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Posts Tagged ‘Full Tilt Poker’
Wednesday, November 23rd, 2011
There is more updated news on the Full Tilt Poker front as the US Department of Justice (DOJ) has agreed to a deal that would see Groupe Bernard Tapie purchase the assets of the floundering online poker room: IF the current ownership agrees to forfeit those assets to the DOJ according to an article that appeared on money.cnn.com this past Friday.
The deal would call for the DOJ to make restitution to US players that have been unable to withdraw some $150 million from the site since Black Friday, while Groupe Bernard Tapie would take on the responsibility of repaying players from the rest of the world. However, it was implied by Full Tilt Poker attorney Jeff Ifrah that a 100% payment is not guaranteed, and that players would have to fill out a request to the DOJ.
If payments on account balances are not 100% guaranteed, it’s quite unlikely that the DOJ would honor Full Tilt Poker Points accumulated by players, some having amassed tens of thousands of dollars worth of these now potentially worthless points.
Groupe Bernard Tapie would shell out $80 million for the assets, which when combined with the up to $250 million owed by Full Tilt poker to players from the rest of the world makes this a huge amount of capitol to sink into the poker room.
By agreeing to forfeit their assets, Full Tilt Poker will have the civil complaints dropped against the site itself (although charges would still remain against key individuals specifically named by the DOJ).
Tags: Account Balances, Assets, Bernard Tapie, Black Friday, Civil Complaints, Cnn, Department Of Justice, Doj, Full Tilt Poker, Gbt, Money, online poker, Poker Players, Poker Room, Rest Of The World, Restitution, Tens Of Thousands, Thousands Of Dollars, Us Department Of Justice
Posted in Online Poker, Poker Industry News | No Comments »
Thursday, November 3rd, 2011
The poker world let out a collective “ONE TIME” yesterday afternoon after learning that Groupe Bernard Tapie had come to an agreement with the US Department of Justice that would allow players from around the world to be repaid IF they can now convince 2/3 of Full Tilt Poker shareholders to sell to GBT.
Subject: Poker broke the story, posting an E-Mail sent to Full Tilt shareholders by CEO Ray Bitar:
Dear members,
I am pleased to announce that today the Department of Justice and Groupe Bernard Tapie have reached an agreement in principle regarding the acquisition of the companies comprising FullTiltPoker. My understanding is the deal provides that in exchange for an agreed upon payment by GBT, and a GBT commitment to assume responsibility for payment of ROW players, DoJ will reimburse US players and settle the outstanding civil litigation with the companies comprising FTP. Beyond these conditions, issues like the time frame and process for repayment of players remain unclear at this point and time.
With DoJ’s consent now in hand, GBT may now proceed to finalize an agreement to acquire the companies or assets that comprise FTP. That agreement will very likely address the status of your shares or interests in the successor company. When I receive that agreement, I will coordinate with our attorneys to ensure the terms of that proposed agreement will be shared with the membership and voted on.
-Ray
According to Subject: Poker, the deal agreed to by GBT and the DOJ would call for the DOJ to repay US players (most likely from the hundreds of millions seized before and after Black Friday) while GBT would take on the responsibility of player funds from the rest of the world.
Of course there are still some hurdles to clear, and it remains unclear how the DOJ would repay players. For a look at some of the issues that could arise you can check out this article from CalvinAyre.com.
Tags: Acquisition, Assets, Attorneys, Bernard Tapie, Black Friday, Ceo, Civil Litigation, Department Of Justice, Doj, E Mail, Full Tilt Poker, Hurdles, Poker World, Principle, Rest Of The World, Shareholders, Successor Company, Time Frame, Us Department Of Justice, Yesterday Afternoon
Posted in Poker Industry News | No Comments »
Thursday, November 3rd, 2011
The poker world let out a collective “ONE TIME” yesterday afternoon after learning that Groupe Bernard Tapie had come to an agreement with the US Department of Justice that would allow players from around the world to be repaid IF they can now convince 2/3 of Full Tilt Poker shareholders to sell to GBT.
Subject: Poker broke the story, posting an E-Mail sent to Full Tilt shareholders by CEO Ray Bitar:
Dear members,
I am pleased to announce that today the Department of Justice and Groupe Bernard Tapie have reached an agreement in principle regarding the acquisition of the companies comprising FullTiltPoker. My understanding is the deal provides that in exchange for an agreed upon payment by GBT, and a GBT commitment to assume responsibility for payment of ROW players, DoJ will reimburse US players and settle the outstanding civil litigation with the companies comprising FTP. Beyond these conditions, issues like the time frame and process for repayment of players remain unclear at this point and time.
