Archive for the ‘Full Tilt Poker’ Category
Week In Review
September 6th, 2011 by Kyle Silverberg
New Jersey Working on Legislation
In complete lack of cooperation with Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, the state of New Jersey is working on drafting a bill to legalize online poker in the state. Senator Rayemond Lesniak from New Jersey thinks that every state has the right to develop online poker policies in preparation for the potential federal legalization. The reason for doing so is that even if Federal Law is passed making online poker legal, each and every state will probably have to have a vote on whether or not it will be legal in the state. If a state like New Jersey already has poker legalized it will probably make their path to live play a lot shorter and less bumpy.
This past week Full Tilt finally addressed some of the bigger issues that have left a lot of us confused. The biggest of these issues is why they have yet to pay back players and even though the answer is not as clear cut as we would have hoped, there are some details that shed a little bit of light on the subject. For one, a little over 2 years before Black Friday even happened, the US Government had already taken money from the site, creating a financial problem before the Black Friday seizures. In addition to the government taking money from Full Tilt, one of its payment processors was also involved in stealing money from the site. And even though these two reasons are not enough to make all the people that lost money feel any better, it is helping all of us understand this situation more fully. To read the complete statement released by full tilt click here.
Looking Ahead
In the coming weeks we can expect a few things. For one, Full Tilt is expected to be a bit more vocal about their investor situation and will also hopefully fill everyone in even more about their current financial situation. Like we have said before it is unlikely that anyone else will be getting paid back by Full Tilt, but if nothing else the information that they provide us will be able to put this whole dilemma to rest. We can also expect to see some promotion news in the coming weeks, especially from sites like Party Poker.
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Full Tilt On Why It Hasn’t Paid
August 31st, 2011 by Kyle Silverberg
Public Statement
After a long while of silence from Full Tilt, they have been in the news a decent amount recently. This time they were able to talk about why they have not paid players back. Of course the main reason was Black Friday, but a bit of information that most people did not know is that the US government had taken Full Tilt money 2 years before Black Friday. More info that might make this situation make a little more sense is that one of its payment processors was also cited as stealing money from Full Tilt. The statement also addressed possible interest from investors.
The statement was given to forbes.com from Full Tilt. Here is the whole statement as it appears on forbes.com:
“As is obvious from the events that have transpired since April 15th, Full Tilt Poker was not prepared for the far-reaching, US government enforcement effort of Black Friday.”
“The events of Black Friday came on the heels of prior government enforcement activities and significant theft. Over the two years preceding Black Friday, the US government seized approximately $115M of player funds located in U.S. banks. While we believed that offering peer-to-peer online poker did not violate any federal laws — a belief supported by many solid and well-reasoned legal opinions — the DOJ took a different view. In addition, as was widely reported, a key payment processor stole approximately $42M from Full Tilt Poker. Until April 15th, Full Tilt Poker had always covered these losses so that no player was ever affected. Finally, during late 2010 and early 2011, Full Tilt Poker experienced unprecedented issues with some of its third-party processors that greatly contributed to its financial problems. While the company was on its way to addressing the problems caused by these processors, Full Tilt Poker never anticipated that the DOJ would proceed as it did by seizing our global domain name and shutting down the site worldwide.”
“Over the last four months, Full Tilt Poker has been actively exploring opportunities with outside investors in order to stabilize the company and pay back our players. At least six of those groups, including hedge funds, operators of other internet businesses and individual investors, have visited Dublin to inspect the operation. We have recently engaged an additional financial adviser through an investment banking group to assist us in our search for an infusion of cash as well as a new management team to restore the site and repay players. While any deal of this nature is necessarily complex given the current regulatory environment, our players should know that Full Tilt Poker is fully committed to paying them back in full and restoring confidence in our operations.”
