I don't have specific knowledge in this area but I am pretty sure you can't just set up a venue as a gambling hall in the UK, you need to license the venue, and I would be extremely surprised if that was anything like a straightforward process. Opening a venue for a poker tournament may be a different matter.

I don't really see how you can say you are running a poker tournament at Wembley on a specific date without even paying a retainer (apparently Wembley know nothing of it) and hope to be taken seriously.

Having said that Wembley is a big venue with who knows how many conference suites (I have attended a sports event there but not a conference). These indoor suites could possibly be big enough for a poker tournament, making the event much more believable.


Edit - nice to see the AGCC wash their hands of the mess they were part of creating!

Good luck to anyone who thinks the Tapis are anything other than vultures trying to get players who had their funds ripped off to write that debt off in exchange for equity in something at a grossly over inflated price from which he will personally benefit. They seem to me to be trying to get others to make the payments for them including the players themselves.

Oh and dont forget those that do choose to invest will be making money for those that ripped them off too if they are allowed to stay involved.

If it wasnt a ponzi scheme before it sure as hell looks like it is going to be one now if this garbage of a salavation plan is allowed to come to fruition but I cant see the DoJ signing off on this.

:ets move on to the next investor and let the saga continue......

I don't think the date and place are anything more than advertising placeholders, it's not like they are accepting registrants, and they had to put something up there to peak curiosity.

Whatever, whenever and wherever this turns out to be, they've accomplished the goal of creating public interest.

if he's going to try and co-promote his stadium poker thing and FTP I don't want any equity stake.

If he is going to try and simply relaunch the site standalone i would consider it.

Will have to agree to disagree... I think if you are guaranteeing 30 million euros (or USD) and specifying a date and a venue, and you want people to register and buy into the event, the least you need to do to is pay a retainer to guarantee the venue is available!

If they have done thtat and the reports that Wembley have never heard of them are untrue, then fair enough, but it just seems like another dodgy poker event (see EPL etc etc), and if these are the people talking about buying Full Tilt then it is not a good sign in my opinion...

Better hope it doesn't rain ... or that a gust of wind blows away your pocket aces.

There a lot of conference suites at Wembley, plus the whole concourse area is large too, so I assume it is not impossible. Playing on the pitch/in the stands is a silly idea.

Their first press release for this thing appear to have been in March, so it very well could have been their plan at that time to hold it at Wembley next May.

It's possible that they may have already been in talks with FTP for co-promotion that fell through on BF. Maybe that's why they never booked the venue and why they are still interested in FTP now.

Yes it says May 2012 on the vid.

What you say doesn't really contradict anything I have said though. In response I would -just reiterate that if you write a press release in March, you are better off making sure you 'have the venue booked' (no simple thing if you wish to use Wembley, the national stadium) when you issue the press release with a date and venue apparently set. It is the International Stadium Poker tour after all, so the venue is kind of key to the marketing really. But like I said, I am happy to agree to disagree. It just seems a bit weird from a company somewhat linked to the potential new owners of FT.

Posting just to contradict what you say wouldn't serve any purpose, you're entitled to your opinion. I'm just posting other possibilities and information that you - and anyone else - might use to form your opinion.

I don't know what they plan, but I don't think it's simply a hoax.

No, I agree, but it's damn odd. Once you put something on the web these days its like a press release, google is going to find it and people will discover it...they spent real money on that animated video, so they had to know this, so why put it up like that....it losses credibility and that they dont seem to have a real plan announced and the fact that a real link to Wembley hasn't even been established yet...just damn unprofessional so far, something you might expect from a poor dumb poker player (isn't that what they said about the owners before everyone knew the truth), but not the 'Managing Director' of BTG...scary...

Full Tilt Rescue May Give Stake to Customers - Original Owners may get Future Ownership

10-4-11

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1000...googlenews_wsj

By ALEXANDRA BERZON And MAX COLCHESTER

A proposed rescue of Full Tilt Poker by a family-owned French investment company could involve offering equity stakes to some of the troubled website's thousands of customers, according to a person familiar with the matter...

