Full Tilt Poker is set to fully relaunch on Nov. 6, but on Wednesday players were given a glimpse of things to come when the former online poker Goliath opened its doors slightly and allowed players to sit down at the play-money tables, view their balances and even transfer their funds to PokerStars.
The news first broke on the popular Two Plus Two forums when the Full Tilt Poker poker room manager, Shyam Markus, posted in the Internet Poker forum that the game software was available for downloading. Markus also posted links to the upcoming Deal Me In promotion and the Edge rewards scheme that will come into force when the full relaunch takes place.
Cosmetically, the site looks almost exactly as it did on that fateful day when the curtain came down and players were locked out of their accounts, that is with the exception of the new images of The Professionals Viktor Blom, Tom Dwan and Gus Hansen on the various screens.
Also new is the “Transfer to PokerStars” button in the cashier, which was inactive at the time of the software going live again, but many players are reporting they have been successful in pairing their Full Tilt Poker account with their PokerStars account and transferring their balances across, whilst others are being greeted with a message stating this feature will not be active until Nov. 6. For those non-U.S. players who have had their balances tied up for 16 months, this transfer feature will feel like a godsend to them, especially those who had large balances or whose balance represented a large percentage of their bankroll.
In the Two Plus Two thread, Markus stated “the next few days are more of a beta test than anything” as the Full Tilt Poker team blow the cobwebs from the software and begin rolling out some new features. Some of these features include an “Add Table” option for heads-up cash game and SNG players that will open a new heads-up table with both players on it to make multitabling against the same opponent easier, new ring game auto buy-in options, and new preferred seat selection.
Since the mini-relaunch, players from regulated markets such as Belgium, Denmark, Estonia, France and Spain (but not Italy), where Full Tilt Poker will not be operating in the first instance, have been reporting they can pair their Full Tilt Poker account with their PokerStars account and withdraw their funds. However, players from the U.S. have been greeted with balances of $0.00 when they log in to their accounts, though their Full Tilt Points balances are intact. Players from the U.S. will have to wait until the Department of Justice facilitates the repayment of their account balances.
In the buildup to the full relaunch of Full Tilt Poker, PokerNews will be bringing you all the news, views and reactions to what is a massive day for online poker. Keep your browsers locked to PokerNews.com to keep up to date with the latest goings on from the Full Tilt Poker camp.
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