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Full Tilt Breaks Silence
August 31st, 2011 by Kyle Silverberg
Better Than Nothing
Full Tilt, afer remaining silent for yet another expanse of time, finally speaks to the poker community. On the 2+2 forums Full Tilt attorney Jeff Ifrah set up an account to address questions from a lot of different people. Unfortunately he did not do much in the way of answering any really pressing issues, he did answer as much as he was able to.
One of the few questions he did answer was whether or not Ray Bitar remains at his position as CEO for Full Tilt and to my surprise he still is. Another question that was asked was whether or not Full Tilt has rejected any offers from potential investors. His answer was short and direct and went like this, “No, I cannot confirm this and do not believe it is true. I am not aware of a satisfactory deal that has been offered and rejected. The company statement will address this in more detail.”
The next thing to be addressed was the reason why Full Tilt has remained silent over the past few months. His answer to that question was that they had to based on an agreement of confidentiality. He stated that the negotiation period has since ended and now news from Full Tilt should be more readily available to the poker world. He says that anyone interested in the situation should stay tuned as it is expected that press releases will be available in the coming days and weeks.
No word on repayment was mentioned. But we shold take any amount of news from Full Tilt as positive headway in the grand scheme of things.
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Week In Review
August 30th, 2011 by Kyle Silverberg
FreeGoldPoker.com
In recent months, the last thing most people would expect to hear is that a new online poker room is opening for US players. But Jamie Gold is now offering a free poker site that claims to be regularly giving away money and prizes. It seems to be a mix between a free poker site that offers no cash prizes and subscription sites which are for the most part illegal in the US. I am interested in seeing how this works when everything is up and running.
More Sites Leaving the US
Part of the Cake Poker Network, Poker Pros Network is the latest poker room to end its services to the United States. All players who have been signed up prior to August 31st will still be able to play as normal, but at the end of the month they will terminate all new signups from American based players. The reason for leaving was simple, their operations simply did not comply with current US laws and avoiding punishment for this long was good enough and they did not want to press their luck any further.
Full Tilt Still Frustrating Most
Instead of the good news we had all been expecting to hear spawn from the latest Full Tilt investors development, it seems like the same old story. Even though it is more than likely that a majority of former Full Tilt players have lost their money for good with no shot of getting it back, any positive news coming from Full Tilt would be nice. There is a possibility of new investors on the horizon, but we will take that news with a grain of salt.
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Full Tilt Speaks On Possible Investors
August 24th, 2011 by Kyle Silverberg
A Month Later
About a month or so ago Full Tilt had announced that it was possibly going to be selling their name to a group of foreign European investors. This news was met with great excitement by most because a lot of people thought that this meant they might finally see some of the money they had lost on Black Friday. But after the initial story was released we have not heard much as far as follow-up is concerned. Now, Full Tilt has released a public statement regarding the matter, and this time the story is a bit different than it was a month ago. In a statement to pokernews.com Full Tilt explained where the situation is currently at.
The statement read as follows:
Dublin, Ireland (August 22, 2011) - “On August 16, Irish based Pocket Kings Ltd., brand executor for the Full Tilt Poker moniker, concluded the exclusivity period of negotiations with their current potential investor.
While Pocket Kings Ltd. plans to continue discussions with its current investor, the company has now begun negotiations with additional potential investors to conclude the sale/partnership of the Full Tilt Poker brand and its assets.
Full Tilt Poker apologizes for its lack of communication with its customers over the last month and a half, but it has been grappling with unexpected and complex legal and financial issues arising from Black Friday and its aftermath. In addition, the company has had to be circumspect about disclosing the progress of negotiations with potential investors because there is often a requirement of strict confidentiality.
To the extent that it can do so without jeopardizing future opportunities, Full Tilt Poker will strive to have better communication with its customers going forward. Full Tilt Poker’s number one priority remains the same: to secure an infusion of capital to repay all of its worldwide customers.”
