Poker Blog and Poker Gossip

Poker players who are angry with Full Tilt Poker and are still struggling with trying to get their money out of the accounts will be happy to know that they have a spokesperson in Daniel Negreanu.

Negreanu has been known to be quite vocal about different issues in the poker industry and the US online poker and Full Tilt Poker scam has not escaped his sharp eye. In a recent video that Negreanu posted on YouTube, the poker player sand blasted Howard Lederer, Ray Bitar and Chris Ferguson for not having the decency to respond to player queries or make a statement regarding Full Tilt Poker’s insolvency and inability to pay back players.

All three men, Lederer, Bitar and Ferguson are c- owners of the Full Tilt Poker company and had been marketing themselves as the faces of Full Tilt, inviting players to come and “chat with the pros.”

Negreanu begins on a slightly humorous note regarding Full Tilt Poker. “In a recent blog, I made some comments about Howard Lederer, Chris Ferguson and Ray Bitar, mentioning that something to the effect of old-school Vegas-style baseball bats to the groin for what they’ve done. And you know, I’ve come to realize those comments are pretty harsh, and I’ve had some time to think about what I’d said, and yeah, I think they were absolutely appropriate,” Negreanu stated.

A little later Negreanu turned a little red in the face and spouted steam at them calling them scumbags – an opinion that hundreds of FTP players may in all likelihood agree with.

“I waited a long time, I really didn’t say anything for months, hoping you guys could rectify the situation, but you are scumbags, absolute flat-out scumbags, for ignoring the poker world that you fleeced for as much money as you did, and now you have nothing to say? Are you freaking serious?” he asked angrily.

The only thought that brought Negreanu out of his tirade was an upcoming trip to Brazil and Ireland.

A recent news report discussed the eventuality of a possible poker legislation not being included in the Congressional bill for payroll taxes.

US poker players were excited about the possibility of poker regulations being passed in the payroll tax bill, but these clauses of the bill were dropped. And, however, disappointing the news may be to the poker community, it would appear that this was done for a good and valid reason.

The original bill was to focus on payroll legislation outlining payroll tax cuts and unemployment benefits for Americans. According to a source as mentioned by www.parttimepoker.com, “Airdropping this into the payroll bill wouldn’t sit well with a whole bunch of people from a process standpoint.”

Indeed, the outrage following the UIGEA and the way its altered rules on online gambling payments to offshore sites had been sneaked in to a Congressional bill, fully altering the state of affairs of online poker in the US is a good example of why not to do this. It should also be noted that the payroll tax bill has enough riding on it without the addition of a hot topic like that of regulating online poker in the US being “airdropped” on it and jeopardizing the entire thing.

However, since US lawmakers like Senator Harry Reid are actually entertaining ideas on setting up regulations for online poker, it may be a good idea to formulate a bill exclusively for online poker explaining and outlining its regulations, requirements and legislation perimeters. A spokesperson from Sen. Reid also made a statement to Politico confirming for a fact that internet poker legislation will not be a part pf the payroll tax bill.  In the meanwhile, players will have to wait for another Congressional session and another bill to take this issue to task.

According to Laurent Tapie, the managing director of Groupe Bernard Tapie (GBT), the French investment company, the acquisition of Full Tilt Poker (FTP) will be completed by February end if everything goes as planned.

Full Tilt Poker collapsed after the US federal government cracked down on US online poker in mid-April last year, seized the site’s domain names, and indicted its chief executive officers on counts of money laundering, bank fraud, and illegal gambling.

Tapie also said that, according to the acquisition deal, GBT will renew FTP’s Alderney Gambling Control Commission (AGCC) license after acquiring the online poker room for around $80 million from the Department of Justice (DoJ).

Meanwhile, Leonard B. Sand, the US federal judge, has delivered a verdict, in which the class action complaint filed against Full Tilt Poker and companies and individuals associated with it has been dismissed. The defendants are Full Tilt Poker, Filco, Pocket Kings Limited, Vantage Limited, Ray Bitar, Tiltware, Nelson Burtnick, and professional Full Tilt Poker players such as Allen Cunningham, Patrick Antonius, Gus Hansen, Andy Bloch, Mike Matusow, and others.

The judge has dismissed this case because it is not clear whether the plaintiffs are unable to gain access to their funds because of the DoJ crack down or because of firms associated with FTP, or poker pros.

According to the court ruling, the case can be continued against Vantage Limited, Filco, and Pocket Kings, but not against the individual professional poker players mentioned in the list of defendants. Judge Sand stated that Pocket Kings, Filco, and Vantage Limited together maintained the FTP website, owing to which it can be inferred that they prevented the plaintiffs from gaining access to their poker funds.

