FBI seizes domains of pokerstars, full tilt, ub.. (UPDATE: Howard Lederer Interview)

[Keith]

so Tapie proposed that he would pay the Rest of the worlds $184m by putting up $16m and then forcing the rest of the world to deposit and rake the remaining $168m.....wow ...just wow no doubt there'd be no rakeback either.

[givememyleg]

The GBT Repayment Plan, Fact vs Fiction | Diamond Flush Poker

lol...... wow thank god gbt fell through

[surviva316]

The GBT Repayment Plan, Fact vs Fiction | Diamond Flush Poker

AHAHAAHAHAHAHAHAAH.

And that's not even all:

Details regarding the licensing plans, professional players considered as representatives, and additional surprising actions, taken by what was once thought to be the “white knight”, will be forthcoming in the next few days.

Great Scott.

[Penneywize]

yeah agreed GBT plan sounded pretty restrictive / horrible. At most, I would expect or hope that they would gradually unfreeze larger balances, but not release it as though it were some bonus you were entitled to (more or less).

W/E, PS has a monopoly up in this shit I guess.

[Keith]

Don't understand the concerns about a stars monopoly. The situation is no different to the current state of play. Sure some people may come back to FTP to play enough or whatever to withdraw. If they left stars in the first place for lack bonus/rakeback etc I can't see them heading back to ftp for what will inevitably be similar rewards system.

By buying FTP stars in the short term are protecting a lot of their income from players who would have been forced back to tilt to recover their money, and in the long term are possibly gaining an access route back into a legalized US market.

Interesting thing will be people permabanned on stars or tilt who then had a valid account on the other site. Also people who self excluded for gambling reasons on one ofthe sites ., i guess they would have to be banned on the other site as well.

[kiwiMark]

I also do not understand why people think that if stars buys FTP they would make it identical to stars with FULL TILT POKER written on top.

[BooG690]

I also do not understand why people think that if stars buys FTP they would make it identical to stars with FULL TILT POKER written on top.

That'd be such a dumb move by them when they can just basically reopen the Full Tilt software and attract both parties (the people that likes PS more and the people that liked FTP more).

[Keith]

Even if they run two seperate brands it must make sense to run one player pool, tourney schedule etc, bigger tourneys->bigger prizes-> lures in the fish

[d0zer]

Even if they run two seperate brands it must make sense to run one player pool, tourney schedule etc, bigger tourneys->bigger prizes-> lures in the fish

I don't disagree, but I'd be surprised if they were able to and/or motivated enough to re-write the FTP software to use the stars network in time. I imagine they would initially just re-open FTP as-is ASAP to start generating manies on their investment.

[Keith]

Why would they try and adapt the Full tilt software. Just redesign the stars table graphics into Full tilt Graphics. Its no different than what happens on merge, ipoker etc.Noone knows how many of the Full Tilt programmers are still employed .Massive cost saving if they don't have to rehire the programmers , fraud/security, customer support .

Full tilts software is negligible as part of the attraction of the deal to stars and just brings extra costs. For stars the Rush patent and avoiding any litigation over Zoom Poker infringng on that patent must be a much bigger attraction than the Tilt software. Also defending the rush /zoom poker patent and stopping other sites from profiting from it must be an important consideration in stopping some of their competition/protecting their market share.

[d0zer]

A lot of people who liked FTP more, liked it because they preferred the software. Skinning stars wouldn't satisfy any of those people, and then there's still the work of translating all of the FTP account data into stars, which is quite likely to be non-trivial.

[kiwiMark]

there never was any rush patent afaik

[kiwiMark]

although I've never really understood how much that matters

[drmcboy]

Even if they run two seperate brands it must make sense to run one player pool, tourney schedule etc, bigger tourneys->bigger prizes-> lures in the fish

If they want they can get most of these just by making it really easy to move money between the two sites.

[bikes]

<3 full tilt software. I know a lot of grinders and mtt' pros who feel the same way.

[boost]

ya, ftp's software was way better than stars.

[BooG690]

^ And these are the types of players PS can attract by simply not touching anything on the FTP software side.

