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New DoJ action means return of US funds happening soon most likely New DoJ action means return of US funds happening soon most likely

05-04-2011 , 02:22 PM
Its going to be Thursday tommorow. Thats no longer the begining of the week, Iam allmost glad they are gone from the US.
New DoJ action means return of US funds happening soon most likely Quote
05-04-2011 , 02:32 PM
i think u guys are freaking out for no reason, unlike UB, full tilt is still up and running and even if they don't have the cash to pay right this minute (unlikely) they will have it in the future.

i was completely shocked at how quickly stars paid out the players. i think if full tilt pays out next week it will still have been very fast. when black friday hit i was figuring we would be repaid sometime between several months and never.
New DoJ action means return of US funds happening soon most likely Quote
05-04-2011 , 02:41 PM
This situation makes me glad I never kept my entire BR online. I'm sure I'm not alone here in wanting everyone to have their money so we can all focus on the fight.
New DoJ action means return of US funds happening soon most likely Quote
05-04-2011 , 04:54 PM
From Twitter

FTPDoug Doug
When we come back up from the downtime in the morning, the new Answers post will have some US player news (but not all the answers).



So in other words....FT is going to make another announcement about us not getting our money yet. Pretty standard operating procedure by FT.

Edit: Must need super extra approval again to tell us that at some point they will announce that they will be making an announcement about the announcement of when we possibly might be getting our money back....give or take a few months.

Last edited by McNitterson; 05-04-2011 at 04:59 PM.
New DoJ action means return of US funds happening soon most likely Quote
05-04-2011 , 05:00 PM
Seriously want to tell all my non-US horses to pull all the money off FT and only play Stars, Party, etc.
New DoJ action means return of US funds happening soon most likely Quote
05-04-2011 , 06:04 PM
Stars money safe and sound, FTP.....
New DoJ action means return of US funds happening soon most likely Quote
05-04-2011 , 06:49 PM
Quote:
Originally Posted by augie_
i think u guys are freaking out for no reason, unlike UB, full tilt is still up and running and even if they don't have the cash to pay right this minute (unlikely) they will have it in the future.

i was completely shocked at how quickly stars paid out the players. i think if full tilt pays out next week it will still have been very fast. when black friday hit i was figuring we would be repaid sometime between several months and never.
I'm not freaking out over FTP. I think the timeline where Stars got their money back to the players was absurd. If you'd told me on April 15th that I'd have every dollar from FTP within a month, I'd have said awesome and thanked FTP for getting us our money so quickly.

What is inexcusable is the lack of communication. People have tens and hundreds of thousands of dollars on their site and they're not communicating. They wait 2 weeks and decide to finally open their mouths. This bull**** with them posting an announcement early this week just makes things worse. Wedesday is over? That's not early this week. If you didn't have a proper timeline for when you were going to provide INFORMATION, then don't tell people that you do because they are expecting it.

If Full Tilt Poker had simply come out and said something to the tune of "To our US customers: We have cut a deal with the DOJ to return your funds to you. We don't have a timeline for when this will bet yet since we have to work with the DOJ to set up payment processors, figure out what to do with unused FPP balances, Iron Man medals, etc. We apologize for the lack of details at this point, but we will do our best to communicate any pertinent updates to you as soon as we can. Rest assured your money is safe with Full Tilt Poker and we are doing everything that we can to return your funds as soon as possible...."

How hard is it to give people some rough outline of what's going on and what to expect? That's a million times better than sitting there and not saying a thing.
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05-04-2011 , 07:58 PM
one thing's for sure, is that if I ever get my $ back, I won't ever play on ftp.
New DoJ action means return of US funds happening soon most likely Quote
05-04-2011 , 08:08 PM
Quote:
Originally Posted by AcidKnight
I'm not freaking out over FTP. I think the timeline where Stars got their money back to the players was absurd. If you'd told me on April 15th that I'd have every dollar from FTP within a month, I'd have said awesome and thanked FTP for getting us our money so quickly.

