'Black Friday' and associated fallout megathread

[Stu_Ungar]

Im on FT now in the UK.

Right now its like nothing has happened... lots of tables, lots of players and all transfer options seem fine.

 

[isaac]

i have seen some red full tilt poke players from the US playing cash, what is going on?

 

[Stu_Ungar]

i have seen some red full tilt poke players from the US playing cash, what is going on?

they are probably using a VPN

 

[Pothole]

Has anyone EVER recieved funds in any form that have indicated they came from anywhere other than a poker site? I just checked my moneybookers confirmation emails and all state quite clearly that the funds were transfered from PS FT AP PP PDC ect through 3rd party payment processors.

 

[RamdeeBen]

Im on FT now in the UK.

Right now its like nothing has happened... lots of tables, lots of players and all transfer options seem fine.

Why did I always think you was American?

 

[Stu_Ungar]

T

The only thing illegal is the money transfer thing. So if you winnings started with freerolls and you built up a roll, shouldn't it be illegal for the government to freeze your funds? or any winnings for that matter.

As far as I can see, they haven't frozen anyone's assets, they have simply enforced an existing ban on the transfer of funds.

 

[Stu_Ungar]

Why did I always think you was American?

Its no good asking me that question

 

[NineLions]

What... you moved out of your Thailand residence (neighbour)? I'm getting out of this closet today& moving back home so I can play me some freerolls.

The Thailand reference is just to an ad from DC that runs on the PokerCast podcast every week.

Currently in Florida, Left Canada this morning ...logged in to Tilt and they will not let me play cash...Has to be the IPS address.

It always is. When I was on vacation in Maui I could play US freerolls but not the Canadian ones.

 

[Stick66]

Great excerpt by Scott Matusow that sums it all up:

...this is not about online poker in and of itself, but offshore sites engaging in alleged money laundering and fraud, in order to CIRCUMVENT THE UIEGA, tricking banks to process these payments, when The UIEGA clearly states it is illegal for them to do so, WILLINGLY, KNOWLINGLY!

http://makepokerlegal.com/blog/2011/04/15/internet-gambling-sites-owners-charged-with-fraud/

So again, it's not about online poker. It's about the sneaky stuff the companies did to get payments through the US.

Makes me wonder how difficult it would have been for them just to have mailed out checks to US players drawn on Euro banks. I wonder what the fees would have been like and such. Seems like these were crimes of convenience, but I could be wrong.

 

[Dreams of Tragedy]

Same here. How are US players downloading FT and playing? It won't let me.

I can't even get on the client...it want's to do the update but then it says it can not download the update...can anyone point me to the right site where i can get the update to log in to full tilt

 

[Stu_Ungar]

http://www.fulltiltpoker.co.uk/

 

[Dreams of Tragedy]

well I can still play at the Absolute poker table atlease for real money

 

[Dreams of Tragedy]

http://www.fulltiltpoker.co.uk/

thank you for the link

 

[Pascal-lf]

Great excerpt by Scott Matusow that sums it all up:

http://makepokerlegal.com/blog/2011/04/15/internet-gambling-sites-owners-charged-with-fraud/

So again, it's not about online poker. It's about the sneaky stuff the companies did to get payments through the US.

Makes me wonder how difficult it would have been for them just to have mailed out checks to US players drawn on Euro banks. I wonder what the fees would have been like and such. Seems like these were crimes of convenience, but I could be wrong.

It is still about online poker - without circumventing the law, US players wouldn't have been able to deposit or withdraw, so good luck playing for money. It suggests that online poker is something which people shouldn't be allowed to deposit for, and therefore shouldn't be allowed to play.

 

[Stu_Ungar]

What surprises me is that there hasnt been anything on the news about it here.

 

[Pascal-lf]

It's not even on the BBC website - I imagine it's just because it's the weekend and they'll pick up on it on Monday?

 

[Dreams of Tragedy]

What surprises me is that there hasnt been anything on the news about it here.

everyone was saying that cnn did a report on it ... but where I work cnn is always on so i did not see it....

hear the only one that i found.

 

[Stu_Ungar]

I noticed that the FBI claims that FT and PS "lied to banks".

I dont know how the US banking system works, but I would imagine its similar to the UK system.

You cant lie to a bank, when large sums of money are involved, that bank has to show "due diligence". It has to be able to document that it has vetted its clients and state how that vetting was conducted.

Chances are the banks knew exactly what was going on and chose to turn a blind eye to it.

 

[Dreams of Tragedy]

 

[Lofwyr]

So..I'm also a little confused by this. Why can't I play with money I have online and just choose not to withdraw it? I had no plans to move my money so why am I not allowed to play? Playing isn't illegal I thought?

 

[Stu_Ungar]

So..I'm also a little confused by this. Why can't I play with money I have online and just choose not to withdraw it? I had no plans to move my money so why am I not allowed to play? Playing isn't illegal I thought?

There probably isn't a reason you couldn't carry on.

Its most likely the poker sites trying to appease the FBI

 

[arahel_jazz]

So..I'm also a little confused by this. Why can't I play with money I have online and just choose not to withdraw it? I had no plans to move my money so why am I not allowed to play? Playing isn't illegal I thought?

It is in Full Tilt (and Stars) best interest at the moment to freeze all US players playing for real money. The problem you get into is a slippery slope in the software - I'm not sure if you can allow people to play for real money, yet prohibit transfers and withdrawls.

However, why would you even want to play for real money and let them proft from you through rake and fees if there is a possibility you will have to wait for two years to get your money out of it, if ever. You might as well play for play chips on Facebook.

Even though it doesn't really matter anymore - I finally managed to get in and un-register from my wsop satellite. Yay... saved my T$.

I'm done with on-line poker until this mess blows over. It will only be a matter of time before the DOJ goes after Cake, Carbon, Link, and other sites that have U.S. Players with real money. I wouldn't keep more $ than you can afford to lose on any sites right now.

 

[Dreams of Tragedy]

never process transactions for online gambling purposes including poker for US citizens."
April 16, 2011 10:40 a.m. PDT: PokerNews has just received confirmation from a spokesperson at Full Tilt Poker that in light of recent events, the Onyx Cup poker series has been cancelled.


Read more: http://www.pokernews.com/news/2011/04/online-poker-big-three-indicted-10218.htm​

 

[soccerrunner8098]

Does anyone know a way to get into FullTilt without updating the software? Because I can't update it because of the FBI ban and if I cancel it the program closes

 

[cardsdolie]

Dooped

I have taken part in real money play on all three of these sites. I was led to believe by these companies that it was completely legit and legal. They were accepting deposits from US players, knowing that it was an illegal activity that they were engaging in. In this case I think that any deposits that were accepted by US players should be refunded in full.