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Full Tilt Poker: The Saga Continues

While Full Tilt Poker has little to nothing left to its name, Groupe Bernard Tapie, the French investor that is planning to take on the debts of the Full Tilt Company and rebuild the broken brand, is taking action to secure what is left. A conditional clause included in the acquisition agreement dictates that an independent party must oversee any financial transactions that the existing board of directors authorizes on top of typical operating costs.

So Groupe Bernard Tapie is now interviewing for this position. The Chief Restructuring Officer’s priority will be to guard what little is left of the Full Tilt Poker conglomerate, having the power to veto any major financial decision made by the board. Meanwhile, acquisition negotiations are still in the works, which is now 10 days in. The Full Tilt board has yet to vote on the terms set forth by GBT. The structure of the corporation dictates that more than 2/3 of the Tiltware shareholders must agree. Unfortunately Ray Bitar, CEO, is more concerned with the current state of his own assets (still frozen) than working on saving the company, and board members Howard Lederer and Chris Ferguson are nowhere to be found.

And the Alderney Gambling Control Commission (AGCC) has quieted the numerous complaints of disgruntled online poker players calling to complain about how they are owed money by Full Tilt, despite the fact that the AGCC made a statement that they were no longer going to be involved in matters of Full Tilt Poker. Their updated statement now reads, “At the request of the police, ACGG will continue to log incoming player complaints: these records will be made available to the police.”

Poker Hall of Fame Nominees Announced

Ten possible Poker Hall of Fame nominees for the Class of 2011 have been introduced based on the strict criteria that such an honor requires. Criteria states that a player must have played poker against top competition, played high stakes, played will consistently while gaining the respect of his or her peers, stood the test of time, or be a non-player who has in one way or another contributed to the growth of the game with lasting and positive results. Nominees must be at least 40 years old.

The nominees include Barry Greenstein, Annie Duke, Jennifer Harman, Marcel Luske, Scotty Nguyen, John Juanda, Linda Johnson, Huck Seed, Tom McEvoy, and Jack McClelland.

Greenstein, who is known as the “Robin Hood of Poker” for donating all his poker tournament winnings to charity (he supports himself on his cash game winnings), has won more than $7.5 million in tourney winnings. He has three WSOP bracelets and two WPT championship titles.

Duke is up for her high profile as a multi-million dollar career winner over the past decade, which has garnered her a WSOP bracelet and the 2004 WSOP Tournament of Champions title. She also won the National Heads-Up Poker Championship in 2010 (a $500K win) and has been a poker proponent and spokesperson, as well as a successful player. She was also runner up on NBC’s Celebrity Apprentice 2009.

Harman is known for her high-stakes play and some believe is the best cash game female player of all time. She has two WSOP bracelets and $2.6 million in career tournament winnings.

Luske, also known as “The Flying Dutchman,” has about $4 million in career winnings, but is best known for his table antics. He finished 10th in the 2004 WSOP Main Event.

Nguyen is the winner of the 1998 WSOP Main Event, a 2006 WPT title, and the $50K WSOP HORSE event in the 2008 WSOP. He has more than $11.4 million in career earnings for tournaments.

Juanda has five WSOP bracelets and is the 6th place all-time money winner with around $12 million in career tournament earnings, not counting his cash earnings. He is one of the most accomplished tournament poker players in the world.

Johnson has one WSOP bracelet from 1997, and while she hasn’t won much of anything else since, she has been a major contributor to the game of poker over the past couple decades. She was the former publisher of CardPlayer magazine and co-founder the Tournament Directors Association. She is a poker writer and organizer for CardPlayer Cruises. She also co-founded the PokerGives.org charitable organization in 2009. She was named the “First Lady of Poker” by Mike Sexton.

Seed was the 1996 WSOP main Event winner and the 2009 National Heads-Up Championship winner, as well as the 2010 WSOP Tournament of Champions winners. He is well known for his part in amusing prop bets.

McEvoy, winner of the 1983 WSOP Main Event, was the first Main Event winner to win his seat through a satellite. In all, he’s won four WSOP bracelets, but is best known as a poker author.

McClelland is the Tournament Director for both the WSOP and the WPT.

A 17-member media panel plus the 18 living Poker Hall of Famers will choose the Poker Hall of Fame Class of 2011. The winner(s), if any, will be announced later this month and will be formally presented with the honor during the November Nine.

Land-Based Casinos Positioning Themselves for Legal Online Poker

South Point Hotel Casino & Spa located in Las Vegas will launch a free Internet poker site for members of its loyalty program for casino goers this week to go live to the public on October 17. Should online poker become legal, a real money feature will be added.

Casino owner Michael Gaughan told the Associated Press that the site hopes to be a step ahead if and when federal and/or state legislature makes Internet poker operations legal in the US.