What is inexcusable is the lack of communication. People have tens and hundreds of thousands of dollars on their site and they're not communicating. They wait 2 weeks and decide to finally open their mouths. This bull**** with them posting an announcement early this week just makes things worse. Wedesday is over? That's not early this week. If you didn't have a proper timeline for when you were going to provide INFORMATION, then don't tell people that you do because they are expecting it.

If Full Tilt Poker had simply come out and said something to the tune of "To our US customers: We have cut a deal with the DOJ to return your funds to you. We don't have a timeline for when this will bet yet since we have to work with the DOJ to set up payment processors, figure out what to do with unused FPP balances, Iron Man medals, etc. We apologize for the lack of details at this point, but we will do our best to communicate any pertinent updates to you as soon as we can. Rest assured your money is safe with Full Tilt Poker and we are doing everything that we can to return your funds as soon as possible...."

How hard is it to give people some rough outline of what's going on and what to expect? That's a million times better than sitting there and not saying a thing.
this x10. It's unfortunately majority of companies are run by men who have very little insight into psychological behavior, as poor service and simple stuff like this, goes a long way in stigmatizing many people in the future. Really disgusted with ftp right now, but patient and trying not to think about it (as I'm fairly confident we get our money).
New DoJ action means return of US funds happening soon most likely Quote
05-04-2011 , 08:47 PM
Yeah, I wish communication was better, but as was just pointed out and I said before, a couple of months is a reasonable time frame to me given what happened. I think Stars was just beyond fast with their actions. I am not really worried about my money because I think FTP knows what is act risk globally if they don't pay Americans their money. I mean, who would then trust them after that? They don't want to have that happen and affect future earnings.
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05-04-2011 , 11:35 PM
like wtf is this a joke? should i take this serious as i have def. not received any funds my bank balance is like $5 i'd notice. should i oblige and send the documents they're asking for?

Hello Armando,

We have confirmed that the amount of $xxxx was successfully processed to your bank account on 3/31 and has not been returned to us.

Full Tilt Poker uses several third party payment processors. As a result the billing descriptor listed on your bank statement may be unfamiliar to you.

We recommend rechecking the bank statement that corresponds to the bank account number listed above, beginning with the date it was approved to the current date.

If you are still unable to locate the transaction, please provide us with a copy of your bank statement from the original approval date until the current date so we can investigate further.

If you bank online and do not receive a paper statement, please send a screen shot of your online statement. Before sending copies of your document, please ensure the following requirements are met:

* The copies are clear and legible (96 to 150 DPI or higher recommended for scanned copies).
* The copies include the full document (bill/pay stubs, folded papers and partial sections are not accepted).
* It must display your full name and the same address listed on your Full Tilt Poker account.
* Statements must clearly display your bank's letterhead or official logo and must show your account number
* We can only accept email attachments of 3 MB or less, and attachments can be in either JPEG (.jpg) or PDF (.pdf) format.

Thank you for your cooperation. If you have any questions, please feel free to email us.

Regards,

Emmet
Cashier
Full Tilt Poker
New DoJ action means return of US funds happening soon most likely Quote
05-04-2011 , 11:40 PM
Quote:
Originally Posted by McNitterson
From Twitter

FTPDoug Doug
When we come back up from the downtime in the morning, the new Answers post will have some US player news (but not all the answers).



So in other words....FT is going to make another announcement about us not getting our money yet. Pretty standard operating procedure by FT.

Edit: Must need super extra approval again to tell us that at some point they will announce that they will be making an announcement about the announcement of when we possibly might be getting our money back....give or take a few months.
Or.....being an optimist......we will be told we can withdraw, but they will have no answers on how points are ebing handled.....Ii will sign up right now for that.
New DoJ action means return of US funds happening soon most likely Quote
05-05-2011 , 08:02 AM
Latest announcement is up in the zoo:
http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/28...5-5-a-1032702/

Here's the text:
Quote:
Originally Posted by FTPDoug
For reference, previous answers thread:
http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/28...-28-a-1029329/

An update for US players:

We are continuing to work on facilitating the withdrawal of US Player funds. It remains our top priority, and we do apologize for the delay.

