Hi all,
Before getting to the new questions that have been asked, here are a couple of links to the publicly announced activity from the past 10 days or so:
- All of the FTP servers that were in Guernsey were flown to the Isle of Man, where they are currently being installed in their new home.
- PokerStars issued a press release announcing that FTP will be back in the first week of November and progress has been made with the various individual regulated markets to ensure a smooth transfer for our players from FTP to PokerStars in those markets.
To the questions:
1. Is there any timeline for when you have to verify your account? Will I be able to login if I haven't verified my account?
- There isn't any particular timeline, but yes, some players will need to verify their account before they can log in and play.
2. Any chance of re-launch in the beginning of October?
- Not even a little one. As announced, re-launch will happen in the first week of November. There will be plenty of activity before that, though.
3. Will the graphics/software etc be exactly the same as before June 28/29, 2011? So will I be able to use all my old graphic mods?
- There will be some new features, but overall the graphics are the same. I can't speak to whether or not your third party mods will work out of the box, though.
4. Will FTP still be using the continuous shuffle or will it have a fixed deck like PokerStars?
- Same servers, same continuous shuffle.
5. Will there be a huge disincentive for cashing out? Like if you cash out you won't be eligible for the restart bonus (obviously there will be one)?
- Our re-launch promotions haven't been announced yet, so I can't really comment on the specifics. I can say that in general the idea is to entice people to stay, not punish them if they want to go. More carrot, less stick. (Hold on a sec, sending the marketing guys a new tagline idea.)
6. I understand that FTP/PS need their time to re-launch. However, why don't they send out mails to their customers saying at least, "Hi, stuff is happening, we still know about your roll" etc?
- Part of the answer is technical. The actual servers that send all those emails were being prepped for a flight, and now they all have to be installed and configured in their new home. The other part is timing. We needed to know certain things before sending any emails, and it just wasn't possible to get those answers before the servers all came down. We do plan on sending out a good number of emails before re-launch, starting in the first half of October.
7. As far as I know there was not a "playing history audit" option like there is on PokerStars. Will this be a feature on the new FTP?
- There was, but it wasn't an automated tool from the game itself. You had to write in to Support to get it. For the time being that will still be the process, but it's certainly possible we'll make it an in-game feature at some point in the future.
8. Will there be a site transfer to PokerStars option for players on the Isle of Man license such as the UK?
- Yes, we plan on having an Inter-Site Transfer feature that will allow for players to move money from their PokerStars account to their own FTP account (and vice versa, although I personally discourage that).
9. Can people download the software and login to their accounts now?
- No, although we do plan on allowing players to do just that at least a few days before re-launch.
10. I'm from Spain, how will FTP points be transferred to my PokerStars account? Will they be converted to FPP or to money?
- The exact process hasn't been announced yet, but the PokerStars press release linked to above mentions that "Players will 'pair' a PokerStars account with their Full Tilt account..." Once that happens, there will be a process to "credit" your balances (real money and FTPs) to your PokerStars account. And yes, FTPs will be converted to FPPs at a fair rate.
11. When FTP was closed I lived in Spain and have since moved to Holland. Can I still play on my old account?
- Yes, once you have fully verified your account and new residence.
12. Are the stress balls still in the store?
- Actually, no. We will be launching the FTP Store with virtual goods only. This means Tournament Tickets, Ring Game Tickets, and cash bonuses will be the only items available when we re-launch.
13. "I would like to know my balance. When will support be able to give information about individual account balances?" Any update on this question?
- Now that it's been announced that re-launch will be the first week of November, it's safe to say that support will have everything they need to give specific balance information by the end of October.
14. Any chance you will release your tournament schedule before re-launch?
- Nope. It won't be very different from the schedule you last saw in June of last year. The guarantees will all be different, and we may change some times here and there to better match the time zones of our current player base, but it will all feel very familiar.
I know I still haven't answered any of the really burning questions, and I'm sorry about that. I think it's safe to say that the vast majority of those questions (for non-US players, I can't speak at all to the DOJs timeline) will be answered in the next 3-4 weeks.
)
