FTP Bought!

[Jalopy]

Three cheers and all that! I just read that the rumored purchase of FTP by Pokerstars has been completed. It looks like everyone will eventually be getting their monies back


It's only small potatoes for me but it did just grow my BR by 50%.
I know some of you stand to get back a lot more


http://www.pokerstarsblog.com/corpor...oj-096492.html

[bambini]

Great news indeed. I didn't have any money tied up in FTP but its a positive outcome for the game

[J_Verschueren]

Hmm... if read correctly, it's not FTP or PokerStars who will reimburse US players, but the US Government. Obviously I personally don't have a lot of money on a pokersite, but if I did, I don't know if I'd like the government to know exactly how much.

[RyckyRych]

I was quite pleased when I found this on the interwebs this morning. The DOJ thing was pretty much expected.

[Tim]

FYI here's the DOJ's press release:

USDOJ: US Attorney's Office - Southern District of New York

I don't know how much I had in my FTP account so I'm looking forward to finding out, so that's good. I'm not too happy with Stars owning both sites. I don't think this is good for the game, although obviously it's good that players will get their money back.

[Queso]

What do you have against PokerStars running both sites, Tim? Clearly they handled their situation much better than Roy Bitar and company. Is it just from a 'competitive commerce' standpoint (ie two competing sites drive each other to be better)? I always liked PolerStars much better anyway.

[Tim]

What do you have against PokerStars running both sites, Tim? Clearly they handled their situation much better than Roy Bitar and company. Is it just from a 'competitive commerce' standpoint (ie two competing sites drive each other to be better)? I always liked PolerStars much better anyway.

I have nothing against PokerStars and they've handled everything very professionally. Although it's not hard to look good when measured up against the scumbags who owned FTP/UB/AP. I just don't think it's particularly good when one company owns such a huge market share. They tend to abuse their position and the customers suffer as a result. Right now though, it's all good.

[bambini]

Just read a very interesting article on the current state of poker, and its future:

The PokerStars purchase of Full Tilt, the $731 million settlement, and the state of poker - Grantland

Thought it was relevant, although quite brutal in its portrayal of the current poker scene. Well written though: it reminded me of Hunter S. Thompson.

[J_Verschueren]

tl;dr, but as far as poker being past it's hayday<sp?> ? I just made $1,40- playing two tables of $0,02-/$0,04- limit hold'em for a little over an hour, so... ya think?

I will admit, currently, the days of just indiscriminately loading a bunch of tables and expecting to profit are no longer with us, but if one's anywhere near decent, rolled, and willing to accept the reality of what one observes, I don't see a reason why thinking players shouldn't be in the black accross the buy-in levels.

Also, I think it's highly unlikely PokerStars will be just dumping money into this deal. Eventhough, as a group, pokerplayers showed a "sheep"-mentality on black Friday, I don't see many non-US FullTilt players withdrawing their balances from the poker economy. Coupled with the fact this deal has a "sousentendre" for legalised poker for US players, I still see this as a win-win situation for an online poker provider. Which is why I can see Tim's point of view with regard to PokerStars cornering the market. Unfortunately, we'll have to rely on legislators to protect the community in this respect.

This news is kind of double-edged for me: while I do want for US players to be albe to compete online, I'm not looking forward to a bunch of basically solid, aggro players with only minor exploitable flaws getting between me and the clueless Belarussians/Portugese/South American/"name any nation where 'macho-culture' is still a factor"-opponents.

[RyckyRych]

Don't sit at my tables and I won't get in your way. :)