+1, Andrew is 100% correct in what he is saying.

Very true. Very nice retort.

Robl makes me smile.

Read his about page on his website, what a character!

First, nothing quoted in OP explicitly says what he did is wrong. He's just describing it as self-serving and not in the best interest of the poker community. Whether you think Ivey is in the right or wrong, as a descriptive statement what OP said is clearly true.

Second, if we were to actually have a debate about whether what he did is right or wrong, I would say that when an already obscenely wealthy man goes after more money knowing that this will significantly impede the ability of many lesser-off people ability to access large chunks of their net worth, that's pretty wrong. I'm a bit miffed by Ivey's actions, but I have a lot of savings outside of FTP. The real concern is that there are plenty of grinders who may be busto or incapable of paying bills without access to FTP funds, and it's a bit of a joke to say "everybody can act in their own self-interest, there's nothing wrong with getting your own regardless of the impact on others." Especially when you're extremely rich already and the people you're affecting have been key to your financial success as consumers of your product.

God is spelled with a capital "G"....dum dum

It only impedes FTP's efforts to return money to US players if FTP needs to raise more.

Seriously, it's been a while now since Black Friday. If FTP has the capital to pay people back, they should, frozen bank acccounts or not. Ivey is in a better position than most to know what percentage of Full Tilt assets were frozen.

Of course, if FTP have been dipping into the US player funds - escrowed so that people can play on the site - and using a signficant percentage of the escrow as operating capital or w/e, then they have no cred.

That's what Ivey is alleging in his lawsuit.

So the cliffs is that Robl suggests he knows something, speculates randomly, then admits he doesn't know jack ****. Got it.

That's not it at all.

Robl is criticizing Ivey because the manner in which he looks after himself may put players at risk, and yet Ivey is implying he is doing this for the good of the players.

I appreciate that NVG is not your general realm (as it shouldn't be anyone's), but please post here more. Sanity/circumspection is in short supply.

So LOL that everyone is completely eating up FT's **** that Ivey's statement is gonna be the difference maker WRT viability and their ability to pay players thanks to all these fabulous investors that were right around the corner.

If you believe that, do your part to increase investor attractiveness to FT! Demand all these pro's put their FT patches back on! Start threads talking about how awesome FT is! Gogogogogo! We can undo the terrible damage Ivey has done to this sterling company!

Foxwoods is spot on here.

i agree with robl

We're not taking FT's word for it, we're using common sense. And I wish I could increase FT's attractiveness, but I'm not exactly influential enough to do that. Durrrr, however, deserves a lot of credit for trying to bolster confidence through his multiple assurances and guarantees

Maybe. Maybe it was this insider knowledge that brought him and the other VP pros within a hair's bredth of becoming part of Cereus.

The fact is that if black friday had come in may instead of april, robl would 100% be speaking as a signed pro for a skin on a network that most people believe will not pay back US players.

Robl is a nice guy. I lived next door to him for like 3 months and hes not nearly as douchey as you would expect from the hype. Hes also a fantastic poker player.

But hes also a 22 year old college dropout who was ready to peddle his ass to Cereus because they seduced him and his boss with money, perks by maing them feel important, and he lacked the savvy to see cereus's fundamental corruption through a rather obvious facade. Attempting to portray himself as an "industry insider" with special insight into the inner workings of FT is absurd.

He's a very talented young man who deserves all of the success that hes had (and who gets a lot more hate than he should), but he isnt savvy and he isnt a businessman. And he has demonstrated 100% that he isnt capable of recognizing when a big, dishonest corporation is telling him want he wants to hear in order to take advantage of his reputation.

Yeah, and you'll see how far those assurances and guarantees get you, too.

Think about it from the perspective of a wealthy investor, wealthy enough to make a difference in people getting their money back from FT. Before Ivey's statement, FT is a company that just got slammed by the DOJ, and has been completely behind Pokerstars in terms of customer service and doing what it can for players, both before and after the indictment.

I can't believe I have to spell out just how unattractive an investment FT would be to anyone, but yeah, if anyone is still retarded enough to make a significant investment in FT despite all their shadiness and incompetence, comments by Phil Ivey are not going to wake them out of their retardation.

The chance that someone (or someones) was going to invest big money in FT if only Ivey hadn't open his mouth is ZERO.

The chance that Full Tilt may redouble their efforts to pay some players just for damage control, now that their former ally and one of the most respected people in poker has declared war on them (and got them to pretty much admit they are broke), is maybe 2%. So even if you think Ivey is just self-serving bastard, his actions in my estimation STILL increases the ability of US players to get paid.

I don't see a way one can criticize Ivey's actions as impeding the ability of FT to pay their players, unless you buy the ludicrous idea that FT could attract significant investors at this stage of the game.