Patrick Leonard Reminisces About Full Tilt Days of Online Poker on X

Patrick Leonard has been playing poker since 2009. While the British card player did not go pro until 2013, having worked in social media marketing prior, he was very competitive and serious about his poker game from the get-go.

Therefore, he has first-hand experience of the pre-Black Friday ‘golden age’ of online poker. And it seems he has been feeling a little nostalgic lately, as he decided to pay homage to one of the flagship online poker rooms of that era, Full Tilt Poker.

If this is where we are heading back to then sign me up. The best software ever created, no table management, no HUDs, no throwable, no tools, just straight vibes. The cards.. the sounds of the chips going into the pot. Rail heaven, RIP Doyle, 45 man SNGS, FTOPs Jerseys https://t.co/PfICKkoQmp

— Patrick Leonard 🫡 (@padspoker) October 15, 2026

He starts his X post with a sentimental statement, saying “If this is where we are heading back to then sign me up”. Then, he even goes as far as saying that Full Tilt had the “best software ever created” — that is either a tongue-in-cheek or a very questionable statement. It is most likely the former, as he immediately followed up with “no HUDs”. This created some confusion among the users replying in the thread.

Users were able to use HUDs on Full Tilt — however, they had to have third-party software installed for that, such as Holdem Manager or PokerTracker; it was not provided by the poker client like with the online poker rooms of today.

Apparently, he also has a special affection to the auditory memories of playing on FT, as he highlights the special chip rustling sound effect the old client had. Additionally, Pads believes that the older, simpler FT software is superior to modern ones on account of the lack of some features as well, such as “throwables”.

Those are in-game animation sequences where a player can hurl an object, such as a banana peel or excrement, to another player at the table. While modern developers design these tools to increase casual player engagement, some of the more serious grinders view them as annoying.

Patrick Leonard is mostly associated with PartyPoker among the online poker rooms. He worked as a brand ambassador for the site for 7 years between 2016 and 2023. 

However, it now seems that he has closer emotional ties to Full Tilt than PartyPoker — most likely because of the soft player pools of a different era, not because of the superiority of its software. 

What Happened to the Full Tilt Poker Software?

Most poker fans are aware of the ultimate fate of the Full Tilt Poker room. After the US Department of Justice shut down all major US online poker rooms in April 2011, subsequent investigation found major fund mismanagement on the FT leadership's part. The site owners, such as famous poker pros Chris “Jesus” Ferguson and Howard Lederer, used player deposits on accounts to pay themselves out, or to finance other projects by the poker site. This made withdrawal from the site impossible for many players after the shutdown.

As for the software, it is a slightly more complicated story.

Full Tilt was using proprietary software produced by Tiltware LLC. When PokerStars acquired Full Tilt in 2012, it bought the proprietary software within the deal. Thus, the software itself survived the Full Tilt company.

PokerStars operated Full Tilt as a standalone platform using its original code until 2016. That year, however, they decided to retire the software as its maintenance became too burdensome and costly compared to the income it brought in. Full Tilt became a skin running on PokerStar’s proprietary PYR Software until 2021, when Full Tilt as a whole ceased to exist for good, as the skin was also discontinued.