Review of Full Tilt Poker Casino Games

In case you missed it, Full Tilt Poker introduced casino games into its poker client last month on a limited basis and, this month, expanded to include many more countries.  While it is nothing new for an online poker site to also be offering casino games, this is the first time in recent memory that a poker-only client has decided to branch out into offering casino-style action to its players.

Currently, only blackjack and roulette are being offered.  You can test your luck in both on multiplayer or single player tables, making it social or private how you want to play the games.  There are a variety of tables with bets ranging from as low as $0.10 all the way up to $1,000, which should attract micro-limit and huge bettors alike.

I tried out the games myself and luckily made a few pennies.  The interface for the games is better than what I have seen on most casinos, making it very inviting to play.

I view adding casino games to Full Tilt Poker as positive and negative.  Only time will tell which direction this heads for the site itself.  One of the positives I see is that this may attract more recreational players to the site who love casino games.  However, since Full Tilt Poker is not a casino site by nature, I feel the addition of casino games is only going to attract recreational players who once played on Full Tilt Poker rather than bring new players to the site.

The negatives include the site targeting players who are on tilt after a bad poker session trying to play catch-up on the casino side.  I wouldn't be surprised to hear of many players losing their entire bankroll chasing losses.  This also can hurt the ecosystem since instead of money being passed back and forth to other poker players, it is now being directed to Full Tilt.

As expected, the reaction to the new casino games has been mixed among the poker community.  TwoPlusTwo poster "p2ryan" felt the addition for casino games is a win/win for everyone: "I don't think it's that bad for the poker economy.  It's a Stars' effort to bring recreational players back to Full Tilt.  As of right now, Full Tilt is just reg-filled and almost no cash games or sit and gos run ever."

Other posters were far more critical.  "Chuckamuck" chimed in by posting, "The addition of roulette/blackjack is a horrible, horrible move.  Obviously, it's a cash cow and that's why they want it, but it completely undercuts any stance they take toward responsible gaming.  It's ludicrous to add this when US regulation is looming somewhere on the horizon."

Now that Full Tilt Poker has casino games, poker-only sites are even more of a dying breed.  The only major sites offering poker only games are PokerStars and Winamax.  One might argue since it is very easy to move funds from PokerStars to Full Tilt Poker, we are only left with Winamax.  I hope that most poker-only players have some self-restraint not to lose too much money in the casino and just use it as a vehicle for fun.

Visit Full Tilt Poker to learn more.

Image courtesy Pokerfuse

More articles