August 01 2012, Brett Collson, Mickey Doft

Imagine waking up in the morning to discover that you’re a millionaire. That’s a feeling poker pro Blair Hinkle experienced on Tuesday after PokerStars completed a deal to purchase the assets of Full Tilt Poker.

Hinkle’s story has been covered at length since last year. Two months before Black Friday, Hinkle chopped the Full Tilt Poker Online Poker Series (FTOPS) XIX Main Event for $1,162,950. But despite his best efforts, he was unable to withdraw a single penny from his account before the U.S. Department of Justice seized Full Tilt Poker on April 15, 2011. Seven figures frozen online with no indication he would ever see it again.

After more than a year of waiting and wondering, Hinkle and the rest of the poker world learned the good news on Tuesday that all Full Tilt Poker players would be repaid. PokerNews talked with Hinkle about his reaction to the news and where he goes from here.

Thanks to your brother’s real-time video, we know you had been sleeping before you were awakened to hear the news that Full Tilt Poker players would be repaid. Now that you’ve had time to truly wake up and let the news sink in, how are you feeling?

I don’t know that it has completely hit me just yet. When I was driving to get lunch after I heard the news I was pretty emotional, but I have calmed down since. I think keeping busy with these interviews is making it easy to not get overwhelmed.

This entire process has been a roller-coaster ride. With the rumors and speculation dragging on for months, did you ever give up on the hope of the possibility that you’d receive any of your money?

I tried my best not to let the rumors affect me one way or another. I did keep up with the news, but I didn’t want it to take over my life. There were a few times where I thought I wouldn’t see much, if any, of the money. That was pretty rough for me, but then Groupe Bernard Tapie came along and kept hopes alive.

What were your thoughts after the Groupe Bernard Tapie deal fell through?

The more I learned about the deal that Tapie was trying to do, the more happy I was to find out that they were not actually going to buy Full Tilt. It made a lot more sense in my mind for PokerStars to end up getting a deal done than Tapie.

You told us in April that even getting 10 percent of your money back would be a pretty great score. You must feel like you’re freerolling right now. Any plans for what you’re going to do with the money that you get back?

Pay lots of taxes. Besides that I will probably get a car that drives better in the snow for the winters here in Kansas City. Along with that I would like to find a house now. That has probably been the hardest thing about this process. I never knew if I should buy a house or how much I could spend. I am very glad I now know just how much I can spend on things.

Did you ever consider quitting poker after the debacle at Full Tilt?

I never considered quitting completely, although I did consider going back to school to become a teacher. That would be a pretty good job to have considering you have summers off for the WSOP. I think I will probably still work toward that, and now thankfully I won’t be taking out student loans.

What kept you motivated to grind the live tournament circuit?

I love playing live poker. Meeting different people with interesting stories makes the game very fun for me. I am also a very competitive person, so the drive to outplay my opponents and win poker tournaments makes it very easy to play the live tournament circuit. I don’t really consider it a grind.

How often did you think about the $1 million you had stuck online?

I would say it would cross through my mind about every week. I tried not to think about it too much, but it seemed to find its way into conversations pretty often, so I learned to deal with it.

How has your family supported you throughout the entire ordeal?

My family and friends have been great. They all stayed positive and helped me not get too down on myself. I don’t think I can thank them enough for all of the support through this difficult time.

PokerStars says it plans to relaunch FTP in the U.S. When the time comes, will you feel comfortable playing on FTP after everything that’s happened?

I would be very excited if they can come back to the U.S. With as well run as PokerStars is, I would have no problem playing on their sites.

Now with the prospect of online poker returning to the U.S, how much – if any – does that change the life you’ve been accustomed to living the last 16 months?

It would be a great change to my life. I wasn’t a high-volume player before, but now that I haven’t been able to play any online poker, I really miss it. I enjoy live poker more, but online gave me a chance to hone my game before big live series such as the WSOP. I really hope that online poker comes sooner rather than later.

On a final note, I just wanted to give a big thanks to PokerStars for saving all of us who had money stuck on Full Tilt. I would also like to say thanks for all of the kind words people have been sending my way via Twitter and Facebook.

For more on Hinkle’s story, be sure to check out Tuesday’s PokerNews Podcast. For news, updates, and more follow PokerNews on Twitter and Facebook.

