Online Poker

By Shari Geller and Lou Krieger
 
Yesterday it was reported by the Los Angeles Times that Full Tilt Poker was being purchased by unnamed European investors.  The article went on to say that, as part of the deal, the new investors were going to repay the money owed to U.S. players, settle the civil complaint brought by the U.S. Department of Justice against Full Tilt and settle the civil case brought by Phil Ivey.   
 

By Shari Geller and Lou Krieger
 
According to an article in the Los Angeles Time, it appears that Full Tilt Poker, which has been on the ropes since it was the subject of federal indictments unsealed on April 15, may be purchased by a group of European investors.  The deal, if finalized, could result in repayment of some $150 million owed to U.S. players who have been seeking refunds of their deposits since Black Friday.
 
Full Tilt Poker ceased serving U.S. players on April 15 when it, PokerStars and Absolute Poker, were the subject of federal indictments charging the companies’ principals and others with bank fraud, money laundering and violating gambling laws.  Full Tilt continued to serve players outside of the U.S. until its entire operations were shut down by its licensing body, the Alderney Gambling Control Commission (AGCC), earlier this week.

By the end of the first quarter of 2011 play, we have some interesting results from the high-stakes cash game on Full Tilt Poker. The Great Dane, Gus Hansen had an auspicious start to the year having netted more than $4.5 million. Hansen bounced back vigorously after a tumultuous 2010. At his lowest point last summer he was stuck over $2 million, but he stopped the bleeding and clawed together a string of winning sessions to finish the year with only a $250,000 deficit. If you go back to August 2010, Hansen has won almost $6.9 million.
 

By Shari Geller and Lou Krieger
 
If you thought things could not get worse for Full Tilt Poker and those who play on the site, you were wrong.  The Alderney Gambling Control Commission (AGCC). has suspended Full Tilt’s licenses, shutting down the poker room’s operations immediately and leaving players to wonder if the site will ever reopen and their money be returned.   
 
The AGCC issued this statement about the suspension: “The decision to suspend these licenses follows a special investigation prompted by the indictments unsealed by US Attorney General’s Office in the Southern District of New York on 15th April 2011, during which grounds were found to indicate that these licensees and their business associates were operating contrary to Alderney legislation."
 

One of the primary concerns on and after Black Friday (April 15, 2011) was the ability or lack thereof to withdraw funds from the online poker websites that were forced to abruptly leave the United States and abandon American players. Whether players had hundreds of thousands of dollars or a few hundred in their respective accounts, that money mattered to them, and it was their rightfully earned income. But how were they to cash out when bank accounts and websites were seized by the Department of Justice?
 
The online websites—PokerStars, Full Tilt Poker, UB/Absolute—had no quick or easy answers, but PokerStars and Full Tilt seemed to step immediately to the plate and work out an agreement with the Department of Justice to facilitate players’ payments. The agreement specifically pertained to the use of .com websites by the companies and noted that the agreement would not prohibit the companies from issuing refunds to players.
 

At the end of 2010, PokerStars signed the enigmatic “Isildur1” to Team PokerStars. Viktor Blom, a 20 year-old pro from Sweden, officially unmasked himself as Isildur1 in the Bahamas during the 2011 PokerStars Caribbean Adventure. His unmasking came as no surprise to anyone because it was the most open secret in poker.

By Shari Geller

Yesterday Phil Ivey announced that he had filed suit against Tiltware (the parent company of Full Tilt Poker) and today the actual complaint was released.  In it, Ivey brings six separate causes of action all arising out of the same general claims  –  that Ivey is being prevented by a noncompetition agreement from entering  into other business opportunities following Full Tilt’s recent indictment and that Full Tilt’s conduct has irreparably damaged Ivey’s reputation.  Ivey is seeking damages in excess of $150 million.

By Shari Geller and Lou Krieger

Although one major bank account belonging to Full Tilt Poker was unfrozen in recent days, the company is still not paying back its American customers.  Moreover, Full Tilt has failed to indicate when they will release any funds.   Major figures in Full Tilt’s hierarchy, such as Howard Lederer, have not been seen since the events of Black Friday, and no one associated with the company is willing to speak on the record, with the exception of a recent statement regarding the release of funds that said, “We still do not have a specific timeframe for this.”

By Shari Geller

The biggest news story of today was supposed to the official start of the 2011 World Series of Poker.  Speculation as to how Black Friday would affect this year’s series has swirled around for weeks and when the first official event began, there were a notable number of no-shows.  One of them was Team Full Tilt pro Phil Ivey. 

Any questions about what his non-appearance meant was quickly answered after Ivey went to his official Facebook page and issued a lengthy, serialized statement that has sent shockwaves through the poker community.

Ivey, one of if not the game’s best, stated that he would not be attending this year’s WSOP and went on to say that he had filed suit against Tiltware, the parent company of Full Tilt Poker.  The entire statement reads as follows:

By Shari Geller

U.S. players who have funds on deposit at Full Tilt have been hearing a lot of explanations and excuses about the delay in returning their money, but not what they want to hear: that their money is safe, accounted for, and about to be repaid.  Instead, they have to face the reality that some 75 bank accounts have been frozen and that not one penny of the approximately $150 million owed to U.S. players has been returned.

One glimmer of hope came when news was released that some $30 million was unfrozen at one of the company’s Irish accounts.  But it quickly faded when followed up by word that Full Tilt would still have to wait before a while to get paid.  Concern mounted when Full Tilt later announced that it was attempting to raise the money owed to U.S. players from investors.