April 24 2012, Brett Collson

Group Bernard Tapie Managing Director Laurent Tapie confirmed Tuesday that negotiations to purchase Full Tilt Poker’s assets from the Department of Justice have officially ended, a move that could potentially pave the way for PokerStars to purchase the assets of its former competitor.

According to a statement issued by Groupe Bernard Tapie, the drawn-out deal with the DOJ fell through due to “unresolvable” legal complications and failure to agree on player repayment plan. Tapie was supposedly in the final stages of negotiations with the DOJ and preparing to re-launch the embattled poker site in the near future.

“GBT proposed a plan that would have resulted in immediate reinstatement of all ROW (rest of the world) player balances, with a right to withdraw those funds over time, based on the size of the player balance and the extent of the player’s playing activity on the re-launched site,” GBT said in the statement. “All players would have been permitted complete withdrawal of their balances, regardless of whether they played on the site, by a date certain, and 94.9 percent of ROW players would have been fully repaid on Day 1. DOJ ultimately insisted on full repayment with right of withdrawal within 90 days for all players– a surprise demand made in the 11th hour, after months of good-faith negotiations by GBT.”

The complicated sale of Full Tilt Poker had dragged on since last November when GBT agreed to purchase the forfeited FTP assets from the DOJ for $80 million. In the end, Tapie says the purchase price, along with the substantial amount of cash needed to re-launch FTP, were “too substantial to overcome.”

In addition to that shocking news, rumors began swirling Tuesday that PokerStars had swooped in and purchased Full Tilt Poker’s assets for $750 million from the DOJ. Following initial rumors started in a TwoPlusTwo thread, ChiliGaming CEO Alex Dreyfus posted via Twitter that $330 million will go toward the repayment of players, while the rest will settle the outstanding charges against PokerStars.

Terms of the deal have not yet been confirmed. PokerNews reached out to the Department of Justice on Tuesday, but a spokesperson declined to comment.

On Tuesday, Groupe Bernard Tapie lawyer Behnam Dayanim sent the following statement to PokerNews:

Groupe Bernard Tapie regrets to announce that, after seven months of intensive work, our efforts to obtain final approval of the United States Department of Justice of the agreement to acquire the assets of Full Tilt Poker have ended without success.

Ultimately, the deal failed due to two major issues.

1. The parties could not agree on a plan for repayment of ROW players. GBT proposed a plan that would have resulted in immediate reinstatement of all ROW player balances, with a right to withdraw those funds over time, based on the size of the player balance and the extent of the player’s playing activity on the re-launched site. All players would have been permitted complete withdrawal of their balances, regardless of whether they played on the site, by a date certain, and 94.9% of ROW players would have been fully repaid on day 1. DOJ ultimately insisted on full repayment with right of withdrawal within 90 days for all players– a surprise demand made in the 11th hour, after months of good-faith negotiations by GBT.

2. The legal complications surrounding the deal – specifically, questions surrounding the legality of the forfeiture under non-US laws – also proved unresolvable. All of the key assets of the FTP companies reside outside of the United States. A non-US court well might regard the purported forfeiture as a “fraudulent transaction” and declare it invalid or deem the acquirer of the assets responsible for all of those creditor obligations.

Given the $80 million purchase price, and the substantial amount of cash needed to relaunch FTP, those issues ultimately proved too substantial to overcome.

GBT is very conscious of the hopes it has created – among FTP employees that they will retain their jobs, among FTP players that they will recover their balances, and among the entire poker community that the world’s finest poker platform will be relaunched and bring a needed added element of competition to a world market that today is fully dominated by a single operator.

GBT cannot accept the end of those hopes. For that reason, unless a concrete and legally viable solution is found in the very coming days to save the employees and repay the players of FTP, we will move to our own plan of action.

We understand from press reports that the DOJ may have entered into an agreement with PokerStars pursuant to which PokerStars will acquire the FTP assets. If accurate, we can only assume that PokerStars determined that it was willing to accept these legal and financial risks in order to resolve its own legal situation with DOJ.

If a PokerStars acquisition of FTP means that all FTP players will be fully repaid immediately, we are very happy for the players, as their final and full repayment has always been our priority. We only regret that such a deal would signal further consolidation of a poker market already dominated by a single player – an outcome that may raise antitrust concerns and that, in the long run, is probably not good for players and for the whole online poker industry.

April 24, 2012 12:39 p.m. PDT: Head of Corporate Communications for PokerStars, Eric Hollreiser posted the following comment on the PokerStars Blog.

We’ve had a lot of inquiries and there’s lots of speculation on the forums, so I wanted to address the PokerStars chatter. As you know, PokerStars is in settlement discussions with the U.S. Department of Justice. As such settlement discussions are always confidential, we are unable to comment on rumors. As soon as we have information to share publicly we will do so.

We’ll bring you more on this story as it develops. Follow PokerNews on Twitter for up-to-the-minute news.