I can announce that starting next week:
  • All T$ will be converted to real money on a 1:1 basis.
  • All Tournament Tickets will be converted to real money on a 1:1 basis.
  • All Ring Game Tickets will be converted to real money based on the current value of the ticket. This includes any tickets that have expired since April 15th, even if they no longer show in your ticket balance.
  • All pending Take 2 payments will be paid out. If you qualified for 3-6 days you will get $5, if you qualified for 7 or more days you will get $25.
  • All pending rakeback/Cash Back payments will be completed.
  • Any FTOPS Satellite Challenge winners will be paid.
  • All store purchases made after April 15th will be reversed. This includes the Iron Man store and the FTP store.
  • All uncleared portions of purchased bonuses will be refunded in the currency they were purchased.
  • All unused Iron Man freeroll tickets will be exchanged for medals at the same rate one would get if they went to the "Ticket Exchange" on the Iron Man page.
  • All April Iron Man medals will be paid out as if you played the entire month at the same rate as the first 15 days (so if you played 10 of the first 15 days of April, that will count as playing 20 days at that level). If you played all 15 days you will also get 15 medals for the One-A-Day promotion.
  • All Iron Man medals will then be converted to FTPs at a rate of 50 FTPs per medal, which is the top conversion rate in the Iron Man store.
  • All Full Tilt Poker Academy credits will be converted to FTPs at a rate of 1 FTP per credit.
I still don't have an announcement about what will happen to FTPs, but we are working on it.

We expect to have a further update next week. Again, I apologize for the length of time this process is taking.

Some other April 15th related answers:

1. How come players in the US are not allowed to play freerolls?

- Here's the answer I got back on this one: "Because of the fact that Freeroll Tournaments have prizes of real money value, they may fall under the category 'real money' play as interpreted by the U.S. government and therefore US players will not be able to participate at this time."

2. I'd love to know if there are any plans to open up transfers for US players on FT. A lot of us have staking money owed back to others in our accounts, and it'd be great to know if transfers will be an option or if we'll need to start making other plans.

- No, there are no plans to open transfers up for US players. If another player owes you money (or you owe another player money) you will need to make other arrangements.

3. According to other posts in the forums, people were buying tournament tickets until 4/20, which will now be converted to cash. I hope the rest of us won't be penalized for waiting for official instructions and not knowing about/trying to take advantage of the ticket buying loophole.

- The current plan (as mentioned above) is to refund all tickets purchased by US players after April 15th in the currency they were purchased. Nothing should have been purchasable in the stores for US players after that date.

4. So does this mean when I move, I can make a deposit, but you will have to keep my new deposit separate from my old balance?

- I'm happy to announce that this policy has changed. Now, when you move to a new country and prove that you live there (with a bank statement, a utility bill, and a photo ID), you will have access to (and can play poker with) your existing account balance. There won't be a need to keep any new deposits separate from your old balance. The FAQ will be updated to reflect this change soon.

5. What's the deal with Step tickets? Are they treated the same as tournament tickets?

- Yes, Steps tickets are tournament tickets.

6. Any ETA on when Canadians can withdraw large sums via bank wire or check? Right now bank wire is the only way to withdraw 5 figures and it is disabled. Checks are 2k max.

- No ETA, but we're working on it. It shouldn't be too much longer.

7. This statement means FTP will pay this bonus out in cash at some future date when/if ever FTP comes back to the US market? Or does this mean the midyear bonus will be paid out in cash to US players before we can cash out, the next time we are capable of cashing out?

- Neither, actually. It means that if/when a US player plays on FTP again we will add any bonus earned from January through April to their next Mid/End Year Bonus. So say you were Iron all 4 months and start playing again in October. Getting Iron in October, November, and December will get you a $700 End of Year Bonus to clear in January.

