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On Monday we received the first statement from Full Tilt Poker, and if you were hoping for a determined defense of their actions you would have been sadly disappointed. Instead Full Tilt poker issued perhaps the worst statement it has since Black Friday, calling out the use of the term “Ponzi scheme”.

Monday’s statement is likely to leave a very bad taste in the poker community’s mouth (think that weird metallic taste of slightly sour steak) as instead of giving their version of the events that took place they decided to argue the choice of words used to describe their fraudulent activities!

Here is a look at the full statement for those of you interested in getting the Wikipedia version of what a “Ponzi scheme” is:

“Full Tilt Poker is not a Ponzi Scheme.

On September 19, 2011, the Department of Justice issued a release stating that Full Tilt Poker was “A Global Ponzi Scheme.” While the government has taken issue with the underlying activities of FTP, under any reasonable interpretation, there is no way to characterize the operation of Full Tilt Poker’s virtual online card room as a global Ponzi scheme.

A “Ponzi” scheme is an investment fraud that involves the payment of purported returns to existing investors from funds contributed by new investors. Ponzi schemes do not involve any legitimate investment, but rather use the new investor funds to pay “dividends” to the initial investors.

Despite recent events, FTP remains committed to identifying a suitable investor and paying back its players in full.”

While Full Tilt may still be looking for a suitable investor, every day that goes by is making the reality of a deal that could repay all of the Full Tilt poker players around the world getting completed more and more unrealistic.

After over three weeks of some of the most competitive action to ever take place on the virtual felt, the 2011 PokerStars World Championship of Online Poker is now over. A total of 119,832 buy-ins were paid across an incredible 62 events, generating well over $47 million in total prize money. A number of Team PokerStars pros, including Anders “Donald” Berg, Shane “shaniac” Schleger and Noah “Exclusive” Boeken, won events and the coveted bracelets reserved for champions.

Joel Adam “2FLY2TILT” Gordon of Spain took home the Player of the Series title for his incredible WCOOP performance, which included a bracelet win along with money finishes in ten separate events. Along with a bevy of prize cash, Gordon received buy-in packages for the WCOOP Main Event, the 2012 EPT Grand Final and the 2012 PCA. He also received a one-of-a-kind commemorative chip set, a rare and priceless gift from PokerStars.

The top ten players on the overall WCOOP leaderboard are mostly from Canada, including Big_Nemo (2nd), KidPoker (Daniel Negreanu, 3rd), ImaLuckSac (4th), gboro780 (6th), ImaLucSac (7th) and Mike “goleafsgoeh” Leah (8th). Other impressive performances came from Donald of Norway (5th) and MiPwnYa of Brazil (9th), who managed to finish in the top 10 overall despite entering only 12 events. Every other player in the top 10 bought into at least 40 events, with several entering more than 50.

The overall biggest winner of the tournament was Thomas “Kallllle” Pedersen of Denmark. Pedersen earned over $1.26 million after defeating 1,626 opponents in the WCOOP Main Event. Pedersen had seen some success as a poker grinder in the past, winning $80k live and $60k online, but never approached the success he found in the recent Main Event. Pedersen went from a fairly average professional online poker player to a millionaire, literally overnight.

The Australia New Zealand Poker Tour recently made a stop in Melbourne and Lee “Final Table” Nelson emerged victorious after three days of intense action.

Lee faced off against some of the toughest competition from the area, along with several world famous professional poker players. A total of 310 players paid buy-ins of $2,200 each to generate a prize pool of almost $700k from players alone.

A number of notable pros were eliminated prior to the final table, including Leo Boxell, Billy Jordanou, Harry Demetriou, Ben Delaney, Jesse McKenzie, David Steicke, Jackie Glazier, Celina Lin and Brandon Rubie. Even Nelson himself was close to elimination on multiple occurrences and had to fight through a Day 2 two-orbit penalty after acting out of turn.

Nelson was strong coming into the final table, however, with more experience than any other player and more chips than all but two. Some of the more dangerous threats at the final table included Brett Chalhoub and Tom Wing, both of whom have found recent success in online poker, and Phillip Willcocks, who scored a runner-up finish at APPT Melbourne earlier in the summer.