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April 23 2012, Chad Holloway

The 2011-2012 World Series of Poker Circuit Harrah’s St. Louis Main Event concluded on Monday when Tripp Kirk conquered the 625-player field to capture the $190,961 first-place prize and punch his ticket to this summer’s National Championship – not to mention laying claim to his second gold ring.

Twenty-one players remained at the beginning of the third and final day, but it didn’t take long for them to fall. Michael McKuin was the first player to exit, busting within minutes of the day’s start. Not long after, WSOP Circuit phenom and unfailing casher, Alexandru Masek, opened to 32,000, Dave Schwartz called behind and Brian Davis made it 100,000 to go from the small blind. Masek took just a few seconds to move his stack in the middle, Schwartz got out of the way, and Davis called.

Showdown

The board ran out an uneventful and Masek was denied his record-tying fifth gold ring, finishing in 20th place for $8,021. From there, 10 more players hit the rail before the final table was reached, with a particularly exciting hand occurring on the bubble.

It happened when there was around 400,000 in the pot and a board reading , Bradley Lipsey checked to Brian “Big Kat” Davis, who bet 225,000. Lipsey stood up from his chair, looked at his stack, asked for a count, and then announced that he was all in. Davis called off his last 380,000 and the cards were turned up.

Showdown

Davis had spiked a jack on the turn to come from behind and take the lead. He was a 95 percent favorite to double on the hand. Unfortunately for him, and much to the astonishment of the railbirds and players alike, the peeled off on the river to give Lipsey the winning set. A shell-shocked Davis was eliminated from the Harrah’s St. Louis Main Event in 10th place for $14,259, bringing about the official final table.

Pre-Final Table WSOP Circuit Harrah’s St. Louis Payouts

At the final table, Jerry Milanos became the first elimination after his ran into the of Tim Killday on a flop. Neither the turn nor river helped Milanos, and he became the ninth-place finisher.

The next player to go was James Russell, who found himself all in preflop for around 700,000 holding and racing against the of Chris Conrad. Any excitement quickly dissipated when the flop delivered a set for Conrad and a huge lead. The turn left Russell drawing dead, and he made his way to the payout desk in eighth place after the was put out on the river.

A short time later, after a flop of , Jeff Fitzgerald checked to Charles “Woody” Moore, who bet 200,000. Fitzgerald responded with a check-raise to 460,000, Moore moved all in, Fitzgerald quickly called off his stack, and the cards were turned up.

Showdown

It was top two pair versus bottom set with Moore out in front. In order to survive, Fitzgerald needed to catch either an ace or nine, but it was not meant to be as the appeared on the turn followed by the on the river. Fitzgerald became the seventh-place finisher for $28,445.

After dinner, Lipsey opened for 130,000 and received a call from Killday, who then turned around and led out for 300,000 on the flop. Lipsey thought for a few moments before moving all in and Killday snap-called.

Showdown

Lipsey had flopped top pair but ran straight into the nuts. The left Lipsey drawing dead, and after the was put out on the river, he made his way to the rail in sixth place. “You led out,” Lipsey said to Killday. “That’s what got me.”

Minutes later, Gannesh Letchumanan moved his short stack all in preflop and got a call from Kirk. The blinds released and the hands were tabled.

Showdown

The board ran out and Kirk’s two pair sent Letchumanan to the rail in fifth place for $48,224.

Moore, fresh off a runner-up finish in the Council Bluffs Main Event, impressed many with a fourth-place finish in St. Louis. His demise came when he was in the small blind and limped, prompting Kirk to check his option in the big. When the flop fell , Moore checked, Tripp bet 60,000 and Moore check-raised to 225,000. Kirk flatted and then snap-called when Moore shipped his chips in the middle on the turn.

Moore knew he was in trouble when he showed , but it was worse than he could have expected because he was drawing dead to Kirk’s . The was put out on the river to seal the deal, and Moore shook hands with the other three players before taking his leave in fourth place.

During three-handed play, Kirk and Conrad got involved in a preflop raising war where Conrad ended up all in with against Kirk’s . Conrad, who began the day as chip leader, was clearly dejected, and even more so when the flop came down . The turn sent Conrad from his seat, and the river sent him out the door in third place, good for $86,372.

Kirk began heads-up play with an almost 2:1 chip lead, and it didn’t take long for the final hand to develop. On a board reading , Killday checked to Kirk, who fired out 200,000. Killday thought for a moment before announcing, “All in.”

“Call,” Kirk snapped and rolled over . Killday sheepishly turned over and it was all over. Even before the was put out on the river, Kirk was out of his seat celebrating with his friends. Killday sought comfort with his own rail, and will have a $118,119 payday to help ease the pain.

WSOP Circuit Harrah’s St. Louis Final Table Payouts

That does it for PokerNews’ coverage from the WSOP Circuit Harrah’s St. Louis. Next stop? Harrah’s Chester near Philadelphia that runs from April 26 through May 7, 2012. Join the PokerNews Live Reporting Team the for all the action from the 2011-2012 WSOP Circuit’s second-to-last stop.

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