Nov 3 2011
DOJ agrees to deal with potential Full Tilt Poker investors
written by: Steve Comments: Comments Off
The poker world received a bit of really good news on the Full Tilt poker front on Tuesday as Subject: Poker is reporting that the US Department of Justice and Groupe Bernard Tapie have come to a preliminary agreement on repayment of players at Full Tilt Poker. According to the report, GBT would take on all debts associated with players at Full Tilt Poker outside of the US, while the DOJ would handle the repayment of US players (ostensibly from the seized funds they have taken from Full Tilt Poker).
While the news seems like a huge hurdle has been cleared in the sale of the ailing online poker company, there are still many questions that need to be answered and at least one major hurdle left to clear.
In order for the deal to come to fruition the Full Tilt Poker shareholders must vote to sell the company to Groupe Bernard Tapie –for which the shareholders will likely receive zero compensation—by a 2/3’s margin. With Howard Lederer, Chris Ferguson, Ray Bitar and others having reaped millions in compensation over the last few years, some shareholders may feel jaded, and could block the deal –but this seems like the least likely option of the two.
According to Subject: Poker and other sources, an E-Mail was sent out by Ray Bitar explaining the details of the deal, and urging shareholders to vote yes:
Dear members,
I am pleased to announce that today the Department of Justice and Groupe Bernard Tapie have reached an agreement in principle regarding the acquisition of the companies comprising Full Tilt Poker. My understanding is the deal provides that in exchange for an agreed upon payment by GBT, and a GBT commitment to assume responsibility for payment of ROW players, DOJ will reimburse US players and settle the outstanding civil litigation with the companies comprising FTP. Beyond these conditions, issues like the time frame and process for repayment of players remain unclear at this point and time.
With DOJ’s consent now in hand, GBT may now proceed to finalize an agreement to acquire the companies or assets that comprise FTP. That agreement will very likely address the status of your shares or interests in the successor company. When I receive that agreement, I will coordinate with our attorneys to ensure the terms of that proposed agreement will be shared with the membership and voted on.
-Ray
After six full days of action, the World Poker Tour Foxwoods Main Event has come to a close. Daniel Santoro survived a final table that lasted 8 hours and included 200 hands to win the grand prize of $450k.
When six-handed final table action began, Steven Brackesy was the chip leader while Andy Frankenberger, a former WPT champion, brought up the rear. Frankenberger managed to escape early elimination in favor of Eli Berg, who hit the rail just three hands into the final table.
In that fateful hand, Berg raised to 36k and was called by both Christian Harder and Frankenberger, who then checked after seeing the K-7-7 flop. Berg raised 73k, causing Frankenberger to fold and Harder to call. A 10 on the turn and a 7 on the river created a full house for Berg, who held K-Q offsuit. It wasn’t enough however, as Harder showed pocket aces and secured the nut full house.
Frankenberger was next to go when his A-10 suited ran into the pocket kings of Harder. The board created a pair of tens for Frankenberger, and he was sent to the cash cage to collect just under $100k. Brackesy fell in fourth place when his A-4 suited was dominated by Santoro’s pocket queens. A few hands later, Santoro showed pocket aces against Bob Carbone’s 10-10. Carbone received $166k for his third place finish, and heads-up play began between Santoro and Harder.
Entering heads-up play, Santoro had a major chip lead of 4.49 million over the 1.23 million held by Harder. A slugfest ensued in which Harder gained ground through a few sizable pots, only to lose it shortly thereafter. Harder finally made a comeback, even passing Santoro’s chip lead briefly.
On the final hand, Santoro held A-K offsuit against the pocket tens of Harder, an even match-up on paper. Harder pushed all-in and looked strong on the J-8-5 flop, as well as the 2 on the turn. However, a king came down on the river, securing the victory for Santoro. Harder received $249k for his second place finish.
The World Poker Tour’s latest stop is Amneville, France, where 176 players took to the live tournament felt on Day 1a. A total of 114 players from Day 1a will return to join the Day 1b qualifiers on Day 2, with Nicolas Babel currently leading the charge with 164k chips.
Babel, a native of Paris, is a well known pro who finished 38th in the 2010 WSOP Main Event, winning $206k in the process. In combination with a 13k Euro score at the 2010 edition of WPT Amneville and an assortment of other cashes, Babel has over $445k in career poker earnings.
