I'm pretty sure this is completely wrong.

$400 million worth, apparently.

Plus, I don't think you can underestimate the power of branding in the online poker world. Rooms start up every day with decent software and quality RB offerings.... no one plays there because there's no action, and the room dies. You need customers to get customers, as they say. That makes a brand - any brand, as UB/AP proved - worth far more than trying to start up your own company.

The fact that you'd be given a known brand with the player deposits already on site is by far the best shot you'd have at getting into the online poker business if you wanted to make it a "sure thing." Heck, if he wants, he can buy it, start it back up, and do a total rebranding in six months, giving him a "new" poker site circumventing the thing that has killed so many decent rooms (lack of traffic).

Saying you have x amount of money "locked up" aka stolen aka doesn't exist anymore, is a good way to look like a douche. Nobody cares, as if your x matters more than anyone elses, or that your x makes you more credible. Or the fact that honestly, your x isn't alot of money in the real world anyway so chill. Anything under like 250k really isn't much money, undercover bragging about how much you have is the lamest thing anyone can do, especially when it's not even a big number. Also nobody cares.

/rant

Very.

I'm in the same position. So curious to see Tapie's business plan. I understand the power of an established brand and value of player pool. But on the other hand there are other less expensive ways to get majority of FTP players playing on the new site (providing software is as good as FTP's). Even compensating 50% of balances held on FTP would attract most of them and it would be cheaper than paying ROW players in full....

From looking at the rest of the online poker market I can deduce that its very difficult

Bernie Madooff and Enron both have bigger brand recognitions than FTP.

I didn't see too many rushing to buy up their debts. ;-)

Still think its a relevant question to ask.

If this deal was such a good deal why did so many experienced investors walk away or show no interest?
If we were being kind this might suggest the deal is marginal at best.

Saying that, as long as I get my money back I guess I shouldn't care too much if someone is making a bad deal.
Businessmen make bad/marginal deals all the time.

Also from deducing the rest of the market, you don't need it.

maybe this is a bit obvious but if FTP were left to fold couldn't you just hire the FTP computer guys who are now out of work.

Plus if FTP folded you could just buy the software in the inevitable asset fire sale.

There has been talk of a British investor group who basically were only interested in the software and the ROW player database.

That kind of makes more economic sense if you intend to launch a brand new poker site without the baggage of FTP.

You care enough to rant. I'm sure there were lots of people who didn't have 250k on there but were still royally screwed out of being able to pay rent, etc. The situation isn't absolute (ie. only people who lost >250k being allowed to care, pfft), it's relative (ie. somebody losing "only" $1k when that's all their savings or bankroll or emergency fund sure means a helluva lot to them).

I don't know much about Tapie, but from what I've read one reason he may be interested in this project is the sheer challenge of it.

Of course, there are obvious reasons why, but the one no one has mentioned (that I've seen) is that because this guy specializes in righting sinking ships, this FTP fiasco might be a little like his own personal Everest to climb.

Just a thought.

Back on Full Tilt, over the years I saw at least a half dozen people with "Antarctica" as their country of origin.

I don't know exactly how that worked, if that country you see when you hovered the cursor corresponded to (a) the country of their home address registered with Full Tilt, or to (b) where their IP address is currently, but I suspect it's (a) so I think it's safe to say some people were playing Full Tilt from Antarctica, or at least signed up while there.

I'm pretty sure it's not (c) you can type anything you want in there, like on Bodog before the anonymous tables, because if it was, you would see guys playing from "bIg dIcK sTrEeT in b0nErTwAt c1tY uSa" and you never saw that, it was always a country and always spelled right and capitalized.

I guess you got to do something when you're trapped in a research station for 6 months at a time. Why not play the pokers.

Sometimes its not about money, Tons of successful businessmen here in the UK buy football clubs (soccer) where its basically a giant money pit.

It's the same thickness as a credit card, just a bit heavier. And it's all I have to show from that damn site so why not...

You were able to switch countries in 2 clicks.

From I remember people on here saying, you could put anything you want as long as it's correct when you cash out.

Liar Liar pants on fire!
There is no way you have read this entire thread and still spout this nonsense.
1.Replicating FTP software is not like rearranging the crayons in your coloring box to look like the kid's sitting next to you. Additionally, the patents and intellectual property remain with the assets.
2.I can pretty much guarantee that FTP client list is not as high as 80% USA names.
3. Tapie "strook" no such deal with the DOJ for multiple reasons, the least of which is that DOJ has no such authority to promise any such thing to anyone. This does not even take into consideration that no one yet knows what criteria might be needed to even apply for a US license, if an when, any regulated market is available to apply to.
4. Last but far from least, Tapie would not be paying anything near $400 million in the pending deal, which you would of course know, had you read even 10% of this thread.

To your final question, I say yes, you are crazy.

because sites other than FTP and PS have had succes easily?

Bernie Madoff's brand recognition wasn't even close to FTP. FTP was about as well known as you can get for an online poker site. Madoff was not even close to a Goldman Sachs Asset Management, Blackrock, PIMCO, SAC Capital and many other monster investment managers. He wasn't a household name. I bet you way more random people off the street knew about FTP, but never heard of Madoff before the scandal.

The last thing i want to happen is that may 3rd (or w/e date it was) hearing gets delayed by another week or two, aaaand than we go by the familiar route again... Its just so tilting, these extensions. I understand its very profitable for layers to keep delaying these things, but come on man, not again. Just give the ****ing license and thats it, help a lot of people out already.

You're missing my point, or maybe I didn't explain it well enough, I completely agree with you, and am trying to say the same thing. It's annoying to see people do this: "guys, stop derailing the thread now (I have 5 figures on ftp) and now things are serious".


Like chill, lots of people have way more than that, and having more money than the average guy on here "locked up" doesn't make your opinion any more important, or less important.

I'm not going to claim that guy was right, because he clearly has some of his facts wrong.

However, we know that the DOJ has no authority to promise any sort of deal. With that being said, the courts have already ruled that poker doesn't violate the Wire Act. What if after the sale, the DOJ just looks the other way and stops confiscating funds? Why couldn't things go back to the way they were before, without any sort of legislation? They just let PS and FTP come back into the US market.....

**not claiming to be an expert at all**

....and yes I truly did read all of this thread. I'm a loser.

source?

to add to my post above since I am now 31 minutes after creation..


Maybe they could look the other way if FTP and PS were their own payment processors and therefore circumventing the banking loophole