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Week(s) In Review
August 1st, 2011 by Kyle Silverberg
Phil Ivey News
As if we could not get enough news about Phil Ivey…there’s more. Apparently, Phil Ivey owes Full Tilt about $11 million in loans. Out of the $11 million, $6 million of it has to still be repaid. This story seems kind of ridiculous at first, but when you look into it it does not seem so crazy. Right after it was announced that Ivey was to be suing Full Tilt, the site responded by accusing Ivey of owing them a large some of money, and at the time these accusations were confusing to most but with the release of this story, they are not so unbelieveable.
David Benyamine is in the same boat as Ivey in reference to borrowed money, but his sums are not so large. What makes people angry about Benyamin is that he was able to withdraw funds from his Full Tilt account after Black Friday.
Full Tilt’s Fate…Still In Question
Last Tuesday, a hearing that took place in London was set to decide what Full Tilts’ immediate future will look like. The hearing which many people hoped would solve a lot of issues ended up doing quite the opposite. Not only was the hearing that was supposed to be public turned private, but there was never any decision actually reached. In the end, the hearing is adjourned until September, much to the dismay of people in attendance and around the world.
It is not like the end result is that surprising because by now most poker players should be used to not having their problems solved.
Going forward we can probably expect some radio silence as far as Full Tilt is concerned. But you never know.
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More Findings on Ivey
August 1st, 2011 by Kyle Silverberg
Subject: Poker
Subject: Poker, which is a news website, has been giving us some of the best stories and information since the break of Black Friday. And to be more specific, the best information that has been given out is usually in regards to Full Tilt Poker. And without fail, they have announced more information, this time it is in regard to Phil Ivey and Dave Benyamin. The released info was the account records of both Ivey and Benyamin. These records show anything from loans, payments, and withdrawals. When talking about Benyamin, the thing that really catches most people’s eye is the fact that he had made a cash withdrawal from Full Tilt after Black Friday and from the United States…weird how that works.
But what makes people wonder about this new story is the amount and type of information that was provided. For one, this story has the records of only two players, Benyamin and Ivey, but we all know that there were plenty of other pros with Full Tilt whose records could be just as relevant and helpful. The second issue about this story is the fact that the records provided are only partial records. To quote the story from Subject: Poker, “we do not have as much data as we’d like. For example, we do not have data on most player-to-player transfers or other transactions that are done in the system without notes, we do not have much data for Ivey before June of 2009, we have two very small gaps in our coverage for Ivey, and we have a large gap in our coverage for Benyamine.”
Skepticism
These records are all fine and good, but they raise a lot of questions at the same time. For one, this story seems to be nothing but a hate-mongering attempt in the direction of Ivey. After all he is the focal point of most of the story, and Benyamin may have only been referenced in order to seem like the story was not only directed at Ivey.
This information that is provided may be just as flawed as this entire Black Friday situation. For one, we all know that Full Tilt was making player withdrawals look like online purchases, so to say that these “loans” were given to Ivey may be some tricky wording. What if these are just paments to Ivey disguised as loans in order to make the payment seem more legitimate. Of course this is all speculation, but the fact is that these sites have lied to us before, so there is no reason why we should trust their “leaked” information now. What kind of site that is facing this much scrutiny would even allow such important and relevant information to be leaked anyway?
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Hearing for Full Tilt
July 21st, 2011 by Kyle Silverberg
Getting Answers to Questions
In recent weeks Full Tilt has been in the news a decent amount. For one, they were rumored to be selling off their site in return for a cash amount that would help pay back players who’s funds were taken on Black Friday. Of course this is nothing more than a rumor, but very reliable sources say that talks are ongoing and a solution may be in the near future.
