Poker Blog and Poker Gossip

In order to clear its name and reputation, the Alderney Gambling Control Commission published a report explaining its dealings with the site and its actions following the closure of the Full Tilt Poker site.  In addition to that, the Alderney Gambling Control Commission also agreed to let an independent company – the British Gambling Control Commission review and report on its dealings with Full Tilt Poker. The results of the report claim that the “AGCC fulfilled its statutory obligations in relation to FTP and that its actions were appropriate, timely and fair.”

The Alderney Gambling Control Commission recently published this report regarding its regulatory activities of the Full Tilt Poker site, going into US poker issues both before and after the incidents of Black Friday.

According to Peter Dean, the ex Chairman of the British Gambling Control Commission, “Alderney’s regulatory system for gambling is comparable to those prevailing in other well regarded jurisdictions, and AGCC is respected round the world as a regulator demanding high standards of probity from its licensees.”

After the Full Tilt Poker debacle and Black Friday, many in the poker industry blamed the AGCC or the Alderney Gambling Control Commission for it having licensed the Full Tilt Poker site in the first place. However, soon after the Black Friday incident, the AGCC revoked its license for the site and claimed that they acted immediately on finding out that FTP had been not managing its funds appropriately.

The report says that, “Throughout its dealings with FTP, AGCC relied to a significant extent on FTP’s external lawyers as a channel of communication. They played a prominent role in the arrangements for satisfying AGCC about the credentials of the owners of associated companies. In principle, however, AGCC should establish a proper direct relationship with its licensees and not resort to intermediaries as a matter of routine.”

In the whole Black Friday issue which involved the closure of the top three US poker sites, internet poker payment processors were also pulled up for assisting in the situation.

John Campos, an ex official and former owner and Vice chairman of the St. George SunFirst Bank is one of the poker payment processors who was caught in this. Campos was accused of processing the payments of these poker sites that were operating illegally in the US. Recent news reports, confirm that John Campos pleaded guilty to charges of misdemeanour relating to poker processing and banking. Campos has been charged with 6 felonies.

However, the judge of the Manhattan court refused to accept Campos’ guilty plea on the grounds that it would allow Campos to escape with a very light charge. If the plea were to be accepted, Campos would be allowed to get off with only a year’s prison sentence.

Judge Kaplan questioned, “Why should I do that?” and has decided to contemplate the issue and come to a conclusion as to whether to accept the plea bargain.

Campos has had a trial set for the 9^th of April 2012, but with the guilty plea bargain to misdemeanour counts, the Judge has set the 27^th of June as the day for Campos’ sentencing. The Judge will also be taking into account the probation report on john Campos and will also weigh the advice given by the US government regarding the case.

According to the plea bargain by which Campos has decided to plead guilty, the defendant will face a possible sentence of 0 to 6 months in jail. The agreement also calls for Campos to refrain from ever working in a bank again. As per his deal, Campos will have to sign an order with the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.

At one point of time, the poker community was waiting on Full Tilt Poker, hoping that the site would get back on its feet and pay back its US poker players. News reports from last week were all discussing a possible finalization of the deal between Group Bernard Tapie and Full Tilt Poker and ex FTP players were looking forward to the 80 million dollars of funds that Group Bernard Tapie was going to inject into Full Tilt Poker.

However, according to reputed poker player Daniel Negreanu, this is not likely to happen. Negreanu expressed his opinion and stated that poker players who had their funds tied up with the Full Tilt Poker site should not be optimistic about seeing their money again. He also mentioned that players who hoped GBT would buy Full Tilt Poker and get completely reimbursed should not get their hopes up as he claims that is not likely that the deal will go to the floor.

Indeed, considering how long Group Bernard Tapie is taking to buy Full Tilt, one cannot help but wonder if GBT has finally figured out that they are backing a losing horse – and a brand that has completely lost its reputation in the industry.

Negreanu who is known to be a very strong and opinionated player remarked, “The players are not getting paid. It’s over. It’s gone. Forget it. I’m telling you now. Tapie ain’t paying nobody. This deal is falling through. You lost your money. It’s just not gonna happen.”

News that Tapie was getting nearer to the deal, almost closing it and the like had been circulating in the industry. There have also been reports on a possible back up plan for Full Tilt Poker worth 35 million. Unfortunately, there have been no developments in this region.

