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February 21, 2012 - 11:04am
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February 7, 2012 - 6:15pm
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by Paul "Dr. Pauly" McGuire
I once played online poker every single day for a hundred days in a row. I skirted the fine line between passion and addiction as online poker became a major driving force in my life. Obviously, it’s been a long and frustrating ten months since I last fired up my favorite online poker site and played pot-limit Omaha late into the night. Online poker was my biggest passion outside of writing. A day would not pass when I didn’t think about online poker or hear “alert sounds” rattling around my head.
By Wendeen H. Eolis
As a privately held company, the walls of secrecy surrounding senior management and the operations of Poker Stars were rarely challenged before the United States Department of Justice cracked down on online poker last year.
In the Government’s April 15, 2011 indictment, the US Attorney for the Southern District of New York finally honed in on the former “Big Three” online poker companies—Poker Stars, Full Tilt Poker, and Absolute Poker/Ultimate Bet—in a bid to end online poker in the United States and put key executives of these companies in jail.
By Shari Geller
The seemingly endless process of bringing legal and regulated online poker to the U.S. encountered a significant setback today when the District of Columbia Council voted to repeal the city’s controversial Internet gambling law.
Last year, Internet gambling was added to the city’s existing 2009 lottery contract as a “non-traditional games” option. Internet gambling was subsequently legalized in the district through first-in-the-nation language added to a 2010 spending bill, making DC the first to have a law legalizing online poker on the books.
by Wendeen H. Eolis
50 MILLION DOLLAR QUESTION
JOHN JUANDA AND TOM DWAN MAN UP
REPAYMENT REQUESTS DISSECTED
TAPIE INVESTORS HAVE YET TO PONY UP
Last week Full Tilt Poker and Group Bernard Tapie took their proposed deal to the next level of drama, with a Poker Stars pro known as the Robin Hood of Poker entering from stage right-- as a wild card.
Unlikely protagonists raised and re-raised each other in a frenzy of sensational but substantively incomplete statements to suit their respective purposes of the moment. As a new week gets under way, the big picture is all too clear. Tapie’s proposed acquisition of Full Tilt assets is spinning on a slippery slope.
FTP MADE PRIVATE LOANS TO HIGHSTAKES PROS
Private loans,funded directly from FTP coffers, were made to a group of high-stakes pros, including Phil Ivey, Erick Lindgren, Layne Flack, David Benyamine, Mike Matusow and PokerStars-sponsored Barry Greenstein. They collectively owe nearly $20 million. Greenstein quickly acknowledged a debt of less than $400,000 and explained the circumstances, while the others remained silent on the matter.
FULL TILT RICO ACTION DISMISSED
By Shari Geller
While the consensus in the poker community is that online poker is more likely to be first legalized on a state-by-state basis, and not federally, the U.S. Senate again held hearings on the topic, reviving the hope that some federal legislation could be in the offing.
The hearing before the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs was the second time the issue of legalizing online poker was raised before this committee, but the first hearing to be held following the U. S. Department of Justice's about-face on the Wire Act. Late last year, the DOJ released an opinion that the Wire Act only applied to sports betting and not other forms of gambling. The question at the hearing was what this all means for Indian tribes who might want to offer online poker.
by Haley Hintze
NORWEGIAN TAX AUTHORITIES SEEK ABSOLUTE POKER MONEY
Norwegian tax authorities filed a lien with American authorities for accounts frozen on Black Friday, hoping to recover $30 million. Since Absolute’s operating profits were channeled through Madeira Fjord AS, a Norwegian holding company, the revenue is taxable in what has been called by Norwegian business outlets “the largest tax fraud in Norway’s history.”
GUILTY PLEA FOR “BLACK FRIDAY” DEFENDANT RUBIN
by Wendeen H. Eolis
No formal confirmations of additional investors yet, but the noise is ever louder today; Group Bernard Tapie has lined up at least one moneyman "ready to punt." According to several generally informed sources familiar with weeks of efforts to raise more funds, GBT has locked up a commitment with at least one and maybe two substantial participants to nail the acquisition of the Full Tilt brand. Additional funding might not be crucial, but for Tapie's reluctance to put in more capital of his own than suits his taste.
A lawyer close to one purported investor says, "The deal should get done." He estimates the time table for a re-launch of the FTP site as before the end of the first quarter." Another lawyer, with strong ties in the current Full Tilt brouhaha says; "The die is cast; Full Tilt is effectively out of control; the deal is now unstoppable unless Tapie fails to deliver the necessary checks to the Court."
In this segment it is my intention to take up the issue of the alleged illegal activities of poker celebrities Chris Ferguson, Howard Lederer, et. al. I say “alleged” because no indictments have been handed down, and everyone should be granted the supposition of innocence until proven guilty.
The Parade of Unsung Departures - Updated
Special Note: This article updates the author's breaking news and follow up story about PokerStars CEO Gabi Campos ' departure plans, taking into account relevant communications--not marked confidential--between Poker Stars and the reporter.
In a personal email to this reporter one day after publication of the breaking news, PokerStars founder Isai Scheinberg confirmed "Gabi's (Campos) departure. Hours after Poker Player Newspaper broke the story, Poker Stars gave an exclusive statement to Poker News, attributed to "top officials" of the Company :
“Poker Stars announced today that Gabi Campos has decided to step down from his position as Chief Executive Officer, effective February 1, 2012, to pursue other opportunities. The company thanks Gabi for his hard work and commitment and wishes him the best in all his future endeavors. A search for Gabi’s replacement is under way.”
All material ©Poker Player All Rights Reserved unless materials are under existing copyright and said materials are the property of their respective copyright holders. Poker Player expressly disclaims any warranty relating to any content of any pages or any links provided on these pages.
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