Full Tilt has been bought out

Just had an email from a poker site I use saying that Full Tilt Poker has been bought out by a consortium and will be opening again later in the month

yay

Links please, or at the very least a copy of the email.

I am having trouble logging in today? Anyone else the same?

Not a done deal, but close enough:
http://wickedchopspoker.com/iveys-wh...poker-podcast/
http://www.gambling911.com/poker/ful...ld-063011.html
http://www.gambling911.com/poker/who...ow-070111.html

A different site than Full Tilt sent u an email saying Full Tilt was coming back?

I saw a lot of news saying that a group of europeans investors would buy Full Tilt. I really hope that you are right and FT opens this month and, finally, decide to pay the players.

Things are looking good (better) but until I can log on to the site it is not a done deal imo.

So when/if fulltilt re opens, it will still be closed to the US market right? Bummer....

Well at least on the bright side, I'll be able to get my $14 back, success!

FT will never open up to US players again even if if gets bought out by someone else. Getting our money back is still looking like a bleak situation....bye bye $96

^Naw since Ivey is involved and he dropped out of this years wsop specifically so he can work on getting US players cash back to them, I am positive that if the deal goes through we'll be able to withdraw..

All 3 of these use the LA Times as their source ...

Basically its no new news since the LA Times story. I just did a quick search at the times and they have nothing new either.

Unless something significant changes in the political landscape in the US you're probably right on the first point but probably wrong on the second one - if the company is bought out it almost certainly means that US players will be paid.

I just want to play poker.
We have a site to participate on if this rumor has legs.
Have a small bank of $450 and payout is not my priority but playing poker with my bankroll is.
There is at least one guy on CC whose savings are tied up, I really hope for his sake that payouts happen.

I believe the OP is referring to an email sent out by a RB provider which reads:

It is unknown if they're just going on existing rumors or if they have any actual knowledge.

Hope it reopens, I like that room, and have my 30$ waiting for me :P

Sorry about US players, they are making it hard for u

Sorry I am not sure how to put a link in here but this is what the email says, by the way the email was sent to me by a rakeback site:

"It has been an awful eventful week for Full Tilt players. On Wednesday it looked bleak when the Alderney Gaming Commission removed Full Tilt Pokers license and shut the site down.
However since then Full Tilt has sold a majority interest of their company to a group of european investors. This Means FTP will be re-opening under new management some time in the next month"

I would guess that if this was the case, the reason would be to stop any kind of ripple effect in the industry - one site goes down people will become very cautious

If the deal will be done and they will reopen again, I guess they will pay out US players.
Otherwise no one will trust them again and all other players will try to withdraw their money which will then be the definite end for the site.

Guess I'll hold off on uninstalling

Pokerstars is more legit imo.

Nothing I have seen here suggests there is or ever will be any compelling reason for any new incarnation of FT to pay back Americans. The situation is so obfuscated with innuendos, corruption and shell companies that I do expect years of finger pointing till no one gives a shit anymore.

From our POV (we the players) we loved the software. Many here think it is unsurpassed. If we ever see that software again, it will not say FullTilt on the table, and really it doesn't need to. The name is sullied now.

There was/is little if any value left in the FullTilt name, but huge potential with the software. Their patent for RUSH poker alone could have solved their problem if they would have licensed it out.

I will guess we won't ever even know who it is that bought in. Another shell company layer of more obfuscation and confusion, IMHO.

And ohhh how I hope I am wrong.

If Full Tilt Does NOT pay back its monies owed to everybody ...WHO in their right mind would ever deposit there and Play??? For them to get back into the market I think they have to pay us back.

The problem with the current situation is that people are allowing their strong emotions over the fact that FT still owe them money to cloud their judgement. I am fairly confident that FT will be back, it will still be called Full Tilt and it will emerge as a much stronger company in many ways than it was before.