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June 14 2012, Brett Collson

Groupe Bernard Tapie was back in the news on Thursday. Sorry, it had nothing to do with Full Tilt Poker. We’ll cover the latest on GBT, plus a calling for poker to be taught in high schools, in this edition for the Nightly Turbo.

In Case You Missed It

Phil Ivey made another final table on Wednesday. How close did he come to winning his ninth bracelet? Find out in our Day 17 recap.

Scotty Nguyen and Joe Cassidy are playing heads-up for a bracelet on Thursday. Read about that and more in the WSOP What To Watch For.

2011 bracelet winner Aaron Steury joined the PokerNews Podcast on Wednesday. Find out what he had to say about defending his title in the $1,500 HORSE event.

Looking for a fun, behind-the-scenes perspective of life at the WSOP? The Muck is providing several daily stories from inside the Rio, so check it out!

Setting The Date

The details of Bernard Tapie’s International Stadiums Poker Tour (ISPT) have been sketchy since we first came across an impressive advert for the poker tour late last year. But it appears an official date has been set for the first event next summer.

According to the ISPT website, the first event will take place from May 31 through June 6, 2013, at Wembley Stadium in London. The event will feature a “4,500 buy-in with a “20 million guarantee, and the organizations claims that 2,119 players have already registered.

The tournament itself will begin with up to 30,000 players competing a shootout format using electronic pads offered to them from their seats in the stadium. Then, after the first round, the remaining players will move to actual tables laid out on the Wembley lawn and play until a champion is crowned.

For more information, including the tournament betting structure, visit ISPT.com.

Poker in High Schools?

International Federation of Poker (IFP) President Anthony Holden is calling on high schools in the U.K. to follow the lead of a New York City high school and introduce poker as an official extracurricular activity.

Holden leads the IFP’s campaign to promote poker as a genuine mind sport. He believes that poker helps children learn necessary life lessons, from the skill of “reading an opponent – essential to all negotiations – to the ability to rapidly calculate probability.”

“Like other mind sports poker is a valuable support tool in education,” said Holden. “It promotes the development of concentration and the memory, helps develop a structured mind and the power of reasoning and positive behavior patterns.”

The Henry Street School, located on Manhattan’s Lower East Side, launched its Poker club in 2007 and it remains the only sanctioned high school poker club in the city. There are weekly tournaments held on school grounds and, in 2008, the school took a poker team to Massachusetts and defeated a team from Harvard Law School.

Learn more about the Holden and the IFP at pokerfed.org.

Progress in Delaware

A bill that would allow Delaware residents to gamble online passed in the House this week by a vote of 29-8. The bill will next move onto the Senate for discussion.

House Bill 333 calls for a centralized online gambling platform to be regulated by the state Lottery Office. Delaware casinos have been struggling to compete against casinos on the East Coast, and the Department of Finance estimates HB 333 would generate $7.75 million in revenue for the state next fiscal year. The state is also attempting to partner with other states to create a multi-state platform similar Powerball and Mega Millions.

If passed, the bill would permit the offering of games like poker, blackjack, digital slot machines. Online lottery tickets and limited sports betting would also be available.

Business Week has more.

Feldman Hits Reality TV

PokerNews learned Thursday that high-stakes poker pro Andrew Feldman will appear on the U.K. version of The Secret Millionaire on June 25. The 24-year-old Brit will be the youngest millionaire on the show since its creation in 2006.

The popular series features millionaires who take a short hiatus from their luxury lifestyles and go undercover in deprived areas and donate money for specific needs. Feldman is a former Full Tilt Poker Red Pro with more than $1 million in live tournament cashes, but he’s more known for his exploits in cash games.

Feldman’s appearance on the reality show won’t be his first television appearance. He’s played in several televised several high-stakes cash games, and last year he finished runner-up to Andy Frankenberger on Sky Sports’ Party Poker Premier League Mixed Games Championship. You may recall Feldman shedding some tears after taking a bad beat on the final hand.

Find out more about The Secret Millionaire at Channel4.com.

The Straddle

Fancy a look at the lighter side of things at the WSOP? Kristy Arnett is back with her second edition of The Straddle.

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