Apparently, the sky just fell...

[GTDawg]

How, exactly, are they going to distribute funds if they've been using shell companies and bank bribes to distribute them?

[Talking Poker]

They will need to set up some new payment processors and have the US government give them the ok to process the refunds. I imagine this may take a while.

In theory though, if they truly did keep their player funds in segregated accounts and not mixed in with their operating funds, things should work out.

I imagine it will take a while, but I still think we will get our money back - at least the account balances themselves. Who knows how things like points will be paid out, if at all...

[Zybomb]

Interesting link

WTO may sanction Usa for online poker crackdown:

[Talking Poker]

The last time Antigua won and got something like $17 million in sanctions, after asking for $3 billion.

[jdiana86]

I don't see it very profitable to move out of the U.S. to play online- I mean c'mon all the U.S. recreational players aren't going to, so it will be a nitfest online. TP, are you going to make the transition to live? I don't think playing online right now is a good idea being that its illegal. JMHO

[Windbreaker]

Don't know about cash games, but tournaments are very soft now on Stars/FTP. It's like 2005 again or something. The prize pools for the US prime time have gone way down though.

Is it worth moving....is a different question as that involves more than just money.

[Gordogg]

Why aren't more people jumping to Cake Poker? Afraid they may be next? I don't see the government cracking down on these small sites until this current litigation is over with and hopefully the aftermath of that is regulation. It's all about money, courtesy of the corrupt US Government, biggest corporation in the world

[Reel Deal]

I've played a little there in the last week (a very little)... but I also have a very little money on Cake.

[Kurn]

Got an e-mail from 'Tilt today saying they'll have a plan to get US players their money within a week. I'm going to send an e-mail to support re P2P transfers ostensibly for repaying staking arrangements. If they'll allow transfers I'll be looking for a small swap for Cake or Carbon (~$100).

[Talking Poker]

Moving out of the country is another discussion, but the games are noticeably softer now than they were a few weeks ago. The majority of U.S. players were winning regs, with very few recreational players mixed in here and there. My non-American friends are reporting that the games are the softest they have been in years.

Also, playing online was not and is still not illegal. You should know that.


Personally, I'm too turned off and burnt out from the whole poker thing right now to be moving my money to a small site that will likely have the same problems the larger ones did at some point - not necessarily getting seized by the DOJ, but having problems with cashouts and so on, so I'm just taking a break from all things poker.

That said, if I were going to play, I'd be playing on or if I was going to play anywhere.

The links in the last sentence have my affiliate code built in and are set up for automatic rakeback paid directly into your account, so use them if you are considering trying out one of those sites...


P2P transfers are not going to happen. Believe me, I wish they were, but they just aren't.

Stars cashouts are working now and I am hoping Tilt's will be within a week or so. Overall, this is pretty good, as I expected it to take months (like the Neteller situation did) to get my money.

[Talking Poker]

True Poker is another site that still accepts US players. I never got into playing there much, but I know a lot of people really liked their site. I have no idea what the action is like there nowadays, but it is another site worth checking out and I have set up for you to receive automatic rakeback if you use my link:

[Talking Poker]

Oh, and you can't forget good ol' Bodog. They don't offer rakeback, but they have decent games and tourneys and you can bet on sports there too:


If there is any site who will forever thumb their nose at US authorities, it's probably Bodog.

[Talking Poker]

UB/AP declared bankruptcy today.

No news on what this means for player funds.

[sjay2k]

Concerns are growing about FTP, since they have been unable to process cashouts like Stars. Also stories that FTP have been having problems processing deposits for many months (players are saying deposits were never taken out of their bank accounts). I am very curious why international Moneybookers payments have been frozen (my guess is that the motherlode FTP MB account got seized).

UB$ are trading at 25 - 30c on the dollar

FTP$ are trading 75- 95c on the dollar


I am considering investing big in FTP$ at the lower range, but I wouldn't touch UB with a stick. I think UB's best hope is to get bought out by Stars with balances honoured with rollover requirements. Scary times.

[Kurn]

Daniel N's opinion about UB/AP about half way down

[Kurn]

e-mail from 'Tilt today telling an small amount had been deposited in my account. From the amount, my guess it was owed rakeback from the time leading up to Black Friday.

Anybody else have something similar happen?

[Talking Poker]

I think we will know more by the end of this week, but yes, I am pretty sure that amount was your final rakeback payment. I know they were settling up how to convert points/medals/etc, making rakeback payments and such, so hopefully things are still on the right track and we can begin cashouts in the next week or so.

Hopefully.

It is definitely concerning, but I still think we'll see our FTP money again.

[Talking Poker]

Looks like this was posted earlier today:

[2Tone]

While I’m fortunate enough not to be personally impacted by this, I think it is very disappointing. It seems increasingly likely that this is a liquidity issue, which should never been the case if player funds were kept in segregated accounts.

I still believe funds will be returned, but players should never have been put through this.

It will be interesting to see what kind of reception the Full Tilt pros get at the WSOP.

[Kurn]

It was the only place I could get money on without jumping through hoops. It's Bodog and Cake for me now.

[sjay2k]

9 more sites indicted. I have lots of money on a couple of these sites... raging tilt.

[Wes]

I can still log into bookmaker.com