Joining Babel on Day 2 will be respected pros including Athanasios Polychronopoulos (98k), Adrien Allain (108k), Luke Fields (130k) and Riad Mounir (154k). Worthy players including Pierre Canali, Remy Biechel, Almira Skripchenko, Antonin Teisseire, Steven Van Zadelhoff and Marc Inizan survived as well, albeit with smaller chip stacks.
One player who won’t be returning on Day 2 is Casey Kastle. In the key hand, the flop came down Kd-6d-3h before the Jh flop. Jose Rivas bet 5.5k before check-raising and forcing Kastle all-in. Kastle scored a set with 3-3, but it wasn’t enough to top the pocket jacks of Rivas. A king came down on the turn, completing the full house for Rivas and sending Kastle to the rail.
Other players that faced elimination on Day 1a included Hugo Lemaire, Jean Paul Paqualini, Benjamin Pollak and Chris Lastiwka.
The full payout schedule, including the first place prize, will not be determined until after all runners have registered on Day 1b. A larger field of at least 200 players is expected to arrive for the second starting flight, pointing to a total field of around 400 competitors.
The fifth day of action at the World Poker Tour Foxwoods Main Event was a brief one, as the starting field of 8 players only needed to be cut down to 6 in order for a final table to be formed. By the day’s conclusion, Steven Brackesy was on top of the leaderboard with just over 1.8 million chips.
Bob Carbone and Eli Berg went into Day 5 with the shortest stacks of anyone, leading some to assume that they’d be the first eliminated. After about 50 hands, however, a key battle took place between Berg and Jonathan Little.
In the pivotal hand, Little raised to 31k from the small blind, causing Berg to push all-in from the big blind for a whopping 372k. Little called, believing that his K-K would hold up in showdown. His assumption seemed correct when the flop came down 8-7-5, but an ace on the turn allowed Berg to pair up his A-J offsuit. Berg took down the massive pot, crippling Little in the process.
About 9 hands later, Little was in trouble again. He pushed all-in with 9-5 suited against Brackesy’s A-5 offsuit. The board offered no help to either player, giving the pot to Brackesy for ace-high and sending Little to the rail.
Another key battle occurred on the 81st hand between Brackesy and Chris Klodnicki. The flop came down in interesting fashion with 5d-4d-3s. Klodnicki pushed 54k chips into the pot, causing Brackesy to raise all-in with A-6 suited, hole cards that just slightly topped the A-5 suited of Klodnicki. The turn produced a king of diamonds, securing the flush for Brackesy and sending Klodnicki to the rail.
As such the final table will include Steven Brackesy (1,807k chips), Christian Harder (1,293k), Daniel Santoro (1,163k), Bob Carbone (588k), Eli Berg (496k) and Andy Frankenberger (374k).
While many of the top online poker players from the US have decided to move abroad in order to continue plying their trade after Black Friday, other players –perhaps without the means or the want-to to move abroad—have decided to skirt the US ban by using a Virtual Private Network (VPN) to mask their IP address’ location; making it appear to be from another country.
But it seems that the latter option may be drying up as PokerStars VIP Manager went on the 2+2 Pokercast and said: “We’re not really sure what will happen (to the suspended accounts) yet… The accounts get frozen, and then we wait for guidance from the independent moderator who was appointed by the Department of Justice as to what to do with the funds in these accounts and the ability to play in the future.” Day went on to add the following warning to his comments: “Tell all your friends — it’s a mistake to try to do this… Many people are getting caught, and the consequences are severe. We have to enforce the rules.”
PokerStars has also updated their Terms and Conditions to reflect this change, as well as creating a FAQ on the topic which reads:
“Can I use a VPN or IP randomizer to appear as though I am outside the US and still play on PokerStars.com from within the United States?”
“No. Real money play is not allowed from within the US under any circumstances. Players who attempt to play for real money from inside the US with the aid of VPNs or other technical workarounds will lose their playing privileges and/or funds in their account.”
There are numerous accounts on the online poker forums of players asking about VPN usage, as well as more sporadic claims of the sites freezing their accounts for using a VPN, so take Day’s words very seriously!
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