Full Tilt Poker Breaks Silence, Issues Statement to PokerNews.com

Gotta love a "statement" that states nothing at all.

Yeah, seen this on twitter, not actually sure what theyve said lol

I especially loved this part:

"Full Tilt Poker apologizes for its lack of communication with its customers over the last month and a half....."

By my calendar it's been 4+ months, but who's counting, I guess.

Does not say much but maybe that is a good thing. Still hopefull that they will get something sorted and we can all get our money back.

it just says that we are still beating around the bush and still have no clue on what is going on

Well, it means that the exclusive bargaining agreement (which resulted in FTP's silence) has expired and the deal that was most likely to happen has fallen through. Fire sale time at FTP.

If Tony G and some buddies make a fire sale offer soon, I would not be surprised. He has hinted he may move in shortly.

thanks for the heads up !

been a long time coming.....\

thanks

Dank Hugh

if some site got there 'software interface/platform/graphics etc.
i would play there no matter what it was called.

They pretty much said what everyone already knew it, but at least they said something. I wonder how many time we are going have to wait to receive our money..

eventhough they didnt really say much else in news, its good that they said something, usually silence means the death of a buisness. They went quite for so long I already said goodbye to my money, now the bastards got my hopes up...lol

It actually does, if you read between the lines - it just doesn't say anything good from a player's perspective.

What it says without being explicit, IMO, is that they don't expect the deal with the current investor to go through. Why else would they break their silence and let the exclusivity period lapse? While it's this is a bit of negotiating gamesmanship on FTP's part, I think it means we need to lower our expectations even further in regard to the situation finding a solution before the next AGCC deadline.

I will still be here, patiently waiting. What else can we do?

Harry Demetriou seems to have some good info and has been posting it on 2p2. He said before this statement came out that ftp was scrambling to find new potential investors. (which from the statement turned out to be true) He said the AGCC wants 300 million in place before FTP could reopen. Which seems pretty daunting. He also said it seems unlikely someone would be willing to do that, and that FTP will most likely be headed to bankruptcy. Seems a very likely scenario at this point.

At least they said something.Col Gadafi will surface before this shimozzle is sorted.

whatta load of crock.. basically announcing that everyone is still F'd in the A.. lol seriously get yourself together FT! you were one of the good ones...

Full Tilt Poker cliffz courtesy of Harry Demetriou:

"Here's a synopsis of a few extra things and details of which I am confident about being true (Please bare in mind that things lose a little in transalation sometimes when passed on from one person to another)

This will be my final offering on this subject as I am due to embark on a very long overseas trip shortly.


The original first deal (MB) that arose after 15 April was essentially for UK customers and a few other countries too but with no obligation for solving any of the US mess. As such it was rejected by FTP board as any deal had to involve the US players getting money back.


Then followed three more serious potential investors one of whom was brought in by Phil Ivey. Phil Ivey was going to receive a significant kick back if he could convince the owners and board to accept his investors deal/offer but when it was considered it was found to be the worst of the three and as such was rejected.

Ivey then went into prima donna mode sulked and issued litigation against Full Tilt effectively ****ing them over with this action as he seriously believed that Poker Stars would pay him millions a year and so wanted his freedom "To pursue other interests."

Specifically because of this lawsuit the other two serious potential buyers pulled out and this in effect sealed FTP’s fate to one of more or less inevitable death.

SA then appears from nowhere as the anonymous investor and seems to have good intentions but asks for exclusivity and for Phil Ivey to withdraw the lawsuit (The only bit I am not 100% sure about now is whether Phil Ivey brought this guy in too and whether he gets 10% of the company if it succeeds). However it does not take very long before he starts to dither and stall which drags matters out somewhat. The deadline approaches and is extended and then eventually expires without a deal being signed.

My personal belief and that of others within and close to the company are now that this guy was never serious in the first place and could easily have been planted there by Poker Stars or another rival or Ivey himself to drag things out to ensure the companies death or to ensure it can be obtained for next to nothing as there is obviously a time decay to how much FTP is progressively worth.

Several high level executives have now resigned/been forced to leave and FTP realize how stupid they were to agree to exclusivity in negotiations as it has cost them 2+ months of wasted time. Confidentiality is OK but exclusivity was just totally unwarranted and not merited

Things are now very desperate with the owners and the board now preparing for action by The DoJ in the USA

Owners like Howard Lederer and Chris Ferguson are beginning to feel serious pressure with regard to imminent legal actions against them personally as well as against the various companies under the FTP banner.

The only real offer that would have saved everyone and would have got players their money back was from JB and he was one of the persons who withdrew due to Phil Ivey's tantrum lawsuit and he is not interested in returning as his reputation means everything to him and he doesn’t want to take the risk of promising the return of all player funds only to subsequently fail in that promise.

Unfortunately the way things stand at present FTP are not really addressing the specific problems they need to address in order to get back up and running. If they don’t do that soon, and I doubt they will, they will die a complete death and I think its now almost inevitable that this will happen as they are beyond salvation as they really are not focusing on the right areas to facilitate a recovery.

If they do want salvation, however, I am more than happy to assist and point them in the right direction as I know people who may yet be able to help them survive but its still only a slim hope as I fear they have left things too late.

