Full Tilt Poker

The mindset of a poker player is one of analysis, skepticism, and psychology. Poker players not only anticipate what their opponents will do, but they search deeper to understand why. Poker players seek to understand their opponent’s motives, desires, wants, and thought processes. They use bits and pieces of information to strike at the fundamental level of what makes an opponent tick. Poker players seek to understand their opponents better than they understand themselves.

Right now, many American poker player are focused on one thing, and one thing only, millions of dollars of their money frozen at Full Tilt Poker. One month has transpired since the United States Department of Justice seized the domain name of Full Tilt Poker, and PokerStars. PokerStars was able to respond swiftly, taking two weeks to reopen their VIP store for cash rewards, then swiftly cashing out all American players an amount estimated to be over $100,000,000.

Now with, Full Tilt players left waiting, watching, and looking for answers, a number of possibilities have come to light as to why Americans still haven’t seen their Full Tilt funds returned. One of these hot topics is the question of segregated accounts. Shortly after Black Friday, PokerStars stepped forward, insisting that player funds and operational accounts were kept in segregated accounts.

Segregated accounts are important for two reasons. Firstly, if player funds are kept separately, in theory the government would be unable to seize player money. Secondly, with player funds kept separate, Full Tilt wouldn’t have to deal with any lengthy, complex, or time consuming accounting transactions in order to cash out all American players.

This begs the question, are Full Tilt’s poker accounts and operational accounts segregated? Well it depends who you ask. In a carefully worded press release on Sunday, a Full Tilt spokesman suggested that player funds being mixed with operational funds is in not an issue at Full Tilt, and has in no way effected Full Tilt’s inability to cashout USA players. Players accessing Full Tilt’s UK web address have found their own terminology posted by Full Tilt themselves, which they believe shows that Full Tilt has not kept American player funds separate and safe.

The latest update from Full Tilt on Sunday also included the news that US players will soon be able to redeem Full Tilt Points for items in the FTP Store. At this time this re-opening is for merchandise only, not cash bonuses.

There are a lot of questions that still need to be answered by Full Tilt. After one month of inactivity, and hence being dropped down a VIP level, will American Black Card players be able to shop at the Black Card Store? Iron Man players at the Iron Man Store? Has Full Tilt’s policy of allowing e-checks, which allowed players to play on credit prior to Black Friday, in any way affected their inability to cash out? Are technical accounting difficulties related to the cashout difficulties? Has the Department of Justice frozen Full Tilt funds? These questions and many more abound.

In the past five years, Full Tilt has built up a substantial reputation in the poker community as one of the premiere websites to play online poker. They’ve shown time and time again that they give players what they want, provide excellent customer service, and up until recently, Full Tilt has been considered one of the most trustworthy names in the poker industry. Now with allegations of fraud from the Department of Justice and US funds frozen, we hope to hear some positive news from Full Tilt in the coming weeks.