8. Why are you massively limiting the ability of non-US players to cash out? 2k cheque limit? No wire withdrawals? MB disabled?

- It looks like the Neteller backlog is starting to clear up and I think other processors will start coming up and running smoothly over the next little while. Apologies for the delay, we're catching up with withdrawals as soon as possible.

9. Why are they [Account History files] winzip files? Winzip has expired for me.

- They're just .zip files. You can download all sorts of freeware that will unzip the files.

10. When I goto Cashier->History->Past Transactions I get a popup message to US players.

- This should be fixed at some point today. Sorry for the delay.


In today's software update:

A. New Option to Auto-Close SNGs: With this option turned on (found under Options->Table Settings->Auto-close Sit & Go Without Confirmation), the table and tournament lobby will automatically close as soon as you bust from (or win) a SNG. No more clicking dialogs or manually closing anything.

B. Player Notes Improvements: You can now color code a player without opening up their note by right clicking on their avatar (or name in any player list) and selecting the color from the menu. The player notes dialog itself also now remembers where and what size you last left it.

"Regular" Answers:

1. Can you please remove the time limit on clearing a bonus you bought with points. You can save up to get the 5K bonus and get it with a 500 points a day average but you need 700+ points a day to clear it.

- We'll look into it, but I can't promise anything.

2. I really like the "kitchen sink" tournament. But the buyin is so low so I don't play it. Any chance to have that type of stuff with higher buyin? (minimum $50 or 100)?

- Sure, there's a chance. We would probably want to test it at some middle ground before jumping to $50 or $100 though.

3. with the custom bet buttons, please make different options for tournaments and cash games

- There are no plans for this, but if demand is high enough we'll consider it.

4. I think a great step in the next update would be to improve player notes. Add simple text editing functionality in the note box (font color, font type, bold, italic, underline, etc).

- This is written down and I like the idea, but I'm not sure if/when we'll get to it.

5. ODOMETER 6 digits... seriously Doug

- I hear this is pretty easy and will happen at some point.

6. Doug will the TLB freeroll ever be adjusted? It is currently a joke.

- The May version (played in June) will be a straight up $10K freeroll (instead of the old Winner Take All package) and will start at 12:30 ET instead of 16:30 ET. If you have other suggestions for it let me know.

7. If you buy a ring ticket with points, is the MGR deduction $4/1000 points like normal store purchases, or is the deduction the value of the ring ticket (like a cash bonus purchase)

- It's $4/1,000 points like normal store purchases.

8. If you buy a ring ticket with Ironman medals, is there an MGR hit at all (similar to there being no MGR hit for buying tournament tickets with medals from the IM store)

- No hit from the Iron Man store.

9. what about remembering my preferred seat?

- Still planned eventually.

10. If I purchase a continuing IRON MAN month for 150 medals, will I still receive the medals associated with the level continued for that month?

- No, you just get to keep your continuing months streak alive.

11. Can we expect FTP to become EU friendlier site? Currency, store, tournaments?

- We're definitely going to give players the option of which currency to keep their account balance in at some point. I don't have any news about the store, but I imagine it will change a bit as well. Tournaments are in the process of being adjusted.

12. Why are there only a few places paid in the freerolls? In the freerolls with 7500 players are only 45 places paid and in the german freeroll with 2700 players are only 27 places paid. Normally the first 10% of places in a tournament get paid why not in the freerolls?

- That's the only way to let a lot of players play but still have the prizes significant enough to take to the tables.

13. Do you get a rb hit if you use your $20 rush poker tickets?

- Nope, no hit from the Rush tickets in the Added Bonus.

14. Can you make all the Super Turbos rake the same please? Some are $71+4 and some are $72+3 make them all $72+3 obv. Same applies to the $24.5+1.5 and the $25+1's!

- I think I'm a little out of touch with the current state of super turbos, but which are $71+$4 right now? I'll look into standardizing.