Getting a foot in the door now is key to being up and running when the time comes. When the flood gates open, South Point Casino and other Vegas giants like MGM will be prepared to take real money bets once they obtain licensing and meet other necessary steps that will allow them to operate online gambling and online poker sites via the Internet.

While lawmakers are still going back and forth on regulation proposals, it’s only a matter of time before Internet poker and other online gambling activities will become legal. These companies that are positioning themselves within the free online poker market now, are readying themselves for the move to real money poker later. Their strategy is a good one, as once US laws make online poker legal in the US, it will only be a matter of a few loose ends to make the transition to real money Internet poker; whereas, all other operations will have to start from square one.

French Takeover of Full Tilt a Possibility

French businessman Bernard Tapie seeks to take over Full Tilt Poker, online poker site that was closed down last April by the US Department of Justice. Attorney Behnam Dayanim said in an email yesterday, “The precise extent of ownership that Groupe Bernard Tapie may acquire remains to be finally determined, but the Groupe does intend to acquire a controlling interest.

Apparently Laurent Tapie, Bernard Tapie’s son, will be directly involved in running the company, according to Dayanim’s email.

As a condition of the agreement between the French investors and Full Tilt, Full Tilt Poker must settle its legal problems with the US DOJ. Last month, the online poker corporation was accused of stealing $440 million of players’ money and using it to pay board members; they were accused of operating a Ponzi scheme by the Southern Manhattan’s US attorney’s office.

They said that Full Tilt had “defrauded players by misrepresenting that their funds on deposit in online gambling accounts were safe, secure, and available for withdrawal at any time.”

The original lawsuit against Full Tilt that was filed back in April as part of a national crackdown on online poker was refilled on September 20 and now includes the accusations of a Ponzi scheme operation.

Full Tilt owes more than $300 million to players throughout the world—not just in the US.

The Tapie Group said last week that if talks continue, they may take a minority stake of 5 to 10% in the company. Dayanim says that they may offer players who are owed money stake in the company, which would be better than what they have now.

And the Masters of America Winner Is…

The third season of the European Masters of Poker is going strong. Its most recent stop in Spain saw Norwegian poker player Andreas Hagen take the championship title after outlasting 454 other players recently in Barcelona at the Gran Casino. He landed €90,310 for his win, but he did cut a deal when he went heads up against Robin Appell. The two decided that Hagen would take €80,310 and Appell would get €70,310, and the two would play for the last €10,000. In just 15 minutes, Hagen had a hand worthy of a 400,000 bet, and Appell went all in. Hagen’s pocket 7s landed him a full house when the board was dealt: A/5/2/5/7. Appell’s K/6 didn’t stand a chance.

The European Masters of Poker tour continues now to Riga, Latvia, where play will commence at the Royal Casino Spa & Hotel. This will be the last stop and will from November 17^th through November 20^th. Entraction Network poker rooms are running qualifiers right now. The buy-in is €1,650, but online qualifiers are running for as little as €2.

PPA’s Petition to White House for Online Poker Legalization

Director of online poker advocacy group Poker Players Alliance Drew Lesofski created a petition on the White House website regarding the need for online poker regulations last Friday in hopes to generate the 5,000 signatures needed for the petition to be reviewed by higher powers. It took only three days for the petition to generate more than 7,000 signatures.

The petition will remain live on the White House website until October 22^nd. At that time, the issue will be addressed by the White House. Online poker advocates are encouraged to continue showing their support for the cause by continuing to sign the petition to show the administration just how important this right is to US citizens.

VP of the PPA Rich Muny says, “What we really want is to show the administration that a lot of people care about this liberty. We want it to always be in their heads that poker is in the top-tier of Americans’ interests. To me, that is more important that what response we get from the administration.”

The petition simply states:

“Appropriate regulation of online poker will put the US in charge of safeguarding responsible adult players, prevent underage participation and protect those with excessive gaming habits. The current unregulated US marketplace does not guarantee a single consumer protection.

“US regulation of this global industry will also mean the creation of American jobs and billions in new revenue without raising taxes. Licensed US-based horse race wagering sites have proven that online betting sites can be successfully regulated. It is time to allow online poker the same opportunity.”

If you agree with this statement, it only takes a minute to create a free account and virtually sign the petition online.

Muny says, “It’s very important for everyone in the community to participate. We want to stay above any bar they choose. It’s very gratifying that the White House thought a good proposal would take 30 days to 5,000 votes and we did it in three days. That shows the strength of our community. More votes will increase our priority in getting an answer. Every additional signature is an important one.”

European Masters of Poker to Feature WCOOP Winner

On the heels of PokerStars’ World Championship of Online Poker, the European Masters of Poker has kicked off in Barcelona, Spain. The tournament will run through October 2^nd and is expected to draw in at least the player field of last year, which capped out at 430. Finland’s Matias Knaapinen won the event last year and scored a €93,000 payout for his first place victory. Buy-in to this year’s European Masters of Poker Main Event is €1,100, so the prize pool is expected to rise significantly.

