Speedyfold Poker Blog

Full Tilt Poker had a pretty interesting software addition recently with the introdution of Multi-Entry Tournaments. These, as the name suggests, allow you to register for the same tournament more than once. Most of the tournaments are being restricted to about 6 entrances per person at the moment, but that is thought to increase to possibly as many as 10 or 20 per person.

The software makes sure all your entries are seated at different tables so there is no major disadvantage to players who choose to only register once. In the event that the situation arises where you have more entrances left than there are tables then a stack merger will occur. The entrace on the table that breaks will have it’s chip stack added to your smallest other stack left in the tournament.

It’s a decent software addition because it increase prizepools quite a bit, and also enables players to play more of the tournaments that they like. If you want to give the Multi-Entry tournaments a go then sign-up to Full Tilt and get a $600 deposit bonus.

I thought I would cover the subject of who owns Full Tilt Poker

Full Tilt is owned by the Kolyma Corporation based out of Aruba, and licenses it’s software from Tiltware LLC, based in California. It is regulated by the Alderney Gambling Control Corporation. Tiltware LLC moved to Ireland in Summer 2006 and was renamed Pocket Kings Ltd. This move was mainly motivated by the adverse online gambling situation in the USA; namely as a consequence of the UIGEA bill, to be specific.

The fees that Pocket Kings charge the holding company for the software licence are likely very high, meaning that the majority of what could be loosely deemed “gross profit” filters back to the founding stake holders and pros, with the actual owning company making a only a small net profit on their books.

Due to this structure, and due to the fact that many of the pros were involved from inception and foundation, it is reasonable to refer to some of the pros as the “owners” of Full Tilt.

Players with likely the highest shares

Howard Lederer
Chris Ferguson
Phil Ivey
Erik Seidel
Andy Bloch
Jen Harmen

Players with likely high shares

Phil Gorden
Erick Lindgren

Players who it is unclear whether they have high shares or only endorsement deals

John Juanda
Gus Hansen - it is likely he had higher shares at one point, but either sold his stake or reduced it (remember heavy involvement with PokerChamps)

Players with likely strong endorsement deals only (It is reasonably assumed that 1% profit share is a likely good guess on this front, as this is definately the percentage what Clonie Gowen got for her endorsement)

Allen Cunningham - came onboard in 2006

Mike Matusow - cerainly not part of the original team, as he has moaned about it previously as one of his worse decisions not to get involved.

Patrik Antonius - only came on board recently, so therefore certainly on an endorsement deal like 1% ownership

Non-Playing Stakeholder

Raymond Bitar

The Poker Pro Team at Full Tilt has excellent variety and depth. It consists of 14 top class players. They are

Howard Lederer
Phil Ivey
Chris Ferguson
John Juanda
Erick Lindgren
Erik Seidel
Clonie Gpwen
Andy Bloch
Mike Matusow
Gus Hansen
Allen Cunninghan
Patrick Antonius

These players have a deal for the full, widescale, promotion of the Full Tilt site. This includes being staked by Full Tilt for most major live events (eg WSOPE), and most major online events on Full Tilt (eg $25K Heads-up event). The players get to keep the winnings in all events, both live and online, if they cash. At the live tournaments the players have to wear the Full Tilt logo on their clothing. They also have a commitment to appear in Full Tilt videos, and on any Full Tilt promotional merchandise. Effectively their image rights are owned by Full Tilt. For any side projects they need to get express permission from Full Tilt themselves.

These players, and their portrayal in all forms of media, represent the brand of Full Tilt, so the site is protective over how that brand may be represented in side projects. This is highlighted most recently with the sale of the Gus Hansen endorsed site theplayr. With the sale of the site all Gus Hansen material had to be removed, as Full Tilt own exclusivity over the Gus Hansen image and brand.

Various members of their team take on different roles. Some are more involved heavily in merchandasing and Point of Sale material. Others are heavily evolved online at the tables. Howard Lederer, as his “professor” nickname may suggest, leads a lot of the poker tutorial based discussions and videos. Various of the players write articles or blogs for the site.

All in all it is a good, mutually beneficial, deal for both parties.

And with 34 WSOP bracelets between them, they sure know a bit about poker too