But before that bit of good news, there was some bad news as Full Tilt essentially had to disappear after losing their operating licenses. Now, out of business and out of options, Full Tilt will be the center of a public hearing that was called on by the Alderney Gambling Control Commission. In the hearing, players and other poker world affiliates will hope to hear solid and real answers about all of the rumors that have been circulating about Full Tilt in these last few months. Questions that will hopefully get answered will be about players’ funds, licensing issues, and the all important sale of the site. The hearing is officially being called in relation to the US Federal Government indictment and the fact that the AGCC suspended Full Tilt’s license indefinitely. Everyone is hoping to get some positive news out of this hearing.
Official Statement
The AGCC issued a public statement on the matter:
Alderney Gambling Control Commission (AGCC) will hold a public hearing regarding the future of Full Tilt Poker at 10am on 26 July at the Park Plaza Victoria Hotel in London.
The purpose of the hearing will be to make public evidence from both AGCC and Full Tilt regarding the suspension of Full Tilt’s licence and to adjudicate the findings transparently.
Full Tilt’s licence was suspended last month by AGCC following an indictment by the US government and its subsequent failure to satisfy AGCC that its activities inside and outside the US were in order.
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Black Friday Goes to the UK?
July 14th, 2011 by Kyle Silverberg
Preliminary Reports
After hearing about what happened to poker in the United States on April 15th, I am sure many players from the UK and other parts of Europe were relieved to find out that it is a situation that is only affecting players in the States. But now all of the pain and inconvenience of Black Friday may be an experience for people across the pond as well.
A report in a newspaper, the Sunday Observer, broke a story about a potential change in how sites from overseas are able to gain and maintain a gaming license. There may be many new changes instituted that could greatly change the game of poker for players in the UK just like it did to players in the US. Jeremy Hunt, who is Culture Secretary in the UK, reportedly wants major changes in the licensing process and gaming rules in response to Full Tilt going down for good last week.
The quote in the Observer that got a lot of people’s attention went like this, “This highlights why the government is looking at reforming how overseas-based operators are regulated and we hope to make an announcement in the next few weeks.”
With Full Tilt still down and a lot of players left in the dark, the UK may make some serious changes in how they run and handle online poker in the future. This very well may be the beginning of another Black Friday-esque event for the folks across the pond. As always, stay tuned for follow-up stories on the matter.
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Will Main Event Still Flourish?
July 7th, 2011 by Kyle Silverberg
Missing 2 Super Stars
Since the beginning of the event, we have been talking about how great this year’s World Series of Poker has been. Not only are attendances exceeding expectations, but they are on the verge of breaking records as well. This all coming after many folks thought poker in the US would be a dead issue because of Black Friday. But once again poker has proved that it can withstand much more than a persecution of the online market.
But with the 2011 WSOP coming to an end, we are beginning to question and wonder about the Main Event. First news we heard about the Main Event we did little talking about the actual game itself, but rather focused on the fact that poker pro Phil Ivey announced that he would no longer participate because of a multitude of reasons relating to Full Tilt’s inexpediency in payingback player funds from April 15th. And it was not his own personal funds he was worried about, because we are all fairly positive that Mr. Ivey is still doing alright financially. He is sitting out the tournament in protest, and as much as that makes no sense to a lot of people, it still does not change the fact that this year’s main event loses a lot of prestige without the very successful Ivey at the table.
If losing one big name player for the Main Event was bad enough, a bombshell was dropped a short while after Ivey made his announcement. Doyle Brunson, who many consider to be the best poker player to ever play the game, also announced (via his Twitter) that he too would be missing the Main Event. Just like Ivey, financial instability is not the reason for Brunson’s absence. He claims to have, “lost passion” for the game and would just rather sit out this year. And of course what event do we have to blame for these two pros missing out on the biggest event of the year? Black Friday. In addition to the April 15th seizures of the biggest domains around, a month later, the Attorney General of Maryland released a second batch of seized websites. Among the carnage was Doyles room, the site that Brunson was affiliated with. Naturally he cut his ties with the site immediately, but the damage has already been done. I for one am quite upset that these two geniuses of the game will not be participating, and we only have our government to thank for that.
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