The Grosvenor UK Poker Tour is one of the most reputed poker tourneys in the world and was recently held in Walsall. This year, Daniel Haglund, an extremely young Swedish player tossed up several experienced poker professionals and ended up being €45,100 richer for the experience.

The Swede took the first place after he decimated a playing field of 151 poker players from different parts of the world. The event was held at the G Casino located in Walsall, England.

This Swedish poker player may look like he is fresh out of high school – but should not be underestimated. Haglund who hails from Tibro, has been playing poker in a serious manner for a while now and had even made it as far as a final table in the World Series of Poker – which is regarded by many to be the ultimate poker tournament.

Haglund showed strong skills when he took down the chip leader of the day – who was Steve Holden. The Swede went head to head with Holden and knocked him out of the game after a 75 minute long round. “I wasn’t thinking too much, to be honest, I just tried to play decent poker and hoped to run OK,” said Haglund when asked about the game.

In the end, Daniel Haglund came in at first place and won £45,100 after he defeated Steve Holden who was a very strong contender with a prize of £31,750. In third place stood Martin Holmes with about £19,890 and Dave Clark followed behind with £12,240.

Poker players who are eagerly following the Grosvenor UK Poker Tour will be pleased to note that the next event has been scheduled to take place in Stockton with matches beginning in the 3rd week of April.

While the poker world is waiting for news on the Full Tilt Poker deal with Groupe Bernard Tapie, it would appear that the site has been making back up just plans in case the deal does not go through.

Unfortunately for all those US poker players waiting to get paid from their accounts at Full Tilt Poker, the new deal is not likely to give them their money as it is only worth a small $30 to $35 million at most.

A report from the iGaming site, claims that Full Tilt Poker has another client waiting in the wings to snap up the poker room for a tune of $35 million in case GBT decided that the poker room is more liability than asset. A report from the iGaming site claimed that “The deal would centre around offering in the region of $30 to $35 million for the software alone, while the FTP name, brand and all associated with it would be then wound up. The funds for the software would be deposited in a neutral account for Administrators of the company to distribute to creditors of FTP.”

This seems to be a terrible fall for FTP which seems to be trying to cut its losses rather than make any profit out a deal. The drastic drop from the $80 million deal by GBT to the $35 million offer from the anonymous company reveals a loss to the tune of $45 million. All this makes one wonder, why Groupe Bernard Tapie would be willing to pay $80 million for a company that is willing to settle for less than half of that.

Ray Bitar appears to have actually made a statement regarding this saying, “I have been cooperating fully with the DOJ so they can complete their investigation. Beyond that, I spend a good deal of my time making sure that FTP survives and that the players get repaid.” Ray Bitar, is one of the main minds behind the Full Tilt Poker site and has taken a lot of flak for his continued silence towards FTP players.

Daniel Negreanu, one of the top poker professionals in the world, recently won the first place at the WPT charity tournament. The tourney was held in support of the WPT Foundation and the event was called “WPT Playing for a Better World.”

Considering, how outspoken Negreanu has been in regards to the welfare of the player community, the win could not have gone to a better player. The tourney contributed funds towards the foundation, which in turn would use it to help others on a global scale.

Negreanu was not the only big name poker pro to grace the WPT charity tourney tables; he was also joined by several other poker professionals and renowned poker players like Barry Greenstein, Maria Ho, Vanessa Selbst, Vanessa Rousso and Liv Boeree. Other celebrities who graced the event included Pau Gasol, the basketball pro from LA Lakers and Maria Bello.

The event was invitation only and took place at the SLS Hotel in Beverly Hills. The WPT Playing for a Better World tourney featured buy-ins at $500.

Steve Heller, the CEO of the WPT commented on the charity event stating, “As the premier name in internationally televised gaming and entertainment, World Poker Tour is dedicated to using our extensive reach to affect positive change. The launch of WPT Foundation at the beautiful SLS Hotel was a night to remember thanks to support of attending celebrities, the poker community and our fantastic charity partners and we look forward to many further fundraising events in the near future.”

In addition to the poker tournament, the event also featured a silent auction that sold private poker lessons from the professionals present there.

After winning the event, Negreanu announced his win via a tweet. “Guess who won the WPT Foundation event? If you guessed ME you are a genius! Loads of fun,” he said.