Justin Sanchez was quickly eliminated and Chalhoub met the same fate two hours later. Stephen Eliesen exited in seventh place, while Wing hit the rail in sixth place after a crippling hand against Willcocks.

Willcocks himself was next to face elimination, this time at the hands of Nelson. Next to go were Karan Punjabi and Danny Chevalier, who earned scores of $43k and $55k, respectively, for their 4th and 3rd place finishes.

Heads-up action between Nick Georgoulas and Nelson didn’t last long. Georgoulas showed down with 4-4 against Nelson’s J-10 of hearts. The flop and turn were all hearts as well, securing the nut flush for Nelson and ultimately finishing the tournament. Georgoulas earned $99k for his runner-up finish, while Nelson scored the title and $156k.

As the final two tournaments of the 2011 PokerStars World Championship of Online Poker (WCOOP) were in action on Sunday one player –who has already had a fair amount of success in live poker tournaments in 2011—has put himself in position to have a very, very, nice Monday. Team PokerStars Pro Eugene Katchalov managed to not only survive Day 1 of the WCOOP Main Event, but also made it through to Day 2 of the $10,300 8-Game Mix Championship where he will play heads-up for the title against a Russian player using the screen-name “Ostrov”!

Katchalov not only has the chance to win the $210k prize from the 8-Game Mix tournament, but sitting in 37^th place out of the remaining 176 players in the tournament has also positioned him for a run at the $1.4 million that will be awarded to the winner of the WCOOP Main Event.

Katchalov was one of 1,627 players who registered for the WCOOP Main Event, creating a total prize-pool of $8,135,000, with two players set to become millionaires as first place is worth $1,464,300 and second-place being worth $1,008,740.

Here is a look at the Top 10 chip counts heading into Day 2 of the WCOOP Main Event:

1. “NUTZBOT” — 649,769
2. “dan82mur” — 600,527
3. “zivziv” — 587,440
4. “tonkaaaa” — 494,260
5. Luke “lb6121″ Schwartz — 465,817
6. Andrey “ThePateychuk” Pateychuk — 460,641
7. Denys “SantaZzz” Chufarin — 458,036
8. Chris “Big Huni” Hunichen — 438,229
9. Dave “sexygee” Gent — 424,339
10. Marty “TheLipoFund” Mathis — 417,848

Both the 8-Game Mix and WCOOP Main Event will conclude on Monday, wrapping up another successful year for the PokerStars WCOOP.

The latest bracelet in the PokerStars World Championship of Online Poker went to online poker player “Ostrov,” who emerged victorious in the $10k 8-Game High Roller after defeating the legendary Eugene Katchalov heads up. A total of 70 players paid buy-ins of $10k each, generating a $700k prize pool that dwarfed the $500k guarantee.

The most notable player to make a deep run in the event was Daniel Negreanu, who ultimately hit the rail during PLO in 5th place. Negreanu took home $52.5k for his respectable performance, adding to the astounding 14 cashes he’s already racked up over the course of the 2011 WCOOP. Other notable finishes belonged to Matt Hawrilenko, Jason Gray and Anders Berg, who finished in 9th, 8th and 7th, respectively. Maria Ho did even better, finishing with $38.5k for her 6th place finish.

At the beginning of heads up play, which actually started on Day 1 of the tournament, Ostrov had Katchalov dominated in terms of chips by a nearly 3:1 ratio. Katchalov managed to turn the tables before the end of play for the day, racking up nearly 400k compared to Ostrov’s 303k. Katchalov built most of his momentum in razz, proving his incredible versatility.

Day 2 lasted less than 45 minutes. Katchalov immediately went on the offensive, winning most of the starting hands and amassing over 500k chips. Ostrov gained a lot of ground back during Stud, only to lose some of it in Stud Hi Lo. He then won a massive pot holding two pair, giving him the chip lead and the majority of the momentum.

During the final hand, Katchalov pushed all in with K-Q offsuit against Ostrov’s A-8 offsuit. Katchalov scored a king on the flop, but was shut down when Ostrov received an ace on the turn. Katchalov received $140k while Ostrov received $210k and the bracelet.