http://doylebrunson.com/blog/

Stopped reading when I realised he is just trying to get Howard off the hook and hang Bitar out to dry.

And what's WITH the random capitalised WORDS?

I'm just pissed that Russ Georgiev isn't around to weigh in

This blog post is ridiculous "There was a board of directors, I'm not sure exactly who was on it but it was FT stockholders. "

So basically he has no clue about what he is talking about... the board of directors is now know (bitar,lederer,furst,ferguson), lederer was part of it and he voted player money to be distributed as dividends (thats his responsability as a member of the board and that's why the DOJ is going to broke him).

Blaming bitar but trying to get lederer off the hook is just a ****ing joke.

"Bitar who is obviously a very smart guy might have worked things out but Black Friday happened and everything came to the surface."

This is a joke, FTP was insolvent long before BF.

"When someone I've known for years, trusted and respected looks me dead in the eye and says he didn't know about the financial problems, call me a big old Texas sucker because I will believe them."

You are a big old Texas sucker Doyle.

Pretty good info in there, gets lame near the end, but a fresh perspective on the case.

Pretty cool of him to put this out though. I by no means agree with his opinion on just letting them rejoin the poker world though.

If they didn't know they are of course only guilty to negligence, but that can still be a crime, especially in the eyes of all the people who are out a lot of moneys.

Bitar is an idiot though if what is in there is accurate.

I think he knows who's on the board, but was using that wording to get to his next point. A bunch of poker players shouldn't run a company with the size of FTP.

Obviously a response to the Negreanu blog.

Interesting read but Doyle should just stick to being a legend.

"I remember FT put out a statement to the effect that they are working on a deal to sell the company and pay the players their balances. That deal is still being pursued so what else is there to say? If you have never been involved with a FEDERAL investigation, you probably don't understand. If you were looking at going to jail and your lawyers keep telling you to remain silent, would you say anything? When the government says "anything you say can and will be used against you", it means exactly that."

But it was okay for FT to release a statement thisfast after Ivey released his WSOP boycott statement?

I expected more from Doyle. That's pathetic.

Cool story Doyle

What? What's the point of this blog again?

When you're a shareholder, you know how much of the company you own. When you get a dividend on each share, you know how much dividends were paid in total. When this sum is way bigger than what you think the site rakes (as a shareholder you at least have an idea), you realize that you're getting paid with players' money.

When you don't question the management of a company that simply steals from their customers only because that company is sending you hundreds of thousands of $$$ each month, then you're are effectively stealing, too, and you are scum.

When you don't pay back the money and continue to not release press statements/play in high buy-in events/play innocent even after you have realized that said company (including you) has stolen all the players' money, then you are even more than scum, you are just goddamn mother****ers.

But thankfully, people like us on funny internet forums keep supporting Phil Ivey. Thankfully, Doyle Brunson writes a non-sense blog stiffed with level-one thinking processes, letting us empathize with people like Howard Lederer. Thankfully, we let a company that steals in the most ballsiest fashion negotiate with potential investors for a ****ing year and burn more and more % of the potential money we could have recovered in case of a simple bankruptcy. Thankfully, we cheer up to guys like Barry Greenstein and Mike Matusow for not paying back loans that were made out of stolen money, either because they simply deny the loan, or because we simply buy any ****ing excuse they give us.

I should probably be outraged over this, but it's so clear that he doesn't know the basic facts that it's just yawn. Amazing though that he talked with HL and still doesn't get it even remotely. I'm sure he made himself few friends with this, but who cares? It's not going to stop anyone from stringing up Howard that's for sure.

Couple of quotes to back up that he has no clue:

"There was a board of directors, I'm not sure exactly who was on it"

Might ask the DoJ or consult the complaint.

"Exactly how FT lost their cash is not clear to me. Something about processors, electronic checks they couldn't cash, etc. "

This is super clear to everyone that has lived though this.

I agree with the consensus that there isn't much in this blog. I am somewhat disappointed, especially since Doyle said he knew a lot from Jack Binion. I did find it interesting that Doyle said there were at least four shareholders who owned more than Lederer. I would guess Ferguson, Ivey, Furst, and Bitar. That being said I am not sure we have ever had an accurate list of ownership, so that does seem interesting. Sorry if we knew Lederer was not a bigger owner earlier.

Furst owned less for sure. We're still missing at least one.

edit: In the amended complaint Howard is second in distributions behind Ferguson. So I guess we're missing two. (Of course, he doesn't know what he's talking about regarding anything else so...)