ONE TIME DIRK!

Hi Guys, I wonder if someone can help me?

On Full Tilt before BF I had a step 7 ticket valued at $2100 and a step 6 at $640
if PokerStars do buy ftp any chance of me seeing any of this?

Cheers

Not only will you get ur tickets back but, they will add 1 bonus step 7 ticket for the long wait too.

I've read/scrolled 166 pages of this thread, and I didn't see any independent confirmation that any of the OP is true, besides GBT statement and a tweet from Chili Poker.

I'm hoping I just missed something and would be happy to be flamed for it.

Everyone seriously needs to chill the **** out and give all of these people a little time to do their due diligence and try to work things out. It took GBT months to try and negotiate this deal and he could never get it done to his satisfaction. Stars isn't going to get it done overnight. Stop worrying about what time zone their office is located in and what not.

I wouldn't be surprised if they mailed a blond named Irina to give you a weeks worth of blowjobs either.

OT, but: From the 1st of Mai on, all coffeshops will be turned into clubs, were only dutch people are allowed in.

As much as I hate to say it you are pretty much on the money here.
But I still believe

Add the WSJ having a source saying PS is doing due diligence in Ireland for a few days now, the small bit from M.Haven and Noah, the semi-cryptics tweets from jungleman and the fact that PS still didn't deny.
But me too i would like more concrete confirmation.

Stars do this , include making itself lose the US market?
What are you thinking about?

Eh. Lots of people with industry contacts(myself included) have more or less confirmed the fact that Stars is working on a deal.

That doesn't mean the deal is done.

The Dutch conservative government (which only had a 1 seat majority) has crumbled. The PM has tenured his resignation, new election.

Theres doubts over whether or not it would be fully implemented anyway.

And choosing a hairdresser isn't like choosing a bank, a car dealer, or a meat salesman. I'm not sure why any of your reservations that are industry specific are any different than any other industry specific preferences of consumers. If your hairdresser is the one who does your hair the way you like, the utility of finding a new one that is very far away from where you live can surpass the utility in moving your BR and giving up your notes to simply switch sites via a few clicks.

In the end, it's about individual consumer utility, not industry specific details.

And the idea you think consumers are so stupid as to not know whether they are facing a bad consumer experience in a poker site is quite an assumption. If there was only one hairdresser would you know your hair looked like crap? If there was only one doctor would you notice you were still ill?

Again, this boils down to utility. The consumer will either enjoy their experience or not...and if they want another competitor, and no regulations or laws hinder entry into the market, the market will provide a competitor via profit motive. You seem to think it takes an act of God or Congress to create a competitor.

What you call simplistic I call sensible and reasoned. I find your criticisms simplistic, and decidely shallow. You look at immediate flaws without considering how the entire world seems to organize itslef without some overlord creating preferences for the poor stupid consumers.

That's because the consumers are not as poor and stupid as you think them to be. The market is not as evil and inefficient as you'd wish it to be to fit your preconceived conclusions. You ignoring of these facts is what leads you to come up conclusions and seek evidence to fit those conclusions.

And that analogy is perfect to explain the difference between harmful coerive monopolies and simple consumer prefered monopolies.

Who are you tell consumers, if they prefer a monopoly of particular service, that they may not have it?

I would also remark: No consumer prefered monopoly ever lasted more than a few years. Without government regulations and laws to enforce barriers to entry into markets, these monopolies quickly are eliminated (as pointed out in the analogy). It's only monopolies who retain their hold of market share via regulation and law that do not whither under market forces of competition via profit motive.

Even monopolies that have occured in extreme circumstances (extremely rare resource monopoly, for instance) w/o govt force have managed to whither relatively quickly (given the exceptional circumstances).

Just as the economists swore lighthouses could never be provided via the market and therefore were a common goods problem, and yet were in fact created via markets, so too will monopolies whither when profits are there to be had by competitors.

Economists who doubt such things do so without any profit being chased. It's amazing how their speculation fails when someone who actually stands to get wealthy from fixing a problem starts to think of creative ways to address consumer needs/wants.

Okay, go back to your hatred of markets now...anti-trust, yeehaw.

False. Theres a statement from pokerstars on their site confirming they're in negotiations with the DOJ. They didn't specify over what exactly, but it was in direct response to these rumors.

I totally agree with this.
Due to DOJ's work efficiency, problably we need another 7 months or even longer.
Be pacient guys.

I like your 5th point.

That would be a pretty big thing to set up.

Yeah and I firmly believe when guys like you (respect) say that that, then it is true. It is still obviously not done till stars, ftp or doj say so and I think thats where Big Mack is coming from is all.

Might be a stupid idea, but PS could start right now some tourns where they advertise and follow with where 1c out of each 10c in fees go to a ftp player refund fund, that they can use to close a deal that would repay everyone and otherwise still be popular to each player who had an account on ftp (and they would be the first to make sure that the ftp ex players get something for sure, money that could be later spent on PS). Could be a win-win promo.
But i might get tired too lol.

Short-term loss (1 year?) for the long-term Empire Stars (A_GAIN!).

Not false.
Obvioulsy I agree that the statement is probably intended to be about the current ftp/ps saga but it is worded as such that it could also mean they are still talking to the doj due to their own ongoing legal issues.

They obviously don't wanna give anyone the chance to say "you said you were buying ftp" till they're sure and ready.

Yeah, I know But still..

When i asked a couple days ago, it still was valid. Though only in the southern provices this year. Maybe everything change now with new elections, or the conseretivs will get even stronger.

However, business will only shift to blackmarket. Good job wilders.

I dont think jungleman saw this coming.
U remember his tweet 2 days ago saying a big news was coming ?
Did cates knew it ?