Wow, if DiamondFlush's reading of the payout structures is, in fact, valid, then it is a very good thing that GBT never closed their deal. This deal was, in the end, good for no one but GBT.

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

Yes, the 94.9 percent of players held about 10% of the money in player accounts.

Notice, GBT has never claimed they were prepared to pay out 94.9% of player deposits immediately. More like 10%. And that's crap.

Regardless of who bought FTP something is happening and FTP looks like it's going to be in action again soon. The link below is from an Irish jobs agency that's put up 25 positions at Pocket Kings in the last week

http://jobs.ie/Jobs.aspx?Categories=...s=pocket+kings

Kinda happy it didn't go through lol

Even if I don't act concerned about the playthrough requirements, it seems really really obvious Tapie didn't have the capital to pull this off.

To be fair, it's not DOJ what ****ed us, it was Jon Kyl and everyone else who snuck UIGEA into must pass legislation.

The DOJ can only enforce actual laws.

Sure, fair enough.

Holy **** the GBT deal was awful.

And that goes to the crux of what most of the Tapie-doubters were concerned about in the first place, not his previous reputation.

He never brought enough chips to the table, and couldn't get anyone else to chip in.

In the end, he was attempting to leverage his purchase with existing players' deposits. And anything else is nothing more than fluff and spin.

And on that note, I've got rehearsal...so I'm outta here. I'm sure the thread will grow from 40 to 181354783 pages by the time I get back...

Once again, fair enough.

Although I will point out that at certain points during this process we thought he was our only real option. It's really easy today for us to sit back and be thankful it didn't go through.

The US players being paid back, low stakes guys paid back, and high stakes guys having a play through requirement is > Nobody getting anything.

Can I get rakeback if I already have an account? lol

Why did we just find out today that GBT was never serious?

Paying everyone $100 and turning the rest of their balance into what essentially sounds like a bonus is absurd.

They think we are stupid. Took me less than second to realize what "94.9% of players" meant.

GBT has done nothing but clog up this process, make everything extremely opaque, and make ridiculous offers that obviously wouldn't fly.

yes what an awful deal Tapie was putting together for the players. My god its painful to even read that. We are all very lucky we have a PokerStars in this industry, very lucky that not all poker companies are run by flat out scumbags. Good riddance Lederer, Ferguson, and Bitar, youre not welcome anymore.

Basically for the exact reason DF said in her article. It was constantly changing every week to some new plan.

GBT deal going through, celebrating, and then finding out the actual repayment details would have crushed me.

Oscar

I mean, wow. If you're restarting a company, don't screw over the people who will be your most loyal grinders (those with over 10 k in their account).

Just reading that, you feel like he was basically trying to take ownership of the company by using investor funds and already existing player funds. He was basically trying to fund the purchase price with ROW player funds via accumulated rake over time. In doing so, he is holding hostage these players with money already on there. Additionally, what about the ROW people who had practically all of their life roll on there. You're going to give them $100 to play with and expect them to refund their account beyond that!? I'm not even a ROW player, but this makes me angry. I can only imagine how it would have actually sat with ROW players if it happened.

Sure, it's smart to try and get the best deal in business, but under these unusual circumstances, it would not have worked out well.

No freaking wonder its taken 8 GD MONTHS!

How significant is this?

From diamondflush's article:

"(For clarity, neither of these investors are affiliated with the new buyer expected to complete a deal shortly with FTP and DOJ)."

Agreed, he certain did seen like the only likely option. During the window of exclusivity, he was in fact the *only* option, because GBT had that legal right to be the only option. And, had that deal been completed, it would have been better than no deal at all, most certainly.

GBT sorta blew it by not getting it done during their window of exclusivity. Happens in business all the time. That GBT didn't manage to get it closed while they were the only game in town isn't really on DOJ.

In the end, this is just another reminder why deals should never be considered "done deals" until the actual closed transaction has been announced. No matter how many people claiming to be insiders claim otherwise.

And now, I really am outta here...

Well does anyone have any new news as to when an annoucement either way will be said?

Also, as Brian said, he was the only option for a very long time. His plan doesn't seem that absurd when the alternative is nothing for anybody.

am i too sleepy to understand what i read, or according to DF blog, did GBT offer to pay the currently present balances as rakeback, or in a system similar to bonuses paid in rake percentages - you pay the site $100 and then can withdraw $10 or something?

then, really happy didn't go through.

Basically, you got $100, and the rest of your funds were converted into a "bonus".

I just have to chuckle a bit though that with the sparse funds I had on there, I was in the top 5% of account balances.

The main issue I have with his plan is that I feel he was just extremely naive in thinking that the site would be successful after everyone realized how ****ty his whole plan was.

If he paid everyone back, I thought the site would probably thrive and it would be a good investment. But if he came out with this crazy ass complicated plan, and pissed a bunch of people off, that would limit his upside for a long time.

What a crackhead deal. Happy it fell through. Force people to play to unlock the ability gain access to their own funds LOL like a bonus

Its pretty ridiculous when you look at the offer realistically.

Sure, there is some clever nuance to it.

In reality he offered to pay 10 cents on the dollar to players and give a bonus for the other 90%.

Its a terrible offer. The software is worth well more than $16 million and what site wouldn't take the FTP player base if all they have to do is give them a bonus?

They already give players bonuses all the time.