored through a player's My Promotion page.

As far as players go, Black Card is a new promotion that they will get additional value from. However, like the regular Full Tilt store, items purchased in the store will be deducted from MGR shortly after purchase. Bonuses, are one exception: they will be deducted when a player clears the bonus. As I stated, the main benefit of the program seems to be that players will now earn 2x the normal Full Tilt Points (which is even better due to the calculation methods: see below) and 3x during Happy Hours.

The new items in the Black Card store do not have any greater value than the items in the existing Full Tilt store. By my estimation, players earn an extra 4.8% in rakeback as part of this promotion when considering the primary benefit of the program (additional FTPs) and accounting for the deduction to MGR. This is assuming that the player is purchasing a $216 tournament ticket, which is valued at a relatively high $0.0048 per FTP (if you are into tournaments, the tickets represent the best value). The new bonuses are worth $0.0033 to $0.00416 per FTP with value increasing the more FTPs you use. Players should also note that they must clear the bonus within a designated time period at a rate of $0.04 per FTP.


Full Tilt Point Calculation Change

Full Tilt will now award 10 Full Tilt Points per $1 of rake taken, shared amongst all players dealt cards (yes, unlike rakeback, the bonus appears to be based on the dealt method). Previously, players would get 1 FPP for every $1 in rake taken from the table. This had an effect of rewarding full ring players a larger percentage of the rake that they generated. For example, the bonus cleared at a 54% rate at full ring, 36% shorthanded and 42% at tournaments. Now they all clear at 60% at all games. This will stand as long as Full Tilt does not change the amount of FTPs required to clear the bonus. With rakeback, players will now earn 70% when clearing a bonus with rakeback. This is obviously great news for players. The number of FTPs to earn Iron Man has been tweaked slightly to account for this change (100 FTPs to 125 FTPS and 200 FTPs to 250 FTPs)


What it Means for Affiliates

Full Tilt Poker does a great job of easily beating the Poker Stars rewards program when considering rakeback + Iron Man and other miscellaneous promotions for many players. For some high volume players, particular those that move into the SuperNova status -- which is generating $16,500+ during the year -- Poker Stars starts to enter the conversation a bit more (again, I'm just talking about the return players receive). The Full Tilt Black Card program further attempts to either make the decision easier for players, or for players deep into the SuperNova or SuperNova Elite status -- narrow the gap a bit more.

Love or hate Full Tilt; it doesn't matter. Your players, especially those from the USA, love to play at Full Tilt because they are, in the opinion of many players, including this writer, the best rakeback option and have many other appealing qualities, including good bonuses, promotions, above average software, large selection of games and tournaments, adequate cashout options and brand recognition/ trust, to name a few. With Black Card on top of that and some new positive developments on the rakeback and bonus front, Full Tilt adds another compelling reason to play their site and illustrates why people love to play there.