[boost]

I think they would start off by just relaunching the current FTP software, but within a year they'd merge the softwares/networks. It just doesn't make a ton of sense for them to maintain two development teams, two support teams, etc etc. Esp when there is only an initial benefit, but long run the benefit lies in having the biggest singular network with the biggest guarantees, limits spread, etc.

[boost]

furthermore, everyone seems to be assuming that if they chose to go with one software over the other for both networks that it would be the Stars software.

[Keith]

how many people are left at FTP who know the software to maintain /upgrade it .If theres no one left ,it makes no sense to get people to spend time understanding the progam .

[boost]

how many people are left at FTP who know the software to maintain /upgrade it .If theres no one left ,it makes no sense to get people to spend time understanding the progam .

You seem to think that people laid off in Ireland are having an easy time finding new employment.

[Keith]

There would have been strategic advantages for the other networks to hire FTP programmers especially once the tapie deal was being considered to sabotage a potential competitor.
Ireland -> isle of man for instance is not a massive relocation andnot sure where the other networks programming teams are based.

[kiwiMark]

as always, keith is willing to fight to the death on random sticking points. give it up guys

[rong]

as always, keith is willing to fight to the death on random sticking points. give it up guys

You think this is bad? Imagine him playing werewolf!

[bigred]

So when can I reopen my neteller account and deposit for that sign up bonus?

[kiwiMark]

I'm afraid online poker in the US is only available to mac users

[bigred]

I'm afraid online poker in the US is only available to mac users

iPad count?

[drmcboy]

HOW CAN I OBSESSIVELY F5 WHEN 2+2 IS DOWN!!!!!!!!!!!

[bikes]

HOW CAN I OBSESSIVELY F5 WHEN 2+2 IS DOWN!!!!!!!!!!!

TWITTAH

[boost]

2+2 being down for this long is weird.. I can't remember when this happened before.

[bode]

2+2 being down for this long is weird.. I can't remember when this happened before.

its not just forum maintenance. some 1337 hackers are brewing up some shit.

[boost]

its not just forum maintenance. some 1337 hackers are brewing up some shit.

ya, ya...

[bigred]

Poker legal yet?

[Luco]

Poker legal yet?

I've really enjoyed playing poker this month. Just sayin'

[Fnord]

My first thought was "lol virtual monopoly".

Government is really what would be driving who gets to run games in the US. So that concerns me a lot more on the monopoly front.

Putting together hold'em software and a payment processor is not that hard relative to the kinds of things done at Zynga, Blizzard, Riot, Trion, etc.

[Jack Sawyer]

'When Online Gambling Is Legalized, Facebook Will Be A $100 Billion Company' - Business Insider

[Juked07]

'When Online Gambling Is Legalized, Facebook Will Be A $100 Billion Company' - Business Insider

Can't believe I've never encountered this idea. It sounds totally right. Maybe not the numbers, but online gambling would be huge for fb for sure. It might hurt their image a little though.

[BankItDrew]

FB would never do eeet

[jyms]

2+2 being down for this long is weird.. I can't remember when this happened before.

Is it still actually down or am I not clearing my cache or something properly. I cannot believe how long this has been.

[BennyLaRue]

From da home page:

Two Plus Two Forum Outage

On April 26th at approximately 11:20 AM pacific time, the Two Plus Two Forums were closed as a result of a hacker who has displayed the ability to access e-mail addresses and encrypted passwords. He also indicated the ability to decrypt passwords.
While it is unclear the extent of data to which he gained access, e-mail addresses and passwords on the Two Plus Two forums should be considered compromised. If you have used your 2+2 password on any other site, you are advised to change it.
For your security, we are closing the forums until the breach is patched. Upon reopening the forums you will be forced to change your password – it is counterproductive to do so now.
We hope to be back up as soon as possible.
Update April 27th

Given that this happened in spite of having applied all current security patches from the companies that provide our forum software, we are in the process of employing additional security experts to ensure that we are in compliance with the highest security measures possible.
At this point in time we anticipate forum downtime to be within 4-6 days.
During the forum outage, both the 2+2 Magazine and the 2+2 PokerCast will be available. This includes the release of the next PokerCast episode and the May issue of the magazine. You can also read the 2+2 archives going all the way back to 1997.
Update May 1st

After closer inspection, it’s now clear to us that the 2 + 2 Forums are more likely to come back to life next week rather than this week even though at this point in time we cannot give a definite date, and all efforts are being made to shorten the amount of downtime as much as possible. Mason will be on the next episode of the PokerCast (being recorded tonight) discussing this, and our May 2+2 Internet Magazine should be up before the weekend.

