LOL @ comments? This is very well written and actually coherent.

Debating whether or not it is rational is a different issue.

But wtf @ some of these comments...

It is a lot different though. Russ Hamilton and UB only really affected a handful of players and while many in the community detest their actions they weren't personally affected. In this situation, however, with some people's rent, car payment, etc. money tied up it does affect them personally as this drags on and on and FTP so blatantly disregards the players so I could see violence in this situation where we haven't seen it in the UB situation.

Lost a ton of respect for BA after reading this article.

What a joke. Brandon, for a smart man, you sound like a moron here.

FTP has sympathy for the "wellbeing" of the overall poker community? Are you serious?

What about RUSH Poker? What about multi-entry tournaments? What about incompetent management? What about non-segregation of player funds? What about barely functional, shoddy-at-best customer service? What about insulting statements and non-communication?

Get off your high horse, Brandon.

What about poker rooms that actually folded? The scammers on these forums every day?

I have a hard time believing widespread violence will ensue. Risk goes up if there's clearly a person or people with malicious intent, but if we find out in a year that the DOJ's seizure is what was completely responsible for funds never being returned, and the deduct a nice fine out of that money and we're SOL, do you really think FTP pros will be fearing violence?

I won't speculate much more though, here's an interesting fact:

A user makes a thread that Preet Bharara will be in New York, at a public meeting answering public questions. Users talk about what people should ask him. Nobody reports back that they actually attended.

So the man that led black friday is in the largest city in the US, everybody on this forum is angry and violence is just ready to spill out over this issue, yet nobody even attends to ask this man tough questions?

There's not even a person to clearly blame in this situation yet, but maybe that's not the right way to look at it.

Wrong AINEC. Pokerstars returning 100% of player funds 2 weeks after Black Friday shows that FTP management was simply irresponsible. FTP did not segregate player deposits from operating revenue and as a result our money was subjected to significant exposure. Brandon Adams is simply delusional for thinking that an "organization run by poker players, with sympathy for the wellbeing of the overall poker community" would be so irresponsible with the money entrusted to them by the poker community they supposedly care about.

I tend to agree but have a hard time not laughing at your handle.

You also paid far more rake in rush than any other game, and Full Tilt almost certainly also made more money from rush than any other game.

I just think it's hilarious to label stars as the "ruthless rake machine" when Full Tilt has pioneered so many ways to get more rake faster.

+1

Well, hallucinations are a possible side effect of the neural enhancers that BA mentioned taking on "60 Minutes."

I used to respect BA but this article is total BS. There is nothing more shady than not returning players' money because the company used those reserves for operational/marketing/pocketing profits.

Get with it BA and stop the BS.

solid, as always!

since you are so bold to say ftp "IS GOING TO PAY US BACK" will you purchase my roll on ftp at $0.99 to the dollar? Not a hypothetical question, im being serious?

Was going to post exactly this. His statement does'nt hold water, FTP saw the writing on the wall and went with a MET money grab strategy rather than segregating accounts and making sure the players money was safe. What ended up happening is that they put the players in a bad spot and caused a bank run due to their instability.

I think FTP can come out of this but the company needs to be sold. If there are new owners FTP still has a ton going for it, but they need to pay out all players and have new management that will fix the mistakes made prior and show that they are going to not just provide innovation to increase revenue but provide more quality reliable service to their customer base.

Nice read, bro

BUMP

I wonder if the genius brandon adams will categorize todays news as another amateurish mistake by ftp, and proclaim that they still have the players best interest at heart. Gotta love the ftp lackeys.

Wonder how Adams' new business will do. If he was so high on FTP, his own business must be amazing. (Why would anyone buy coaching from him???)

Ahhh tink ahhh sees da problem

Big plus one.

Ah, I see I had a response from a few months ago.

Hindsight of course, now there is basically someone to blame.

In any case, my point was two fold:

1) There is no guarantee of violence in these situations, most of that is overstated, especially given the level of hatred towards the prosecutor and level of questions, yet nobody had attended that meeting (just an example I used at the time).

2) Paying back right away is just a sign, nothing damning. At the time it could very well have been that the DOJ froze more FTP money than Stars, or that Stars owner(ship) had enough money stockpiled personally to cover it really fast, or a number of other explanations. We didn't know definitively, so in that respect, there wasn't a single person or small group clearly at fault beyond that of everybody else.

#2 is obviously different now, but I still think the violence stuff is unlikely and overstated and that was my main point at the time.