September 29 2011, Chad Holloway

After the Alderney Gaming Control Commission (AGCC) announced the revocation of Full Tilt Poker’s license, the site released a statement to PokerStrategy. In the statement, FTP claims an “interested investor testified before the Commission” during the September 19, 2011 hearing; however, as a result of revoking the license, the AGCC’s decision “makes it more difficult to execute the sale of the company and hence repay its players.”

The statement concluded: “Notwithstanding the potential damage done by the Commission and its disregard for our players, Full Tilt Poker remains committed to repaying its players in full and continues in active negotiations. A further statement will follow shortly.”

On an unrelated note, the U.S. Department of Justice released an update of its own regarding player funds. The update was issued as part of the Department of Justice’s Victim Notification System, where the “government attempts to identify each victim in a given case, and to provide those victims with the information necessary to access the Victim Notification System.”

In the update, the DOJ assures victims that the FBI and other agencies are attempting to secure as many FTP funds and records as they can, with the possibility of returning the “forfeited funds to victims.” However, the DOJ admits that this is not certain and would be contingent upon many factors including the amount seized, successful litigation, and other procedures. In regards to a time frame, the DOJ states: “We cannot predict the duration of proceedings in this case, other than to state that they will last for many months at the least.”

Reprinted below is the DOJ’s statement in full:

After the amended complaint in United States v. Pokerstars et al., 11 Civ. 2564 (LBS), was filed on September 22, 2011, the United States Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York received a number of new inquiries from individuals regarding the recovery of their funds from Full Tilt Poker.

By way of background, in April of 2011, this Office entered into a domain-name use agreement with Full Tilt Poker. That agreement, among other things, expressly authorized Full Tilt Poker to return player funds to players. However, as the September 22 amended complaint alleges, Full Tilt Poker did not in fact have player funds on hand to return to players. Instead, the amended complaint alleges that Full Tilt Poker had, among other things, (a) transferred significant amounts of players’ real money deposits to principals of the company, while (b) allowing many players to continue to gamble, and “win” and “lose,” with phantom credits in their player accounts.

At this time, this Office, together with the FBI and other agencies, is attempting to trace, secure and forfeit as much as possible of the funds derived from operation of the fraud committed by Full Tilt Poker and its board members that is alleged in the amended complaint. The Office is also attempting to obtain and examine the books and records of Full Tilt Poker. Many of those books and records are kept overseas. The return of forfeited funds to victims of the alleged fraud may be possible, but will depend on several factors, including the successful conclusion of the litigation, the amount of funds seized and ordered forfeited by the court, and compliance with other procedures the Department of Justice may eventually establish regarding return of forfeited funds to victims who lost money as a result of the alleged fraudulent conduct. 
We cannot predict the duration of proceedings in this case, other than to state that they will last for many months at the least. We will apprise victims of the alleged fraud of future developments as appropriate. General information regarding what is known as “remission” (i.e., return to victims) of funds that have been seized and forfeited is set forth in Department of Justice regulations found at 28 C.F.R. Part 9.

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September 29 2011, Mickey Doft

Each week, the Global Poker Index releases a list of the top 300 tournament poker players in the world using a formula that calculates a player’s best three results over six half-year periods. That first sentence is imperative to remember because, arguably, the best player in the game slipped from the GPI this week. We’ll get into that later. For a look at the entire list of 300, visit the official GPI website.

The Top 10 as of September 26, 2011

New to the top ten this week is Finnish pro Juha Helppi. With his 15th-place finish in the Partouche Poker Tour Main Event, Helppi boasts very solid Period 1 results. Helppi replaced Daniel Negreanu in the No. 9 spot, and with a loss of points this week, Negreanu slipped to No. 11. A fifth-place showing in the £10,000 High-Roller Heads-Up Tournament at the 2010 WSOPE had previously been a part of his Period 2 standings, but now falls into Period 3.

Another slight change in the top ten is that Erik Seidel’s lead over Jason Mercier increased from a tiny .07 to about 20. An eighth-place result in a £5,000 PLO Event from the 2008 WSOPE dropped from Mercier’s Period 6 calculations and was replaced by a lesser finish.

Welcome to the GPI

There are ten new additions to the GPI this week. Among them is 2011 WSOP November Niner Matt Giannetti, who is fresh off a win at the 2011 WPT Malta. Also joining the GPI is 2011 WSOP bracelet winner Oleksii Kovalchuk. With a ninth-place result in the Partouche Poker Tour Main Event, Kovalchuk has a very strong Period 1 to counter his other periods, with only one score in Period 2 to round out his entire GPI total.

New Additions

The ten that fell from the GPI this week are Chris Tryba, Darren Woods, Govert Metaal, Jonathan Jaffe, Kristijonas Andrulis, Martin Kabrhel, Russell Carson, Zach Clark, Ronald Lee, and Phil Ivey.

Wait, what? Yes, you read that correctly. Phil Ivey is no longer in the top 300 of the GPI. Clearly, nobody is going to argue that Phil Ivey isn’t among the top 300 tournament players, but the fact is, is that the GPI requires players to actively and consistently post results. As unlikely as it seems, Ivey has no Period 1 scores. None. His last GPI-counting tournament cash, in fact, came in December 2010.

It isn’t that Ivey has been running cold lately. He simply has not been playing, for obvious reasons. In addition, his two WSOPE cashes from 2010 fell out of Period 2. Only one of those cashes was picked up into his Period 3 calculations, since his 2010 WSOP bracelet win and third-place WPT Bellagio Cup VI result already are counted in Period 3. When Ivey gets back on the tournament circuit, it won’t be long before he vaults back up the GPI.

Ups and Downs

The biggest rise of the week belonged to Frederik Jensen. Even though his 34th-place finish in the Partouche Poker Tour Main Event isn’t what you would call amazing, it offset his Period 1 results when his 14th-place finish at the the 2011 WPT Vienna dropped into Period 2. With the boost to his Period 2 results without losing ground in Period 1, Jensen saw a nice rise up the GPI ladder.

Biggest Gains

Italian Nicolo Calia suffered the biggest hit this week. His third-place result in the High Roller event at the 2011 WPT Vienna fell from Period 1 to Period 2, leaving Calia with just one Period 1 score. Also falling was Yevgeniy Timoshenko. His drop was result of his cashes in the WSOPE Main Events from both 2009 and 2010 falling into lesser Periods.

Biggest Drops

What’s In Store?

This week is the calm before the storm because October will provide plenty of action overseas. The 2011 EPT London is set to kick off on Friday. The following Friday will see the 2011 WSOPE begin, as well.

Which players are due for a fall next week? Unless she scores big in London and Cannes in October, Vanessa Selbst is going to drop fast from her current No. 24 spot on the GPI. Her last two six-figure scores are going to fall into previous periods. Next week, her fourth-place finish at the 2010 EPT London £20,000 High Roller Event will slip from Period 2 to Period 3. The following week (most likely, but not for sure because of the cutoff date), her win at the 2011 NAPT Mohegan will drop from Period 1 to Period 2.

To look at the entire list of 300, visit the official GPI website. While you’re at it, follow the GPI on Twitter and its Facebook page.

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Follow Mickey Doft on Twitter – @mrdoft

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