Before finally closing and getting flamed by the usual suspects I will end with a few plus points for FTP as they are genuinely trying to sort this mess out which they are overwhelmingly and predominantly responsible for creating.

Since Black Friday:

No Dividends have been paid to any owners

No Players have been paid or had tournament entries paid
(doesn’t mean they didn’t promise to pay at a subsequent date if they recover as they do have contracts of sorts with various individuals and players)

FTP are giving the company away to anyone who will deposit $300 Million as requested by Alderney to guarantee all player refunds but will need another $50 million+ on top to keep operating once reopening.

Shareholders will receive nothing from the sale of FTP

Ray Bitar accepts responsibility for his actions and will remove himself at the appropriate time if and when an investor is found

An agreement of sorts although not yet finalised has been reached with The DoJ for their fine which would piss off rivals if it were made public. It is understandably less than previous fines elsewhere as the company simly cant afford it or new investors don’t want to be liable for and is a compromise to permit the continued existence of FTP. (Argue the merits fo this elsewhere).

There has been monumental in housing fighting amongst the various shareholders within the company.

FTP only want to do a deal that ensures all players worldwide get their money back."

thanks coolnout.. not looking good.

Well,that didnt say much,which makes me wonder about Ultimatebet and Absolute poker.Where is our money at in that situation?..talk about silence....

I don't expect to ever see my FTP money (much less my UB/AP money). They don't just need new investors. They need a complete organizational overhaul. Nobody involved with running FTP at any level can remain with the company. They spent money that wasn't theirs. Regardless of our legal situations here, they stole our money... and money of players that didn't have ambiguous legal situations. Unfortunately, part of the allure was playing with the pros. Ivey. Antonius. Dwan. Lindgren. Lederer. Ferguson. Some of these guys can't come back to FTP, so it's really not worth that much to acquire. It's so sad in retrospect because FTP brought a lot of joy to poker players, both online and live and on television... it shouldn't have ended this way.

While for the most part I agree with the first set of statements, there isn't actually any proof of the second set. If they spent "money that wasn't theirs" then they did it in the same way that banks and loads of other businesses do every day. Actually, the only thing we really have proof of at this stage is that they let players play with money that wasn't theirs.

That was, of course, equally stupid and I agree absolutely that they've failed completely to protect our money. But I don't think we can go as far as saying they've stolen it or spent it when it wasn't theirs at this stage.

Full Tilt Poker Rep. - "We don't really know what's going on at the moment but will let you know as soon as we know something, but all I can say is when we find someone with enough money to pay our customers, FTP will be up and running"

Beware of official statements that say everything and nothing at the same time.

As terrible as this sounds, Ferguson and Lederer should probably watch their backs, because it doesn't take getting screwed out of much money for some people to seek revenge.

Not really news, however I had no idea the number would turn out to be so large. Just another reason why FTP most likely headed to bankruptcy.:

From at least September of 2010 to February of 2011, Full Tilt Poker was crediting funds to US player accounts for deposits that never left their bank accounts.

http://www.subjectpoker.com/2011/08/...y-much-larger/

Why don't they give James Packer a call?
He has interests in casino's in the US, China and Australia and he has money to burn, as well as the contacts/people in the industry to make a real goer of Full Tilt.
I would have thought Full Tilt would be a nice fit for him especially if they get online poker legal in the US and here in Australia.

FTP was stupid by letting players play with $ they hadn't received (thanks to the DOJ) and by not keeping players funds separate like pokerstars had to.

But if anyone stole money, it was the DOJ.

That'd be because he's an Australian citizen, and owning and operating an online poker site is very, very illegal in Australia.

They haven't actually stolen any money yet.
Just caused a liquidity problem with a business such that it cannot return clients funds that it was holding.

However if they do take any money from FT before all the clients funds are returned then that could be interpreted as stealing.

I'm quite surprised at that, I think of Australia as generally quite a sensible and pragmatic nation.

*shrugs*

We've got our quirks like anywhere else.

No it's NOT.

Because of the Interactive Gambling Act it is illegal to allow Australian citizens to play online poker for money on any site.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interactive_Gambling_Act

It is NOT illegal for Australians to play online poker or to own poker sites.

The Australian government's Productivity Commission recommended legalising and regulating online poker in June last year.
http://www.pc.gov.au/projects/inquir...ng-2009/report (chapter 15 in volume 2)

Wilke and Xenophon have shut the debate (and the recommended reforms) down.

Meanwhile I am fairly sure that James Packer owns 50% of betfair and that betfair has a poker site albeit overseas.

...yes, I'm well aware of the terms of the IGA.

That said, I have to admit there's a loophole I didn't consider / my statement was incomplete: an Australian like Packer could buy a site as long as they banned Australian citizens from actually playing on it. It's the flipside of that loophole that allows Betfair to operate here: they offer online sports betting (legal here), but not poker or any other casino games that they're allowed to offer overseas.

He definitely couldn't buy the site and allow Australians to play on it though, as he would be guilty of allowing Australian citizens to play online poker for real money.

Anywho, I suspect he and Crown are probably much more focussed on trying to get their brick and mortar high rollers back from Singapore, or working on their Macau joint ventures.