The judge therefore dismissed the class action suit against all defendants except Filco, Pocket Kings, and Vantage. The case against Pocket Kings Consulting and Tiltware stands dismissed.

According to a US District Court judge, the civil case filed by a group of poker players who held accounts on Full Tilt Poker (FTP) against certain FTP units and executives has been dismissed since the claims are “too attenuated.”

In June, a group of ex FTP players who wanted to regain the $150 million they claimed to have lost when the US Department of Justice (DoJ) cracked down on FTP and certain other online poker rooms, filed a case under the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, a federal law.

Leonard B. Sand, the judge of the US District Court who heard this case, said, “It remains unclear whether the direct cause of the plaintiffs’ injuries was the decision by the U.S. Attorney’s office to temporarily shut down the Full Tilt poker website and seize the company’s assets or was instead as plaintiffs’ conversion allegations suggest, the subsequent decision by one or more of the defendants to halt player withdrawals.”

Two of the five FTP units that sought dismissal of this case are the online poker room’s software developer and the operator of its website. While the judge allowed the case to be moved against three of the five FTP units, he said that the plaintiffs will have to modify their cases against the other two units. The case bears the title Segal vs. Bitar, 11-cv-4521, New York Southern District Court.

It may be recalled that, on April 15, 2010, a day referred to as the Black Friday of online poker, the DoJ cracked down on two Cereus Network sites Absolute Poker and UB Poker as well as PokerStars and FTP, seized their assets, and arrested their executive officers on allegations of illegal gambling, bank fraud, and money laundering. While PokerStars successfully refunded its US poker players, ex FTP players are still waiting for their money.

British poker players who had accounts at Full Tilt Poker before the online poker site crashed have been advised to complain to their local police if they consider themselves to be victims of a crime.
In a statement issued recently, the Alderney Gambling Control Commission (AGCC), which revoked Full Tilt Poker’s licenses to provide online gaming services at the end of June last year, stated that UK poker players who had accounts on Full Tilt Poker must approach their local police if they have not yet been refunded.
AGCC has issued a statement regarding Full Tilt Poker after a number of months, but this statement makes no mention of the acquisition deal signed between the online poker room, the US Department of Justice (DoJ), and Groupe Bernard Tapie (GBT), the French investment company, according to which GBT will soon purchase Full Tilt Poker for $80 million.
Once the acquisition is completed, DoJ will take up the responsibility of refunding Full Tilt Poker’s US players while GBT will refund Full Tilt Poker players in the rest of the world. However, no details have been revealed regarding the exact procedures the DoJ and GBT intend to follow while refunding the players.
Here is what the AGCC statement says: “At the request of the police, AGCC will continue to log incoming player complaints: these records will be made available to the police. However, following the revocation of the licences, AGCC no longer has authority to intermediate or arbitrate on player issues or disputes with Full Tilt (excepting for players registered under a Swiss address)”
The statement also says: “It is understood that a number of civil actions have been initiated by players against Full Tilt, some as class actions representing multiple players by UK, US and Canadian lawyers. Details of the firms concerned can be found through internet search.”

According to Howard Stutz, who has recently published a report in the Las Vegas Review, the recent DoJ announcement regarding the Wire Act of 1961 is no reason for celebration. He points out that online poker fans have been celebrating this DoJ move without properly analyzing the situation. The DoJ delighted US online poker fans by stating that the Wire Act of 1961 does not apply to online poker as it is not a sport.

Quoting Prof. I. Nelson Rose, who said “we are about to see this explosion of internet gambling sweep across the nation,” Stutz voices his opinion that he does not “want to be the wet blanket dropped on the party, but we need to analyze the situation.” He agrees with Greg Gemignani, the gaming expert and lawyer, who said, “This is not a green light to fire up the online poker servers by any means.”

In his report, he also studies the opinions voiced by American Gaming Association and the big casino operators in Las Vegas, who are steadily applying pressure on the US federal government to create a regulatory framework for online poker before individual states do it.

He writes, “The move could make Nevada, which adopted internet poker regulations last month, the regulatory hub for the nation’s online poker industry, providing the state with a new revenue source and high tech jobs.”

He does not feel that the federal government will regulate the US online poker industry this year, and neither does he feel that the states will make much progress either. He points out that a number of small US states simply lack the financial power to invest into the industry, while others have to face the demands of Native American tribes. He, however, predicts that online poker will be in the news for the next one year.