Full Tilt has been bought out

[genleemb]

... 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...

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.

 

[OzExorcist]

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.

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

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.

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.

 

[pokerchris]

^ 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,

 

[genleemb]

^ 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.

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.

 

[OzExorcist]

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

 

[cardriverx]

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.

 

[Poker Orifice]

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.

These ^ are my feelings as well .

 

[Poker Orifice]

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.

.

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

 

[kidkvno1]

Some good news yay.

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

True.

Oh P.S PO, use the

to Quote more then on post at a time.

 

[F4STFORW4RD]

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.

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.

 

[Tangerine 53]

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.

Then as an accountant can I please put myself forward to start running Full Tilt?

 

[F4STFORW4RD]

Then as an accountant can I please put myself forward to start running Full Tilt?

You'd probably do a better job!

 

[Poker Orifice]

Some good news yay.
True.

Oh P.S PO, use the

to Quote more then on post at a time.

But it was 12mins. apart (& gave me an extra post to up my post count )

 

[C00T]

FT will be sold.
FT will get thier license back.
Players will get thier money.
Phil Ivey will play in the wsop main event. lol I don't know about that one.

 

[Poker Orifice]

I've always felt that there were likely many reasons why Fulltilt hasn't been able to address the poker playing public with what is going on with their current situation (be it legal reasons, potential deals with investors & also perhaps not even bein' sure what route they're taking, etc. etc.). yah it'd be nice if they at least addressed players & expressed this.

Here's a link to Scott Matusow talking with TonyG about the FTP situation (might be of some interest to some?) - http://scottmatusow.com/blog/2011/07/04/tony-g-and-i-talk-about-ftp-situation/

 

[F4STFORW4RD]

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Apologies, but the page you requested could not be found. Perhaps searching will help.

 

[OzExorcist]

I've always felt that there were likely many reasons why Fulltilt hasn't been able to address the poker playing public with what is going on with their current situation (be it legal reasons, potential deals with investors & also perhaps not even bein' sure what route they're taking, etc. etc.). yah it'd be nice if they at least addressed players & expressed this.

Yeah - I understand why they haven't been saying anything, it's because people want answers so some fairly simple questions (mostly variations on "When are we getting our damned money?!?") and even now they don't actually have any firm answers. It'd be pretty irresponsible of them to come out and say something like "We've got some investors showing interest in the company and we expect to pay people soon", get people's hopes up and then have it all fall through. I've got no doubt that as soon as the ink has dried on an actual deal they'll be shouting it from the rooftops.

Of course, understanding that and thinking it's the best course of action they could have taken are two very different things. Even if they didn't have firm news on payout dates or buyouts or whatever, if I were in their position I think I would still have issued regular updates saying "We don't have any firm news yet but we still love you all and we're working around the clock to get things sorted out" and then maybe use the rest of the release to shoot down some of the wilder conspiracy theories that are getting around so even if you're not able to give good answers to things you're hopefully stopping the specualtion from getting worse.

 

[serendipity]

The sad fact of the matter is that this will be a business decision, which means any potential investors will have to decide if the company has any value (or potential value) after making good on its debts.

Everyone needs to face reality, and the reality of the situation is -- if Full Tilt makes more money by closing up shop and skating with the players' funds than making good and continuing operations, then that is what will happen.

 

[OzExorcist]

The sad fact of the matter is that this will be a business decision, which means any potential investors will have to decide if the company has any value (or potential value) after making good on its debts.

Clearly it does. Anyone who can't see the long term value in owning the second biggest online poker room in the world (even after Black Friday Full Tilt still had about three times the traffic of party poker in third place) isn't looking at this properly. They'll pay some fines, settle a lawsuit or two then go back to printing delicious rake money at an obscene rate.

 

[Mentor]

There is certainly value in FTP's brand, player pool, software and patents. But their brand is taking a massive blow, and it's hard to say at this point how effective their damage control will be when they come back.

I think the ideal situation for investors would be to re-brand, require a play-through for current depositors, offer some unbelievable promotions on coming back, and inject enough liquidity to see that US players are paid and non-US players are seeing cashouts processed quickly. The situation can definitely be salvaged, and there is a lot of money to be made.

 

[F4STFORW4RD]

Even if they didn't have firm news on payout dates or buyouts or whatever, if I were in their position I think I would still have issued regular updates saying "We don't have any firm news yet but we still love you all and we're working around the clock to get things sorted out" and then maybe use the rest of the release to shoot down some of the wilder conspiracy theories that are getting around so even if you're not able to give good answers to things you're hopefully stopping the specualtion from getting worse.

This has always been the major difference between Full Tilt and pokerstars. PokerStars have always put customer service first, whereas with Full Tilt it often feels like more of an afterthought.

 

[coolnout]

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.

Same here. As long as everyone gets paid, I'd go back there in a second. I love Rush Poker, their software, promos.

 

[OzExorcist]

There is certainly value in FTP's brand, player pool, software and patents. But their brand is taking a massive blow, and it's hard to say at this point how effective their damage control will be when they come back.

I think the ideal situation for investors would be to re-brand, require a play-through for current depositors, offer some unbelievable promotions on coming back, and inject enough liquidity to see that US players are paid and non-US players are seeing cashouts processed quickly. The situation can definitely be salvaged, and there is a lot of money to be made.

The thing I keep coming back to is that people kept playing on Ultimate Bet after the cheating scandal - poker players have proven time and again that they don't really care what happened last week as long as the action is good this week.

But assuming that wasn't the case, I don't think rebranding would do all that much good anyway. People aren't stupid, they'll know that even though it's a "new" site with a new name and logo it's got the same software, the same roster of signed pros (because giving them up regardless of what the site's name was would be really dumb) and for all intents and purposes it's still Full Tilt.

Everybody knows it's still the same site and all they'll really have done is waste a metric ton of cash trying to implement the new name and logo. They'll still have to answer the same questions from players about how their funds are going to be better protected in the future, they'll still have to face the same charges from the DOJ as well as any existing lawsuits so really, why bother?

 

[lcid86]

They had a license to print money. They'll be back, and most of their players with them..

 

[woody19]

i hope that it will be back soonish because i miss fulltilt soooooooooo much
its the only site i play on really, ofc i have a little dabble on other site but my main one is fulltilt one day, one day ...............................................