I agree, also peculiar is that BT, for no apparent reason, specified that his 5-10% holding in the company would be held by ISPT - just in case no one made the connection to do the google search.

I don't know if the website could fit the definition of publicity stunt, but if the purchase of FTP fizzles but he moves forward with the ISPT project, then this whole acquisition agreement might fit the definition.

This seems to sum it up nicely

The article suggests the current owners might be willing to surrender some of their ill gotten gains for a stake in the new venture:

Bernard Tapie seems super shady, not sure this deal will be good for online poker or those owed money from FTP.

He has been convicted in the past of, amongst other things, siphoning off money from a company (olympic marseille FC), bribing an opposing team to throw a game. Sounds like just the guy to run an online poker site!

Also, it sounds like the current FTP owners will still be stakeholders in the new company (although apparently "not involved in the company management"). Surely any large stakeholder has some influence on the board?

There is some kind of contradictions in your recent posts. If those that do choose to invest "will be making money for those that ripped them", then they will be making money themselves and it could be a good deal for those players to trade their debt against equity.

For the first time i think we have someone who speak so openly about their plans (we have the money but we don't want to risk it all, here is what will be our benefits if we are able to conclude a deal where all the players around the world would be paid (5-10 percent). I don't really understand why you attack the "Tapies". Well i have my idea. But the fact that they were still at the table of negotiation when everyone was running away is probably why they have more bargaining power than "your friends" had.

Are they there to make money and a good deal for themselves? Sure. Doesn't mean it's not a win-win situation for the players and for them.

I'm more optimistic than i was a week ago.

I love how every single n00b thinks that they are the first to inform us about Tapie's SHADY past.

I can't open some of the recent links for some reason. Can somebody cliff me to the latest developments/news?

Not necessarily, there are different types of shares and my guess is neither the player investors nor prior owners would be offered voting shares.

They would probably be just getting shares in the profits, but if Tapie is only interested in FTP as a funnel for ISPT, there probably won't be any profits.

All of you laughing this point off are extremely naive. Past behaviour is a good model for future behaviour. If he thought he could away with match fixing, he'll probably think he can get away with rigging the deck.

I suppose you'd all go to Russ Hamilton's home game?

You are understandably blinkered by wanting to get your money back, but try not to get burnt twice.

After all that FTP has and is going through, I think the chances of this happening again in any way are very slim. They won't make any money if there is any growing suspicion.

If you believe what you say, you would be a hypocrit to play on any site ever again anywhere.

So, you've never done anything bad in your life? If you've been the perfect human being, ignore the rest.

Think about all the bad things you've done. Some of them are probably things that nobody even knows you did. I'll pick up the worst thing you've done and call it "action X". I will also name a hypothetical deed "action Y" to mean something way worse than "action X" but something that you haven't done yet.

If you thought you can get away with "action X", you'll probably think you can get away with "action Y". And in my anticipation, "action Y" is horrible, so I think everybody should be cautious in having any sort of relationship with you.

How's that for logic?

Why should I give a **** if he's going to give me my money? I'm under no obligation to continue to do business with the man.

I guarantee many people with nefarious intentions in this thread trying to talk badly against this deal. There are a lot of people working for other sites, reps, and affiliates for other sites who are desperate to see this fail and I KNOW they are here acting like they know stuff to scare people.

This is certainly not to say that it is a perfect deal or that there is nothing to be skeptical about, but there is a reason there are some people who literally just post non stop in these threads about how bad everything ever is. There is a very strong reason and you should be very suspicious of these people.

If the situation really was as these people say, they would have no reason to waste their time posting so often just to tell people how bad things will turn out. They want to scare people in hopes it turns investors away. It is a pathetic effort that is wasted time no matter what results, but just be aware.