Eh. As a man who covered this saga a lot, I've learned that there are various stages of done. What the "done" in the Wicked Chops article *probably* means is that somebody thinks it's very likely to go through.

Edit: In hindsight, I'm just making a stupid semantics argument. The point is that it seems very unlikely that the deal is actually done since it hasn't been formally announced, therefore the Wicked Chops article is probably not using a definition of done that means quite what we'd like it to mean.

It's actually much less then 50%, the 94.9% was only $16mill, 10% of the total balance for the ROW.

http://diamondflushpoker.com/2012/04...ct-vs-fiction/

I think you misunderstood me, because I'm agreeing with you.

That is apparently the condition they put on Tapie. I suspect they would ask for something similar from stars. That being said we don't know how long until they reach an agreement. Apparently the doj and Tapie agreed to terms like 4-5 months ago.

Tapie has an incredibly shady past as a business man and I'd bet my life that he's playing with numbers in the most misleading way possible.

I guarantee he doesn't care whatsoever about players' balances or poker or anything besides making money no matter the moral implications.

It's hard for non-French people to get an idea of how scummy that guy really is, but trust me that we're at least a million times better off with Stars purchasing FTP.
That guy would've found every single way possible to suck that company and the players dry, hidden fees/rake...the most deceptive business strategies and zero ethics behind.


There you go, what did I tell you...complete scumbag.

That's the guy who was going to own FTP2. Compare him to Stars, who have always been most respectful of its customers, and it's not even a choice. I'm telling you we got lucky.

I don't have any firsthand knowledge, but it seems likely this was a condition the DOJ put on Tapie knowing full well he couldn't/wouldn't be able to meet those terms. IMO, DOJ ended the negotiations with Tapie, not the other way around. I'm sure Tapie would still love to buy FTP. So, it's not 100% correct to say they would have the exact same stipulations for Stars. Though given how they reacted to Black Friday I would think 90 days after a sale would be within reach for them, but not necessarily a requirement.

Ah yes, so Tapie is playing with numbers I'm not surprised.
It's a pity that diamondflush didn't tell her sources.

I would love to believe that PS is buying FTP since I have quite a bit of money tied up on FTP. However, am I the only one that is skeptical that the DOJ, FTP, Pokerstars, and a roomful of lawyers could come to an agreement in a matter of weeks?

Didnt the GBT announcement say that DOJ knew from the start that they could not repay ROW players immediately and that these 90 requirement was put on the table recently?(probably because stars came in)

Nope, I'm pretty skeptical too. But whenever GBT lost exclusivity in making a deal, PS probably had been doing due diligence and negotiating with multiple groups (FTP/DOJ/licensees) for some time before the news got leaked. But these deals take time to get finalized so...

Expect the worst and hope for the best is the way to look at it I think.

Read my earlier post itt summarizing Diamond Flash's investigative report, "The GBT Repayment Plan, Fact vs Fiction". I did the math, and the monies owed to the 94.9%, which is the percentage of FTP players with balances of $100 or less (would include account holders with zero balances), represents only about 9% of the total payback amount.

I disagree, keep it up Noah. I don't want to have to sift through the same thing repeated 8 million times (much of what is bs and or repeated misinformation).

couple things with this. theres a big difference between what Tapie was proposing with his plan for "repayment" and what Stars is planning with actual full repayment plus a few hundred million dollar fine. It appears Stars is not buying simply the assets, Stars is taking on the debts of FTP. Thats a huge huge difference in plans. Under Stars plan all players are being reimbursed, theres not shady deals of work off bonuses for players with big balances, all player funds are ready for immediate and full cashout. Also, another reason this should take much less time is the DOJ already has done all this work with what they need and expect from the selling of FTP, Stars simply has to review the terms, agree to it and sign. Stars has also been dealing with the DOJ since April 15, whereas Tapie walked in blind sometime in September? We also know Stars has the money where as a major hurdle in the Tapie deal for months was that Tapie simply did not have the money and was not willing to put up the money. Theres major differences here so to compare Tapie deal as some sort of precedent for what we should expect is a mistake.

Just read the update to OP, where's there any mention of FTP? Why the **** would Stars touch FTP?

Density of the brain much? Go to business school? SOMEONE is going to buy FTP2 and all it contains. Who better from Stars perspective than themselves? Where they can come in looking like a humanitarian effort to get the online poker world back in good standing, clean up FTP's mess, as well as own and control your only real competition. If that doesn't make sense why they did it (along with the fact FTP is going to allow them to slip back into the US market when legislation passes) I don't know who can help you here. This is basic business 101 and controlling your competition.

This has been answered many times.

Blind man bat, "as soon as the ink dries on legislation". That is not talking about right now. That's talking about in the future, at the first opportunity for ANY foreign operator to do business in the US. Read. More. grow that brain. You even quoted the pertinent info, and STILL CAN'T RETAIN IT?!?!?1

Well i'm afraid I don't have the time to go through every single post. I read the Stars official word and there's no mention of FTP. It's just people being optimistic. There's 0 reason to touch FTP.

I mean.. it's a company that had a ton of revenue. That's the short answer.

The medium-length answer lists various reasons why FTP had a ton of revenue.

The long answer is long.

NOT A MOTHER****ING MONOPOLY, KJWBJDWKWBDBWHDWHWWHJWEHJ REEEEEAAAAAAADDDDDD!!!!!!!

0 reason? Dont post without reading threads or even thinking first.

pokerstars paying back FTP players seems to be part of their settlement with DOJ. very positively surprised DOJ is doing this

i agree with you that FTP has little value (and you get to inherit a giant mess )

Player contracts? - No, they can get them anyway if they wanted as they're free agents due to FTP breaking contract.

Software? - No, Stars software better/more stable and they have zoom, so no need to get FTP for rush. If they wanted to replicate the FTP layout they could just pay some developers anyway.

Player pool? - No, players would have migrated to Stars anyway due to the dominant position stars found themselves in, no need to buy the pool.

Taking on debt and paying out a ton of money? Sounds like a good idea.....

So there's some thought, where's yours?

Even if it's not a Monopoly, they still own enough of the market share that they can stop innovating and treat customers poorly without significant consequences if they so choose. So, even though they don't fit the dictionary definition of a monopoly, they can still function as one if they desire.

Incorrect, because no matter how big and great the player pool I'm not touching an operator pushing 25% rake. Many others if not 99% of players would agree with me there. Let's be logical here.