15. Tournament schedule needs to be made more Euro-friendly.

- All of the bigger daily guarantees are at the Euro-friendly times, and the "special" tournaments (big Sunday tournaments, the Doubles, $1K Monday, Friday Night Fights, etc) have nearly all been move up a few hours. MiniFTOPS (starting on Sunday) has all new Euro-friendly start times, too. The new schedule is (and always will be) a work in progress, so if you have any specific suggestions let us know.

Doug
New DoJ action means return of US funds happening soon most likely Quote
05-05-2011 , 10:00 AM
LOL....sigh. First time in 2 weeks I've actually felt it might be a long while before we see our FT money. The fact that cashouts aren't completely open to non-US along with the constant "we are working on it" line to Americans could mean bad news in regards to liquidity.
New DoJ action means return of US funds happening soon most likely Quote
05-05-2011 , 10:44 AM
My take on it is that it is taking a lot of decision-making, re-programming and legal passes to work out everything that has to occur before the can start the payouts - converting T$, medals, rakeback, lost withdrawals, etc., etc. They want all their ducks in order, and everything convertible converted before any cashouts start, so each account can be finished off with just one all-encompassing payout. It's just a lot to encompass so it's taking them longer. I'd take the under on cashouts available to US players by next Thursday.

P.S. No, I don't have any inside info.
New DoJ action means return of US funds happening soon most likely Quote
05-05-2011 , 10:47 AM
Quote:
Originally Posted by PokerXanadu
My take on it is that it is taking a lot of decision-making, re-programming and legal passes to work out everything that has to occur before the can start the payouts - converting T$, medals, rakeback, lost withdrawals, etc., etc. They want all their ducks in order, and everything convertible converted before any cashouts start, so each account can be finished off with just one all-encompassing payout. It's just a lot to encompass so it's taking them longer. I'd take the under on cashouts available to US players by next Thursday.
How does that explain the inability for non-US players to cash out in a regular manner? That would require none of the things you mentioned.
New DoJ action means return of US funds happening soon most likely Quote
05-05-2011 , 10:48 AM
In that case, PM me, I have $3K I'll sell at 95 cents on the dollar. $150 isnt bad for a weeks wait.
New DoJ action means return of US funds happening soon most likely Quote
05-05-2011 , 11:12 AM
I have 36.5k on FTP. With that amount, is it likely they will pay it all out in one lump sum via bankwire, check, etc.?
Had nothing on Stars...what did they do with amounts similar? Any info would be helpful.

Also...FTP is super-lame for releasing its "week of May 2nd" annc. Just to string us along. Poker players have tough skin...we can take the truth...
New DoJ action means return of US funds happening soon most likely Quote
05-05-2011 , 11:14 AM
New FAQ says next update by May 15th.

Stars bankwired that amount out.

EDIT: Possibly Direct Transfer too, cant remember the cutoffs, but you got a lump sum sometime last week or this week.
New DoJ action means return of US funds happening soon most likely Quote
05-05-2011 , 11:27 AM
^^^ Hoping that FTP does the same. Up until BFRI I could only recieve 2500 at a time So hoping for a lump sum when they resolve this BS!
New DoJ action means return of US funds happening soon most likely Quote
05-05-2011 , 11:43 AM
Quote:
Originally Posted by PokerXanadu
My take on it is that it is taking a lot of decision-making, re-programming and legal passes to work out everything that has to occur before the can start the payouts - converting T$, medals, rakeback, lost withdrawals, etc., etc. They want all their ducks in order, and everything convertible converted before any cashouts start, so each account can be finished off with just one all-encompassing payout. It's just a lot to encompass so it's taking them longer. I'd take the under on cashouts available to US players by next Thursday.

P.S. No, I don't have any inside info.
FAQ says next update on progress by Sunday May 15th.

