Full Tilt Poker is one of the biggest names in the business, and for good reason. They’re constantly coming up with new and innovative ways of rewarding loyal players, and this shows in their strong player base. In addition to constantly bringing out new promotions, they also have a very solid set of tried-and-true ideas which keep players happy. To that effect, Full Tilt has recently announced that they will be holding one of their traditional promotions, their Iron Man Year-End Bonus, despite some pessimistic speculation that it would be canned this year.

Qualifying for this end-of-year bonus is so simple that you may, in fact, have already done it. If, for any of the months July-December this year, you qualified for the Iron Man Challenge, then you can expect a bonus coming your way. You get a bonus for each month you qualified, and how much it is depends on the status level you achieved. Bronze is worth $25 per month, Silver $50 per month, Gold $75 per month and Iron an awesome $100 per month. That means that if you achieved Iron status for all six months, your bonus would be a massive $600 ($100 per month over six months)! This also means that it’s not too late to get in on this bonus, as you can qualify for the Iron Man Challenge in December to reap the benefits.

The question then becomes, how does one qualify for the Iron Man Challenge?

As you probably know, when you play in real money ring games at Full Tilt, you automatically earn Full Tilt Points. If you meet a consistent number of points for a certain number of days in a single month, then you achieve Iron Man status. Here’s how it breaks down:

Earn 125 points per day over 15 days to receive Bronze Status, and
Earn 250 points per day over 15 days to receive Silver Status, or:

Earn 50 points per day over 20 days to receive Bronze Status, and
Earn 125 points per day over 20 days to receive Silver Status, and
Earn 250 points per day over 20 days to receive Gold Status, or:

Earn 50 points per day over 25 days to receive Silver Status, and
Earn 125 points per day over 25 days to receive Gold Status, and
Earn 250 points per day over 25 days to receive Iron Man Status.

As well as awesome promotions such as this Year-End bonus and entry to exclusive freeroll tournaments, participating in the Iron Man Challenge is very rewarding indeed. The medals that you receive for making each status can be exchanged at the Full Tilt store for tournament tickets or even straight cash bonuses, meaning Full Tilt really is paying you to play more.

So now that you know how to make the most of the Iron Man Year-End bonus, you need to know how to clear it. The most important thing to note is that you have to opt-in for this bonus, and whether you’ve never played at Full Tilt before or you’ve achieved iron man status every month up until now, you need to achieve Bronze, Silver, Gold or Iron Man status in December to be eligible for your bonus. The bonus clears at a rate of $0.04 per Full Tilt Point, meaning if you’ve put in the hours to achieve Iron Man Status for six months and are entitled to a bonus of $600, you’ll need to earn 15,000 Full Tilt Points between January 1st and February 14th next year to release the full amount.

It’s great to see Full Tilt Poker going ahead with this promotion, especially after the rumors that it had been retired. The key thing to remember is that it’s not too late to opt-in and earn some bonus dollars in December, so there’s really no excuses to not be hitting the tables. While it’s not the easiest bonus to clear, it’s hard to be too bitter as this is, at the end of the day (and year!) it is still free money up for grabs. As if the great rewards offered by the Iron Man Challenge weren’t enough of an incentive to put in the hours at the tables, this Year-End bonus really takes the benefits of playing at Full Tilt to a new level.