FTP seems a lot like that guy who u knew u shouldn't have loaned that $20 to when u were in high school but u did it anyway. A week later u politely ask for ur money back. Another week goes by u ask when the guy is gonna pay u. Both times he calms u down says I'll have the money next week. Pretty soon ur asking for some of it back and the guy starts getting annoyed w/u. I feel like that's where we're at right now w/ftp. Pretty soon they'll not say anything, well post pointless noninformative threads. Then non US players will stop getting paid, their numbers will drop and pretty soon howard and jesus are blowing our money riding w/hookers in their ferraris into the sunset.

Then how did PS pay?


I have to tell you this was a shock. Not to mention how stupid it was to admit you are insolvent and were basically a ponzi scheme. This is a joke and anyone that plays at the WSOP should tell any FTP pro what they think about the site they represented and most likely benefited from the funds that FTP stole.

This is seriously bad. Anybody that plays on that site from here on out needs to have their heads examined.

I'm sure people would understand if they explained that it was more important to pay US players first, it would even have the advantage of being true unlike the excuses in the OP.

Phil Ivey missing will be an event, whereas 20 Brandon Adams type players will go unnoticed.

Regardless even if FT saves a $1mil on registering their pros it will not have an impact on paying off the customers as they need financing, 10's of $millions in financing!

Now what would help public image would be to have sponsored pros contirbute their winnings into some type of bonus payout in addition to what customers will receive or something.

+1

What a bad update!!! FTP just made a self destructive move IMO

Actually, I don't care if Ivey or any of the rest play, or what they wear. I would care if FTP paid for any of their entry fees or associated expenses, though.

I don't know whether and to what extent FTP is solvent. The reports from posters ITT and elsewhere about withdrawals initiated long before BF but never completed by FTP are concerning.

But I don't think the bank-run analogy is fair unless you add the bank account seizures to both sides of the equation. If FTP's accounts weren't frozen and if FTP could not repay players in the event of a mass exodus, then insolvency would be clear.

The bottom line is this situation is very tricky. On the one hand, FTP needs to be as vague to the public and its players as possible in order to attract new funds from investors and protect its interests in the criminal cases. On the other hand, the more ambiguous it is, the greater the outcry and resulting decline in business. Of course, it is also possible that giving us more details would cause even greater outcry, depending on how badly they've ****ed everything up.

deserves a sticky imo

Actually, from my first quick read this is the most forthcoming statement FTP has made. It seems to confirm the predominant theory of rational posters:

They account seizures / deposit floating have left FTP with a liquid asset problem.

They are trying to raise capital through all available channels to be able to pay US players ASAP. Available channels probably mean selling a percentage of the company or securing loans, but both of these are probably really difficult due to the whole legal situation hanging over their head.

They realize their business is suffering majorly from not getting this situation taken care of, and will continue to.

There is a lot I didn't see in the post, too, but at least they are starting to admit some of the problems and potential solutions we have all been speculating on, and they are not mixing US players concerns with a bunch of software questions and fluff questions like "will I still get my FTOPS jacket?"

I just really hope FTP has learned a good lesson about risk management and doesn't do something stupid in their effort to pay us that backfires.

Thanks for the update Doug. Great to hear that FTP is not broke. All this legal BS must be extremelly frustrating. I hope FTP will soon be able to go back to normal.

+1

LOL

For the hard of reading...

FTP is not insolvent, but only because the frozen accounts are technically still theirs.

FTP is willing to raise capital so that USA players can receive their account balances earlier than they otherwise would be able to.

The DOJ has no intention of preventing USA players from eventually receiving their funds, once a full accounting is done. (likely)

USA players should continue to pressure the DOJ, and other government officials, so that (likely) becomes (actuality).

to the above poster thanking doug, how can you be so naive? FTP is broke, spending millions on their tv shows, guess where those millions are coming from? YOUR MONEY, they claim to be trying to pay us back, yet throwing money away on advertising, and buying their pros into events, there will bve NO Full Tilt by this time next year, read the signs, THEY ARE BROKE, our money should be there, instead they are using it on other things, dont pay your pros, dont buy ads, and pay us now, mother **********

If there were any justice in the world, this would not be true, but gee FT, I'm sure glad you are doing well while we are all getting boned in the ass.

@fnord - Your posts are too intelligent and rational. Please confine your posts to unsubstantiated rumors and hysterical ramblings.

Jesus FTP is run by idiots. If this announcement doesn't start a run on the site by international players what would? How can you possibly admit that you don't have the cash?
There seems to be an assumption that there is a significant amount of cash being help by the DOJ that would have been able to be used to pay the players. That seems unlikely to me. My guess is they distributed all but the necessary operating funds to the owners and the owners are not giving it back.

There is actually a precedent for this when MSFT invested in AAPL in 2001 (MSFT was way larger at the time) and AAPL was in dire straits and now AAPL is larger than MSFT.

Who the **** has the money?

Do note that by my saying they are not solvent, that does not mean they don't have the assets to be able to pay us. Just that they're not liquid right now (in large part due to the seizures).

Similarly, a bank only retains a small fraction (I believe it's less than 10%, but if it's over, it's not by much) of the amount of cash necessary to cover all deposits on loan with it. Their mortgages, property, and other assets all will add up to over 100% of the deposits (assuming they're accounting properly), and yet, they could not pay everyone if a large portion of their customer base immediately asked for their account balance.

Of course, Full Tilt could indeed not have the assets to pay us, but I would prefer to think it's just a liquidity problem.

My opinion this has less to do with a "full accounting", and a lot more to do with the actual owners of FT living in the US and using a loophole to prevent prosecution. Basically the pros have been telling the DOJ to F-off for years. Ireland handing over these accounts is the leverage the US govt needs to either shut down FT, or cost them a huge amount of money. Accounting has nothing to do with this, that is just my opinion.

sounds like they just wanted to say something before the series starts tomorrow
I wonder how much capital they're putting up to stake their pros and making randoms where ftp hats etc.

at least they aren't converting our "money" into ftp t-shirts and trinkets yet

FTP needs to sell RUSH poker to Pokerstars, Party, or Harrah's and pay everybody back.

Was looking forward to more clarification on the big issue of FTP points .....

*sigh*


Sad that they don't have the money to pay out. No, sad isn't the right word here...but I'm kinda at a loss for the right word.


This just pisses me off. And I do plan on publicly blasting any FTP pros/reps I encounter while in Vegas. Whether it's their fault or not, they are choosing to rep the company that put us in this situation. Therefore, it's their problem, even if it's not their 'fault'.