With DoJ’s consent now in hand, GBT may now proceed to finalize an agreement to acquire the companies or assets that comprise FTP. That agreement will very likely address the status of your shares or interests in the successor company. When I receive that agreement, I will coordinate with our attorneys to ensure the terms of that proposed agreement will be shared with the membership and voted on.
-Ray
According to Subject: Poker, the deal agreed to by GBT and the DOJ would call for the DOJ to repay US players (most likely from the hundreds of millions seized before and after Black Friday) while GBT would take on the responsibility of player funds from the rest of the world.
Of course there are still some hurdles to clear, and it remains unclear how the DOJ would repay players. For a look at some of the issues that could arise you can check out this article from CalvinAyre.com.
Tags: Bernard Tapie, Black Friday, Civil Litigation, Department Of Justice, Doj, E Mail, Full Tilt Poker, Hurdles, Poker World, Rest Of The World, Shareholders, Successor Company, Us Department Of Justice, Yesterday Afternoon
Posted in Poker Industry News | No Comments »
Wednesday, October 26th, 2011
Over the past few years you would have a hard time finding a more successful online poker player than Richard Lyndaker, known to the online world by his PokerStars screen-name “Nutsinho”. But 2011 has been a whole different ballgame for the online phenom, and after a devastating weekend at the virtual tables, Lyndaker is down nearly $900k on the year.
The run has been so bad that Lyndaker has been threatening to quit online poker (his presence on the live tournament trail has increased dramatically over the last couple years) over the past couple weeks, first posting the following message on his Twitter account a few weeks back: “Continuing to run terrible every single day this year. Just never ends, probably quitting online poker after the next two months,”
And after his recent downswing he appears to be giving the world of online poker only another month: “Impossible bad downswing immediately follows heater AGAIN. November will be the last month of “nutsinho” playing on PokerStars. Sad times…”
Lyndaker’s downswing and subsequent tilt/depression/frustration is eerily similar to Ilari “Ziigmund” Sahamies’ horrid 2010 –and like Lyndaker, Sahamies was very vocal about his struggles– at the online poker tables. Sahamies tried everything from switching from Full Tilt Poker to PokerStars and quitting poker for a spell, before he worked his way through it, and is once again one of the online poker world’s top winners. Here is hoping that Lyndaker can follow a similar path.
Tags: Ballgame, Couple Weeks, Depression, Downswing, Frustration, Full Tilt Poker, Hard Time, online poker, Phenom, Poker Player, Poker Tables, Poker World, Presence, Sad Times, Screen Name, Single Day, Virtual Tables
Posted in Online Poker, Poker News | No Comments »
Wednesday, October 19th, 2011
Gus Hansen (or possibly the very remote chance that it’s someone pretending to be Gus Hansen, as I haven’t verified the owner of the blog, but it was tweeted at his @RealGusHansen Twitter account) may have lost his gig as a member of Team Full Tilt Poker, but that hasn’t stopped “The Great Dane” from pursuing other interests and projects, as evidenced by the blog I referenced above, which can be found at Hansen’s new website: GusHansen.me.
The site looks to be mainly a blog at the moment –which Hansen states is his first attempt at such an undertaking. Hansen’s first post foretold that he will be “writing about poker, backgammon, sex, religion and everything else that comes to mind – Hope you like it,”
In a post on Tuesday, Hansen unleashed his first blog post where his opinions came to light. Hansen questions how the US could possibly be so hypocritical as to outlaw online poker while at the same time allowing horse racing and other forms of gambling. Hansen further went on to chastise conservatives –calling out Fox news in particular—opining, “Needless to say it does not make any sense at all, but then again who could expect any intelligent outcome in a country where NO-ONE gets elected into office without confessing a sincere belief in Millenia old fairytales… Hopefully one day rational thought will prevail and people will stop from imposing their fucked up ideas upon others.”
You can take a look at Gus Hansen’s new website here: www.gushansen.me
Tags: Backgammon, Belief, Blog, Conservatives, Fairytales, Fox News, Full Tilt Poker, Gig, Great Dane, Gus, Gus Hansen, Horse Racing, online poker, Outlaw, Rational Thought, Sex Religion, Undertaking
Posted in Online Poker, Poker News | No Comments »
Wednesday, October 19th, 2011
Another prominent member of Team Full Tilt Poker has decided to break their silence regarding their role with the ailing online poker room. This time it was PokerTube.com that got the exclusive interview, talking to Patrik Antonius while the poker superstar was in Cannes for the World Series of Poker Europe tournament series.