Yes FT have $50 of my money but I am mainly a recreational player and really $50 is neither here nor there to me, whereas I appreciate that a lot of your guys will have significant sums there. I am not too bothered whether my $50 comes back to me or not, as long as I can continue to participate in things like Iron Man, Challenges, Poker Academy, Fantasy WSOP and using software which is infinitely better than the cruddy iPoker thing that I am using at the moment.

At least I don't have a government stopping me from participating in online poker, so it's not all bad news for me.

This is what the AGCC say about their licensees and secured players funds:

"AGCC requires its licensees to adhere to strict prudential ratios in order to ensure that assets exceed liabilities and cash exceeds player liabilities. AGCC also advises its licensees to inform players of the separate protection status of the player fund deposits in the casino, within three categories:

“Not segregated” – this means that the operator has not segregated player funds from the company’s own funds. Player funds are therefore at risk in the event of a business failure.
“Segregated” – this means that the player funds are held in one or more accounts separate from the business’s own funds and that the interest of the players in the account/s is noted in the title of the account. This may provide protection in the event of a business failure.
“Segregated and protected” – this means that the player funds have been segregated and the Commission has been given reasonable assurance that the segregation is likely to be effective in protecting the player funds in the event of a business failure.
The player is able to see the relevant status on each casino licensed in Alderney. "

It looks like the regulator has stepped in to try and secure any available funds for player cashouts. This may have been triggered by FTPs inability to cashout US players since April. That's the regulators job, at least they came down on the side of players.

The international ramifications are horrendous. Who has first access on any available funds? The US goverment? they appear to want billions. US players? $150M looks like it could satisfy them. The rest of us (World-US)? are we last in line? does anyone care? What about the rake taken between 15th Apr and 29th Jun? surely this is Non-US money and should be reserved as such?

I might be wrong but I can't see anyone buying out this mess. European investers?
what would they be buying? a whole heap of trouble.

FTP pros might be worried about US players but I'd be looking out for some irate Russians

Tilt MIGHT come back (outside of the US) ... What makes you think they will be much stronger? Lots of red ink on their ledger ... PR nightmares one after another. With those hurdles to overcome, its hard to image them being stronger.

^ this (though obv they won't be back in the US market until the regulatory environment changes to allow it)

I can't speak for Fastforward but my personal belief is they'll come back stronger if they install new, better qualified management and run their operation in an all-round more professional manner.

Any buyers will be aware of the red ink on the ledger but they'll be thinking about the long term where they've bought a site that's effectively a licence to print money. As for the PR nightmares and "sullied name" the point has been made dozens of times before that online poker players have proved time and again that they're willing to forgive much worse blunders and mismanagement than this as long as the action is good. I'm not saying a name change is impossible but I'd be very surprised if it happened - there's too much brand equity built up in the current name.

All you need to do is look at the long term.

Fulltilt poker should file for bankruptcy first so that it will not pay a penny to the DOJ. It then comes back as another company with a different name,

Let me start with what I bolded ....

FT was indicted for bank fraud and money laundering ... Those are about as hardcore as charges as can be levied on a company. True, indicted doesn't mean convicted, but they still need to face these charges. Fight a long costly battle in court or settle out of court and pay a huge fine. It's hard for me to imagine that any out of court settlement will not have a clause for staying out of the US market.

There will be people that will play on FT if/when they come back. I don't doubt that at all. Coming back stronger just seems like wishful thinking though. American market is gone. Market outside of the US is going to be skeptical.

Three simple words: think long term

I'd play on FullTilt if it came back.

Keep most of my BR off of it, but still play it.

The software is just that good.

These ^ are my feelings as well .

Was Fulltilt indicted? I thought it was Ray Bitar & Nelson Burtnick who were indicted?

Some good news yay.True.

Oh P.S PO, use the to Quote more then on post at a time.

Yes, that's what I meant. In any management team you tend to have the risk takers, the moderates and the cautious ones (often accountants). You probably need all three to be a big success. A series of catastrophic events, such as those that occurred to Full Tilt, tend to shift the balance of power in the boardroom towards the more cautious board members.