The Aftermath of Black Friday

I caught a flight from Orlando to Vegas and touched down in Vegas late last night. Sin City is the usual for me, I’m here and ready to work. I like to play, but work is what keeps me moving across the globe and I’m on it today too. Black Friday has put the damper on posting and trying to remain upbeat about online poker when the US players aren’t able to play. Everyone is waiting to see what happens next. I don’t think it’s going to turn into a quick, happy ending because no one has ever won against the DOJ.

Next week is crunch week for Full Tilt Poker. They have to get some of the money out to people that has been frozen in accounts since the 15th of April. If players start to see their funds coming home, I think all will be fine and stable. I really feel for everyone involved. I think the key person at Full Tilt Poker is Nelson Burtnick since it appears he had the keys to the vault and the pin codes so he is the guy that could tell everyone where all the cookies are.

When you compare the two online poker sites, Full Tilt and PokerStars, there should be no difference with how the money is held. All the players’ money should be in a separate account. PokerStars has been able to come back to the players with a payment resolution already and Full Tilt should be able to do the same thing – that is unless Nelson had a crack with the cash. That is pure speculation on my part, I have no evidence, but Nelson should speak up and initiate a release and everyone will relax a little bit. It’s now become a situation where the time to make a statement is now and loyal supporters need to see action, waiting doesn’t help anything.

No matter how they do it, they have got to get the player’s accounts paid back to the player’s bank accounts. Luckily the owners have lots of personal assets and Durrrr and his mate are kind by offering $1Million. If all of the Full Tilt Poker Team could chip in with $1M each to start with, that would really help ease the tension. I feel that team FTP needs to step up right now and guarantee player funds with their own personal wealth.

I’m sure the DOJ is willing to help get the money back to players so if the money is there, it should be coming your way soon if you have an account at Full Tilt Poker.

I’ve reached out to the top owners at Full Tilt and while I don’t have the solution to any of it, I am here to help in any way I can. I’m waiting and hoping like everyone else, hoping the next move is a positive step for online poker everywhere.