Poker Blog & Poker Forum

According to the latest press reports and agreement has been reached between the owners of the online poker site Full Tilt and the U.S. Department of Justice (DoJ) over the final terms of their forfeiture agreement, despite reports that Chris Ferguson was creating problems. The deal with Groupe Bernard Tapie (GBT) can now move forward.

Laurent Tapie, the managing director of GBT, said that there are still several steps involved in the completion of the takeover of Full Tilt Poker by his firm. The immediate action required is to get the Alderney Gambling Control Commission to reactivate Full Tilt’s license. For that GBT is in the process of completing its due diligence, after which it will again approach the licensing authority. GBT would also have to repay the non-U.S. players of Full Tilt an estimated sum of $150 million. Tapie indicated that he is trying to have a rebranded Full Tilt Poker on line by March 1, 2012.

Despite this indication, a lawyer for GBT threw an apparent spanner in the works in an interview given to an online poker news site. He said that the agreement was in jeopardy because certain high profile poker professionals were not paying monies owed by them to Full Tilt Poker. The lawyer said, “GBT doesn’t want to acquire assets which will need to be litigated over later. In total, the sum owed to the company is between $10 and $20 million.” He named the players to include Phil Ivey, Erick Lindgren, Layne Flack, David Benyamine, Barry Greenstein, and Mike Matusow. The poker fraternity believes that this is an idle threat. The deal is too good for GBT to throw away even for $20 million. It is simply an attempt to browbeat the defaulting players to pay up and it is not likely to work.

The DoJ can also now proceed with the actions it has to take. It will have to repay the U.S. players an amount also estimated to be about $150 million. As a part of the agreement, the DoJ will dismiss the civil forfeiture proceedings against Full Tilt Poker, which removes liability for the company’s shareholders. However, the proceedings against those individuals named in the indictments including Howard Lederer, Chris Ferguson and Ray Bitar will be continued with. These individuals have been given until March 19, 2012 to respond to the amended civil complaint.

The Subject Poker web site last week put out details of some murky bank account transactions of Chris Ferguson related to the Full Tilt Poker Black Friday saga and insinuated that the poker player could be stalling the beleaguered online poker site’s takeover by Groupe Bernard Tapie. Ferguson and his attorney Ian Imrich have been unavailable for comment. It is significant that Imrich was earlier the attorney for Full Tilt Poker.

It was reported that from April 2007, Chris Ferguson funneled about $60 million of his Full Tilt Poker distribution payments into bank accounts held for him in the name of Pocket Kings Ltd, but which were under his control. Pocket Kings Ltd is a subsidiary of Full Tilt Poker. Ferguson was able to withdraw about $45 million of this amount, some of it allegedly after Black Friday. Apparently he allowed Full Tilt Poker to use the balance $14.3 million to meet its post-Black Friday expenses. Now Ferguson wants to recover that amount before Full Tilt Poker implements the deal with the Department of Justice and Groupe Bernard Tapie. He is using his clout as a shareholder in the online poker site to derail the agreement that could see American [...] Continue Reading…

The Aussie Millions is the only major global poker event held in Australia. It is hosted by Crown Casino in Melbourne. The poker tournament is held alongside another global sporting event which is the Australian Open Tennis Grand Slam Event. These two events were combined last year by the pairing of poker professional Gus Hansen and tennis professional Caroline Wozniacki. That affair is now over.

Two of the biggest events of the Aussie Millions are currently in progress. The first is the $10,600 buy in Main Event that will run from January 22 to January 28. One of the notable entries is Tom “Durrrr” Dwan. Dwan was closely associated with Full Tilt Poker. He has maintained a low profile ever since Full Tilt was hauled through the coals after Black Friday. Then Dwan had promised to part with a million dollars of his own money to pay the stranded Full Tilt players, should the online poker room default on its commitments. Full Tilt Poker has not yet paid its players, though it is in the process of striking a deal that would hopefully see the players getting their money. Dwan has therefore stated that he will wait another year to [...] Continue Reading…

Annie Duke and Daniel Negreanu are in the news again but fortunately not together. The last time they appeared in the same news item it did not make good copy.

Annie Duke is now the Commissioner of the Epic Poker League, which is reportedly in the process of an acquisition deal with Pinnacle Entertainment. In an interview given to The Las Vegas Sun Annie was dismissive of the younger poker professionals. Annie said, “When somebody wins the Main Event, in general, they are known for a little while, and that’s kind of it. There are lots and lots of winners in the last five years, yet none of them have become huge stars and none of them have been able to generate the ratings that the original poker players did. The players falling into this class were named as Viktor “Isildur1” Blom, Tom “Durrrr” Dwan, Jonathan Duhamel and Pius Heinz. Incidentally Duhamel has had huge cashes in the big events at the PCA 2012. Annie said that if people from Middle America are asked who the best poker players are, the names that will be mentioned are Phil Hellmuth, Phil Ivey, Daniel Negreanu, Mike Matusow and Annie Duke. [...] Continue Reading…

The PokerStars Caribbean Adventure (PCA) is the first big event on the poker calendar for 2012. As usual it is being held at the luxurious Atlantis Resort & Casino on Paradise Island in The Bahamas. The $100,000 Super High Roller has just been completed and it was a fitting beginning to the New Year.
The final table of eight players was the most star studded one seen in a long time. The poker fans have been dreaming of such a table at the WSOP Main Event for years. At the top of the table was Galen Hall, the winner of the 2011 PCA Main Event, hoping to create history at the Atlantis with back to back wins. Jonathan Duhamel, having put aside the home robbery by his ex-girl friend, was in the second spot. The veteran Daniel Negreanu, the leader in the all time live tournament earnings, was in third spot. Viktor Blom was next. As Isildur 1, Blom has ruled online poker rooms, but has yet to make a mark in live tournaments, where he has only one cash to his name. He finished 16th at the 2011 WSOP Europe Main Event. Dan Shak was the last player with [...] Continue Reading…