is there any surprise gus hansen, who received millions from full tilt is defending howard?

/thread

I don't think there needs to be more. People who loved FT just loved FT - they wanted the software, they want the look, the tournaments, the whole thing. It would cost Stars much less to get FT online because they are already doing that business and have plenty of employees in place. Also, the local government apparently bent over backwards for them because they were going to do this big expansion and bring in the FTP employees who wanted to continue.

There was a poll here once that asked if FT opened tomorrow would you take your money and run or leave it on the site and play? The vast majority would leave their money on the site and play. FTP started cranking out money for Stars the minute they reopened the doors.

I would guess that FTP will pay for itself before the final bill is due and make a profit for the company. Branding is a huge thing not to be underestimated. If you watch Youtube vids of PAD you see Full Tilt. And always will. I really don't think it needs to be more than it is to be worth more than they paid. Besides, they eliminated their main US competition.

So we still haven't been repaid yet correct? Been on a hiatus jw

If the FTP patent on fast-fold (Rush/Zoom) poker is ever approved, the purchase of FTP will much more than pay for itself - the future is mobile gambling, and one tabling poker on a five inch screen has no future without a fast-fold option that anyone serving would need to pay PS for the privilege.

Their strategy has little to do with diversification, when the investment in the Hippodrome in London occurred it was reported that way as no one else had the foresight to see the way PokerStars was hedging it's bets, but after the Puplelounge meltdown left customers of a publicly traded company in a worse position than even a private company that was operating in dark grey markets (FTP), PokerStars chose to hedge it's bets.

The UK which was laissez-faire in it's approach to online gambling is now, like all other markets, considering ways to protect it's consumers (and gather revenue), which could easily lead to a US type approach where only B&M licensees with real assets are allowed to offer online poker going forward.

So PokerStars invested in the poker room at the Hippodrome as a hedge, but even if the UK chooses to remain laissez-faire, the future of international online poker is clearly going to be based on reciprocity agreements, so even though the UK might not require B&M licensing, a compacting jurisdiction like CA might, so for PokerStars to gain access to that market, it is positioning itself properly by holding B&M assets in jurisdictions that other markets will someday want access.

PokerStars focus is still online poker, they just have a better vision of the future of the online poker industry than many of the people reporting on it.

We seem to agree PS is hedging their bets. The "why" is slightly different.

I wonder how the ownership of a B+M casino assures the protection of players, or how it is a particularly lucrative revenue stream for the government if it is owned by Stars, for instance.
I would guess that no matter who owns some casino, they will pay the same taxes, license fees, etc.

Granted, Stars would be part of a real-life community.. as a property owner.. and might take some responsibility for the well being of the neighborhood, but beyond that it's just another casino. They go broke and people get screwed, the community suffers, just like any other business.

Gus has lost over 4 million this year in online poker, give him a break.

So much this and Gus disappoints in so many ways.

I don't blame gus , he prob don't put much thought in what we usa players are going thru he think of howard as the guy shipping 4 milly in his account if he needed it. if he was in usa and had all that money frozen he may not be as happy with the things atm. I doubt he gave much thought or cares about what usa players have gone thru. to him howards a great guy who would ship him what he needed , to bad it was players funds being shipped to him. cant blame gus

Lets not forget that Gus was one of the FTP Pros who sat back and said nothing while players didnt know what was going on.
Funny how he has all these opinions now.

These weasels hid away while the **** hit the fan and now act like we should give a flying **** what they think.

Even if we accept Howard didn't know what was going on before BF, (which most people don't) he was in control after BF where he basically screwed over the ROW players by running a ponzi type scheme. It was criminal getting people to deposit knowing they could not pay out.
Hiding the fact till the last minute by deliberately slowplaying some jurisdictions.

These are deleiberate criminal actions in my opinion.

Now he throws a huge party while US players still havn't been paid.

These people must be heartless as nobody could be that stupid.

Tom Dwan came on 2+2 and basically lied about how much he owed FTP.

PA basically had some shady money transfers before it all went belly up.

Daniel Negreanu wacks on Howard for keeping silent yet his buds Harmon, Ivey and E-Dog basically did the same thing

This is the kind of integrity in the poker world that gets you a huge promotional contract with Pokerstars/FTP.

Exactly. Eric Seidel is scum.

Gus drunk again carry on folks

I knew a guy who was running a home poker game and thought he was a pretty straight shooter. I always thought it was strange going to that game because his soon was playing, his wife was dealing and there were several of the sons high school friends in the game. I only lost a couple times out of the 10 our 12 times I played there but it just "felt strange" playing with these people that were so close. One day whispers started floating around about this person or that person wasnt paid at the end of the night. After a while it became apparent that the ones who weren't getting paid were keeping their mouths shut and playing without buying chips, the game runner was letting them play with the money he owed them. Eventually there were 7 or 8 guys playing with money that didn't exist and the people that were buying in with cash weren't getting paid. It got really messy and a little rough justice was used on the game runner and his son.

This FT saga is very similar and if Gus had any sense he would either keep his mouth shut and let it be or he would rail Howard like everyone else. No matter what Gus thinks (or more importantly) says, Howard was wrong and deserves to be ostracized.

$40,000,000 worth if I remember correctly.

[x] poker community
[ ] ignited

Using poker slang to describe real world events = virgin

Just remembering Howard saying what an intelligent great guy Gus was because Howard tried to use his money in his own poker account to pay back to FTP and Gus said you can't use that till the players get paid. Well since Gus lives in Europe and is now playing as an FTP pro hasn't he collected the $6 + million in his account before the rest of us have been paid in the US? Sounds hypocritical to me. I mean he did have a minor ownership stake right?

All part of the scam. Howard wrote tweets for Gus. Gus posted them. Debt paid.

wp