Soooo....yeah, gonna take the over on next Thursday.
New DoJ action means return of US funds happening soon most likely Quote
05-05-2011 , 12:04 PM
Quote:
Originally Posted by PokerXanadu
My take on it is that it is taking a lot of decision-making, re-programming and legal passes to work out everything that has to occur before the can start the payouts - converting T$, medals, rakeback, lost withdrawals, etc., etc. They want all their ducks in order, and everything convertible converted before any cashouts start, so each account can be finished off with just one all-encompassing payout. It's just a lot to encompass so it's taking them longer. I'd take the under on cashouts available to US players by next Thursday.

P.S. No, I don't have any inside info.
Seems like the most rational explanation.
New DoJ action means return of US funds happening soon most likely Quote
05-05-2011 , 12:21 PM
Up to this point I have been a firm, paying member of the PPA. I have had 0 issues with the route they have taken in fighting for our rights but....

Am I the only one that is becoming highly agitated by the fact that the PPA is supposed to be fighting for our rights yet they have 2 board members with *cough* close ties to Full Tilt and we continue to get these cryptic messages from Full Tilt that says absolutely nothing about what is happening with our money? Up to this point it seemed the conflict of interest might not matter since we all assumed we would be receiving our funds back soon. The more this drags out, the more that conflict becomes a huge problem.

We were told by the PPA that we should give it time to pan out before we start railing on FT compared to Stars.....it seems the "grace period" of giving FT the benefit of the doubt has passed. Stars was able to put everything in place so quickly, what about Full Tilt's structure makes it so much more difficult for them? FT has not stated that the thing holding up cash outs is the conversion of points, etc. Surely if that was the problem, they would state that? The only logical answer is that Full Tilt did not have segregated player accounts. If it was anything else, would they not come out and state what the issue is? We keep being told they are going to make announcements only to be told the same thing over and over again with modified versions of what is going to happen with our points. Now we are told that the next update we will get is May 15th??????

Because of PPA's close ties to FT, I feel like they owe it to the players to find out exactly what is happening with our money or Howard Lederer and Chris Ferguson should step down as board members.

Last edited by McNitterson; 05-05-2011 at 12:28 PM.
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05-05-2011 , 01:13 PM
Actually there is another option as well. It was mentioned early in this thread (by TT I think) and was dismissed by Skall. FT is using player funds as bargaining chips to try to get the DOJ to release their other accounts.

Given that it is obvious that processors can be set up really quickly through the DOJ, I really can't imagine anything other than these 3 options:

1. They are running with our money (don't think many people think this is true).
2. They didn't have segregated accounts and are having liquidity issues.
3. They aren't releasing player funds so they have bargaining power with the DOJ to get some of their frozen accounts released, thus holding our money hostage.

I just can not ever imagine if the issue was points conversion that they would not make an announcement saying "We are ready to pay you guys out, we are just working out our options on how to deal with points, etc".

Is there something I'm missing and that there are other options at this point that are causing all the cryptic language and hold up?
New DoJ action means return of US funds happening soon most likely Quote
05-05-2011 , 03:43 PM
Quote:
Originally Posted by PokerXanadu
My take on it is that it is taking a lot of decision-making, re-programming and legal passes to work out everything that has to occur before the can start the payouts - converting T$, medals, rakeback, lost withdrawals, etc., etc. They want all their ducks in order, and everything convertible converted before any cashouts start, so each account can be finished off with just one all-encompassing payout. It's just a lot to encompass so it's taking them longer. I'd take the under on cashouts available to US players by next Thursday.

P.S. No, I don't have any inside info.
I think youve been duped by FTP...obviously they can keep saying they are working on figuring out what to do with points, bonuses, etc, all the while waiting until theyve actually figured out how to get us ANY money. Yeah it would be convenient for them to not have to process multiple cashouts for every player, but it is ridiculous that we have to wait for the balances in our account while they decide what to do with extra money...Do you really think this is what the delays are due to?

Im sure if they had the cash on hand they would pay off player balances NOW (as stars did) because this is making them look really really bad. Also how do you explain 2k limits on foreign withdrawals (correct me if im wrong)?
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