Antonius was emphatic in stating that he had nothing to do with the management of Full Tilt Poker, and was strictly under a “marketing contract” with the site. He went on to state that if the site does become insolvent he will be one of the biggest losers due to the amount of money still locked-up in his Full Tilt Poker account –according to Antonius the amount is so large that even the amount he has been paid since becoming a Full Tilt Poker Pro wouldn’t cover it!
According to Antonius, he knows less than most of the poker media that have been following the story, telling PokerTube.com: “I feel like when I read the news, they know much more about it than I do. Nobody talks to me, so I am always the last person to know… I did call Howard in the beginning of the summer, and I was supposed to meet him. But I was too busy, and I don’t even know if he was in Las Vegas. This was before they lost their license, though… Everyone in the poker industry should care about this. It’s hurting the reputation of poker a lot, and this makes me very sad,”
Antonius has now joined other Team Full Tilt Poker Pros Tom Dwan and Mike Matusow as vocal critics of their former employer.
Tags: Amount Of Money, Biggest Losers, Cannes, Chats, Europe, Full Tilt Poker, Las Vegas, Marketing, Mike Matusow, online poker, Poker Pros, Poker Room, Reputation, Sad, Series Of Poker, Silence, Tom Dwan, Vocal Critics, World Series, World Series Of Poker
Posted in Online Poker, Poker News | No Comments »
Thursday, October 6th, 2011
In an interview with PokerListings.com, Doyle Brunson and Barry Greenstein both came to the defense of the beleaguered Full Tilt poker owners, Howard Lederer and Chris Ferguson, saying that they doubt there was any intention of defrauding the players on their part.
It should be noted that both players are friendly with the Howard Lederer, Chris Ferguson, and most of the Full Tilt Poker principle owners, but the pair’s sentiments seem to echo the rest of the Team Full Tilt poker’s peers in the industry who have called it a bad case of mismanagement that led to the current situation.
Greenstein went much further in his defense than Brunson, basically saying that the Full Tilt poker owners were likely unaware of what was taking place, and left the actual running of the company in the hands of Ray Bitar –who seems to be the Russ Hamilton of Full Tilt poker; a big part of the problem and the fall-guy for the others involved. Greenstein was quoted by PokerListings.com as saying, “Let’s pick a name, Ray Bitar is usually the name people pick, didn’t want to alert anyone to the problems so to keep it on the down-low [dividend payments to owners] had to continue,”
This isn’t the first time Greenstein has gone to bat for someone he knows in the poker industry; he famously defended Russ Hamilton in the Super User scandal, later admitting that he was wrong, and claiming he got bad information.
I completely understand that both Brunson and Greenstein have decades-long relationships with the people involved, and have probably had many financial dealings with them, but I also understand that when tens-of-millions of dollars are at stake people’s character can often be superseded by greed. My hope is that everything Greenstein and Brunson are saying turns out to be the truth, but at this point I’m definitely taking a wait-and-see attitude to the whole situation.
Tags: Bad Case, Bad Information, Barry Greenstein, Bitar, Chris Ferguson, Current Situation, Dividend Payments, Doyle Brunson, Financial Dealings, Full Tilt Poker, Greed, Howard Lederer, Mismanagement, Peers, Pokerlistings, Principle Owners, Russ Hamilton, Scandal, Sentiments, Stake
Posted in Poker News | No Comments »
Thursday, September 29th, 2011
As the saga that began on Black Friday (nearly 6-months ago) continues to unfold for Full Tilt poker the news simply gets worse and worse for both Full Tilt poker and the thousands of online poker players who have some $390 million frozen in their Full Tilt poker accounts.
On Thursday morning the Aldernay Gambling Control Commission (AGCC) decided to fully revoke the operating license of Full Tilt Poker, after releasing its findings from the hearing that took place about a week ago in London.
In the initial press release and subsequent detailed findings, the poker world became aware of a number of things. First and foremost, Full Tilt poker representatives refused to take part in the hearing when their request for a further adjournment was denied –Full Tilt was then represented by AGCC officials in the hearing, who presented the site’s side of the case.
Additionally, it seems Full Tilt Poker was required to segregate player funds, as the AGCC listed the following regulation as one of the many Full Tilt poker was in violation of: “The Company will ensure that, at all times, there are sufficient funds in this account to cover all balances held by the company on behalf of its customers. The Company confirms that this account is not used as a security for any other operational liability”.