Update May 4th

Today's conservative target date for the forums to come back is May 12th. The 2+2 Magazine is delayed but still coming to you soon.

[Keith]

PokerStars & Full Tilt Poker announcement end of May : The iGaming Post

The iGaming Post has learned that following recent court hearing in the US between PokerStars, Full Tilt Poker and the DOJ, have come to concluding that a timetable for paying back players has been reached and the announcement will be made official in the last week of May.
Announcement expected end of May

The date is yet to be decided, because of the logistics of repaying both Rest of World and US players is still being concluded. But PokerStars are confident that this will happen in the next ten days and will be approved by the US DOJ.
Having finalized the repayment structure we are told that the next step would be an announcement by the DOJ that both companies will be allowed to apply for licenses within the US, when and if this is made legal.
But why would PokerStars pay so much for a non-operational poker site?
Don’t forget that Wynn had originally agreed to partner with PokerStars to offer a poker product to Nevada residents when the online product is legalized in the state and even though Wynn pulled out after Black Friday there will almost certainly be some renewed interest if PokerStars is given immunity. And as for Full Tilt they were willing to partner with Station Casinos so PokerStars would now have a couple of major partnerships already lined up and it seems just a matter of time before Nevada does legalize online poker. 888 Poker has already signed a partnership with Caesars and that deal was never cancelled since 888 was already effectively granted immunity after coming to an agreement with the DoJ after the passing of the UIGEA. As such, the agreement would be worth $750 million to PokerStars if they truly believe that online poker stateside will come sooner rather than later. And Wynn and Station will want to make sure the previous agreements are renewed so that Caesars doesn’t get a huge head start in offering online poker in Nevada.
Isai Scheinberg, the owner and founder of PokerStars is a very clever and shrewd business man and this deal for Full Tilt Poker will certainly be his last for PokerStars, as it is believed that part of the US DOJ deal is for both Isai Scheinberg and Paul Tate to step down.

[boost]

fucking tits.

[dranger7070]

[Illfavor]

Erm...wow. I'll be very sad if we aren't on PokerStars in 18 months.

[kiwiMark]

Erm...wow. I'll be very sad if we aren't on PokerStars in 18 months.

bigred's way ahead of you

[bikes]

Raymond Bitar surrendered today (July 2, 2012) in New York. Also included is the email that went out to the staff in Dublin.

Quote:
To all Dublin Staff,

By now you probably have heard that I have returned to the US to deal with civil and criminal case that are pending against me in New York. We have all worked hard over the last 15 months to preserve Full Tilt’s assets and potential in order to provide for the repayment of all players, and that continues to be our top priority. It is as important as ever that we all do everything possible to make that happen and, hopefully our deal with Poker Stars will very soon make our goal a reality. My return to the US is part of this process.

I am particularly grateful to all of you here in Dublin for your hard work, patience and understanding during this difficult time. I believe that your hard work and dedication should not go unrecognized, and we have made arrangements for Poker Stars to guarantee all July salaries. You should therefore have no concern about coming to work during this period. After that, we expect that your employment contracts will be assumed by the buyer of the company’s assets.

For those that need to reach me, I expect to continue to be available by email and phone starting late Monday, New York time.

In the meantime, please refer any operational questions to **REDACTED**, and any HR questions to **REDACTED**.

Thank you all again.

Kind regards,

Raymond J Bitar

[drmcboy]

every time I think I'm numb, we get news and I realize I'm far from numb

[boost]

I had forgot about "my" money.. then we get another little sliver of hope, just enough to string us along.

[bigred]

Can't wait to be able to take "boost's" money again soon!

[boost]

meh, I didn't think my use of quotes was that bad. I was trying to allude to the fact that the money isn't really mine at this point since it doesn't exist at this point. I did deliberate for a few seconds over how to get this point across. However, in the end, I can't say I am completely happy with my decision to use quotes in this way.