and human (?)

I'm not sure what you are arguing. Are you saying that the DoJ should have been setting things in motion before the ink is dry on a contract? I'm sure the GBT group would have LOVED that, but that would never happen and can you blame the DoJ??

I'm also not sure why you think GBT's statement reads like that. To me it reads like a PR spin from a company that was just spinning its wheels trying to get a better deal. No idea why you would give a corporation like GBT that has been involved in so much sketchy **** the benefit of the doubt here.

1. GBT likely has a right to be pissed. They just spent 7 months negotiating a deal with all parties, which for much of that period, was probably the best deal that would have happened. They were at the point of hiring people for a relaunch when PS appears to have leapfrogged them from almost out of nowhere.

2. The only reason that PS can leapfrog this deal is because they're in the unique circumstance of having a huge civil case against them from the DOJ, which makes things like FTP's random difficult to figure liabilities, which are a big deal to any other buyer, a minor issue in the grand scheme of things.

3. PS thus carries significant "blame" for the GBT deal falling through.


Again, PS offered a better deal than GBT. This is a good thing, but the reaction from GBT is understandable.

Um...no.

This is how free markets work. The only people a corporation should ever be pissed at when they are outbid is themselves, either because they didn't have their **** together enough to get the deal done or because they didn't bid high enough.

Corporations are not people. You are applying personal morals here which have no application whatsoever.

no saviour for ftp: f the world
gbt tries to buy ftp: vive la france!
ps buys ftp: fuu francee we should have never helped you

whiny bitches

lololol thx guys

sounds like someone's jealous.

nobody plays 200/400 like me. im a baws.

you're so sick

Corporations are run by people, which implies that the people tied to them may express emotions.


It's less that they got outbid than it is the way in which they got outbid. GBT appears to have been the most serious bidder by a lot when they started all this 7 months ago. They poured large amounts of resources into legal representation, researching FTP for due diligence, and so forth, and got all the way to the point that they were hiring new employees for a relaunch before the deal just seems to have suddenly collapsed. It's pretty clear, given hiring, given Laurent Tapie's move to Dublin, and the rumors around how quickly it all fell apart that GBT thought they had a nearly done deal until literally the day or two before it fell through.

Add to this that the higher bidder didn't appear interested half a year ago and a large part of why they can offer a bid so much better than anyone else in the market is...they have a $B+ civil suit against them.


It's frankly pretty easy to see why the higher-ups of GBT would be pissed.

It's easy to see why they would be pissed, but that doesn't justify their anger. Judging by the "repayment" plan as laid out by Diamond Flush, GBT was basically hoping that since they had exclusive negotiating rights, they could acquire FTP without actually paying much at all. They basically would have been paying $40 million to the DOJ ($80 million - the $40 million frozen that would have been released to them) + $16 million in ROW balances, and then operating expenses. That tried to play hardball with the DOJ and got burned; they have no one to blame but themselves for that.

As for PS, it's likely that they have been interested for quite some time but were shut out by the exclusive negotiating period that GBT had. Once that expired, it looks like they jumped right in. There's still probably a long ways to go if the PS deal is to be completed successfully, but there's no reason to blame them for trying to make a deal that's +EV for both them and the players.

Simply because a group of people contributed to the decision process does not make corporations moral entities, any more than governments are.

Again, why on earth do you think it would be unethical for Stars to hide their interest until the last minute? This is 100% standard operating procedure for any business.

The question we're all asking ourselves is this, has the down time turned shipit2kgs luck around?

in before epic shipit2kg heater graph while 2p2 has been down


oh and welcome back boys and girls ... (and robots aka shpanko)

jesus **** I almost died there guys

damn my life had no meaning without this forum

ive missed you guys. now we can continue bashing ftp etc

Didn't log a single hand of poker while this forum was down. Guess I'm more into the community than the game itself

wtf happened to my banimal account?

oh well

wrong email acct

i made the same mistake

Any updates on FTP since 2+2 went down?

http://www.gaming-awards.com/NEWS/archives/9222

Finding out by end of May would be an awesome birthday present.

well maybe i can buy a nicer car if it's end of may?

Just qualified for WSOP through Microgaming this year. First time I've ever run good in one of those tilting MTT's. GL to all in vegas this year for those going.