Another interesting revelation was that Full Tilt poker was fudging the financial statements it was sending to the AGCC by including funds that had been seized by the US government, as well as the shortfall caused by accepting eCheck deposits from US players when they had no means of processing the transaction –this “credit” to players accounts was also something the site was prohibited from doing under their licensing agreement.
You can read the entire press release here, and the complete list of charges here
Tags: Adjournment, Agcc, Black Friday, Breaking News, Complete List, Entire Press, Financial Statements, Full Tilt Poker, Gambling Control, Initial Press, Licensing Agreement, online poker, Poker Players, Poker World, Press Release, Revelation, Saga, Shortfall, Thursday Morning, Us Government
Posted in Online Poker, Poker Industry News | No Comments »
Thursday, September 29th, 2011
Full Tilt poker attorney Jeff Ifrah once again gave an exclusive statement to PokerStrategy.com regarding the possible deal that would see a French investment group take over the ailing online poker room. Ifrah told PokerStrategy.com that he was recently in France to help with the negotiations, and that the only major sticking point still remaining was the state of Full Tilt poker’s Aldernay Gambling Control Commission (AGCC) license –which if revoked is apparently the deal-breaker.
Here are Ifrah’s comments to PokerStrategy.com:
“The investors are totally committed to doing this- we’ve met with them and seen the funds. Their primary concern right now is the AGCC’s decision on Full Tilt’s license. The investor’s position is that if Alderney revokes the license, they won’t go through with the deal because it makes things too difficult.”
“They called and volunteered to discuss their commitment directly with the commissioners. Without hesitation, they are prepared to review the terms of their offer. Additionally, they’ve hired a prominent and respected lawyer in the gaming industry and are setting up a meeting with the DOJ to try and work out the issues Full Tilt has in the U.S.”
The group is rumored to be fronted by French businessman Laurent Tapie, who would infuse the company with enough capital to repay customers around the world as well as settle the civil case brought against Full Tilt poker by the US Department of Justice.
While these deals can fall apart at just about any moment during the proceedings, the fact that there are still viable investors for Full Tilt poker will be viewed as really, really, good news for the thousands of players who have nearly $400 million in funds frozen on the site.
Tags: Agcc, Alderney, Businessman, Civil Case, Department Of Justice, Doj, Full Tilt Poker, Gambling Control, Gaming Industry, Hesitation, Investment Group, Laurent Tapie, Lawyer, Negotiations, online poker, Poker Gambling, Poker Room, Proceedings, Sticking Point, Us Department Of Justice
Posted in Online Poker, Poker Industry News | No Comments »
Tuesday, September 27th, 2011
While the entire poker world awaited a statement from Full Tilt poker stemming from the requested amendment to the civil case that was filed last week, few will be satiated by the out of touch, off-topic, statement that Full Tilt Poker released. Basically the only point of contention that Full Tilt poker decided to address in the statement was the use of the term Ponzi scheme by US Attorney Preet Bharara.
Nothing regarding the massive shortfall, huge dividend payments to owners, or the other alleged fraudulent activity that took place at the site. Instead this is what Full Tilt Poker determined was the most important aspect to push-back against:
“Full Tilt Poker is not a Ponzi Scheme.
On September 19, 2011, the Department of Justice issued a release stating that Full Tilt Poker was “A Global Ponzi Scheme.” While the government has taken issue with the underlying activities of FTP, under any reasonable interpretation, there is no way to characterize the operation of Full Tilt Poker’s virtual online card room as a global Ponzi scheme.
A “Ponzi” scheme is an investment fraud that involves the payment of purported returns to existing investors from funds contributed by new investors. Ponzi schemes do not involve any legitimate investment, but rather use the new investor funds to pay “dividends” to the initial investors.
Despite recent events, FTP remains committed to identifying a suitable investor and paying back its players in full.”
Whew, and here I thought the company may have been in trouble *be careful not to slip in all of that sarcasm!
Tags: Address, Civil Case, Department Of Justice, Dividend Payments, Dividends, Fraudulent Activity, Full Tilt Poker, Initial Investors, Investment Fraud, Investor Funds, New Investor, Point Of Contention, Poker Online, Poker World, Ponzi Scheme, Ponzi Schemes, Sarcasm, Semantics, Shortfall, Whew
Posted in Poker Industry News | No Comments »
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