Speaking of the WCOOP, recent winner of this year’s WCOOP, Denmark’s Thomas Pedersen, is expected to attend the EMOP and will be representing Victory Chandler Poker’s Team VC.

A full schedule of side events will also be featured with varying buy-ins including a €550 NLH event two-day event that will begin on October 1.

Chiligaming to Expand into US Free Internet Poker Market

Chiligaming, online gaming operator based out of France, has announced that they will open a new office to be located in California that will target the US poker market with a free-to-play social poker gaming network. This network will be the first of its kind, and will be backed by the completely UIGEA-compliant Chiligaming poker network.

The network will use the company’s proprietary software that comes with a wide variety of features for the social gaming community such as virtual currency, accessibility via mobile devices including Android and iPhone as well as tablets and social networking sites, and multiple language compatibility.

This is just another genius idea in the long line of ideas that hopes to plant roots for online poker in the US market should it become legal. And the question isn’t really “will online poker become legal in the US?”, but rather “when will it become legal?” at this point. Many companies like Chiligaming are trying to get in the door ahead of time, so they don’t have to waste time establishing a clientele after regulation occurs.

Director of Chiligaming Rohin Malhotra says, “This new platform is technically the most advanced on the market today. In pre-regulation USA where casino and other gaming brands are eager to legally enter the online arena, grow their online presence and seek to get a head start, Chiligaming’s turn-key solution is the perfect partner.”

Recently celebrating its fifth anniversary, the Chiligaming company has already established itself as a strong and reliable force in the industry. As part of their expansion that will move the company into the US and the Asia-Pacific region, Chiligaming will open its first US office in San Francisco sometime in the near future.

Chiligaming CEO Alexandre Dreyfus says, “The gaming market is evolving and Chiligaming is evolving with it by expanding its operation to become an active social gaming player in addition to an established online gaming operator. Chiliplay.com will be the first brand to launch on the network and we will be welcoming more partners now that all the devices for access are ready.”

The move will enhance already strong brand recognition and successful market base already established in Frane and the UK.

Update on Full Tilt Poker Status

Ian J. Imrich, lawyer for Chris Ferguson, is currently taking questions on Facebook from former Full Tilt Poker players, disgruntled and all. Imrich had been posting things on his Facebook wall relating to Full Tilt in efforts to save what little popularity they had left. Now it’s more or less an open forum where effected parties can pose questions regarding their missing player funds, the rumors about French investors, and whatnot, though there are some harsh words being said about Ferguson and other Full Tilt Poker associates.

Unfortunately, there are so many disgruntled players, it is virtually impossible to address every single concern, though many are the same. Jeff Ifrah, lead defense lawyer for Full Tilt and Ray Bitar, Poker Kings CEO, attempted to host a similar thing on TwoPlusTwo, but it didn’t last five days after realizing he was no match for the masses.

While the letter of intent from the potential investor that would save the company and return player funds expires tomorrow, September 30^th, many are losing what little hope they had. Ifrah has confirmed talks with the AGCC that would further extend the hearing on the company’s operating license until the investor was able to meet with the DOF.

So nothing has changed, but time. Time will run out on Full Tilt Poker, but hopefully not before the players are paid.

Possible French Investor for Full Tilt Poker

After rumors have been circulating around the Internet that Full Tilt Poker did in fact have some investor with the guts to buy Full Tilt out of its debt and refund all the players funds that were otherwise lost but not forgotten, it seems a French investment group is actually considering the proposition. They are so serious that they have carried through with the necessary actions that would be needed to finance and finalize a takeover.

A takeover would cost an investor up to $300 million just to repay players after operating costs were mixed with player funds, which caused the online poker room to lose its license and ultimately be accused of operating a “Ponzi Scheme” by US media outlets.

While most players no longer feel loyalty to the Full Tilt brand and could care less if the site gets revived, they do care about their money, so many are praying for a viable investor to surface. So the news of this French company has given players new hope that they might see their money once again.

The official Full Tilt attorney, Jeff Ifrah, made a statement regarding the takeover:

“The investors are totally committed to doing this- we’ve met with them and seen the funds. Their primary concern right now is the AGCC’s decision on Full Tilt’s license. The investor’s position is that if Alderney revokes the license, they won’t go through with the deal because it makes things too difficult.”

Hopefully the AGCC will take into consideration the fact that the company still has hope to rebuild itself and do things right, including paying all those players back.

Ifrah also mentioned that the potential investors have hired lawyers to hold meetings with the US Department of Justice. They are hoping to work things out with the US. All of these factors will contribute to the decision of the investors, which makes perfect sense. They want to invest in a company that will be on good terms with the AGCC as well as with the US, or it just won’t be worth it.

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