September 23 2011, Elaine Chaivarlis

Our brains are officially fried. There have been so many news stories this week, we almost didn’t know what to do with them all – but we figured it out. We’re definitely glad it’s the weekend. Be sure to check out the top poker news stories of the day, like the online poker petition, and T.J. Cloutier’s thoughts on Full Tilt Poker, and then go grab a beer or something. Oh yeah, and while you’re railing the football games on Sunday, be sure to rail the PokerStars WCOOP action, because we’ll be live blogging the Main Event.

In Case You Missed It

We know that sometimes it’s easier more fun to listen to news than read it, especially when the PokerNews hostesses are bringing you the update. In the latest PokerNews Weekly, Kristy Arnett and Sarah Grant discuss Full Tilt Poker, and more.

The World Poker Tour Borgata Poker Open set its final table on Day 4. Who led the way going into the final table on Day 5?

The remaining players from both Day 1 fields were merged on Thursday at the World Poker Tour Malta. The money bubble didn’t burst on Day 2, but it was close. By the end of play on Day 2, Cecilia Pescaglini had overtaken the top spot on the chip leaderboard.

There are only a few days left in the 2011 PokerStars World Championship of Online Poker. If you read the Day 19 WCOOP recap, you’ll find out how a two-day event turned into a one day.

Sunday is almost here and that means football. If you can’t figure out which teams to bet on or who to play on your fantasy team, you should probably read the latest Pigskin Diaries.

The spotlight has shone brightly on Full Tilt Poker this week. On Friday, we obtained the arrest warrant in rem from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York that calls for the seizure of bank accounts held by Full Tilt’s board members.

This week’s amended complaint against Howard Lederer, Chris Ferguson, and Rafe Furst probably left you wondering whether players will get their money back. Here’s a look at the impact that the allegations have on player reimbursements.

With the PokerStars World Championship of Online Poker running, one might think the high-stakes online cash games might be a little light. Wrong. The Online Railbird Report fills you in on this week’s biggest winners, and losers.

We’re not legal experts. We never claimed to be. But we found one who is well versed in the gaming industry and Ponzi schemes – Maurice “Mac” VerStandig. He broke down the allegations against Full Tilt Poker for us.

5,000 in 30

A petition was created on Sept. 22 to bring online poker regulation to the Obama administration’s attention. We the People, is a way to get the public’s voice heard in the government. At the moment, the minimum number of signatures needed on a petition to be reviewed is 5,000 signatures in 30 days.

The online poker petition wants the Obama administration to “protect consumers, create jobs, and generate revenue by licensing and regulating online poker.” At the time of writing, 2,932 signatures have been collected.

“Appropriate regulation of online poker will put the U.S. in charge of safeguarding responsible adult players, prevent underage participation and protect those with excessive gaming habits. The current, unregulated U.S. marketplace does not guarantee a single consumer protection,” the petition says.

The petition continues, “U.S. regulation of this global industry will also mean the creation of American jobs and billions in new revenue without raising taxes. Licensed U.S.-based horse race wagering sites have proven that online betting sites can be successfully regulated. It is time to allow online poker the same opportunity.”

Be heard. Sign the petition.

Cloutier Speaks

Earlier this week, Covers ran an interview with T.J. Cloutier regarding the recent allegations against Full Tilt Poker.

Cloutier told Covers, “From what I understand, Full Tilt never had any intention of repaying these people. This whole thing is ridiculous.”

He continued, “Why would they ever try to get more than they should get out of it? To me, it’s greed. You know that television program, ‘American Greed?’ They ought to have this thing on there. I heard point blank that none of the players on Full Tilt are going to get their money. The feeling now is if there’s any money left, the government is going to get it.”

He even touched on who had ownership in the company, saying, “Phil Ivey in no way had the power that Howard [Lederer] did. Of the poker players, Howard was by far the biggest. They all bought 1 percent pieces of it. Howard had a bigger slice, Phil had a slice, Ferguson had a slice and the rest were 1-percenters. That was just a business deal for them, an investment. The only one who played at the WSOP this year was Erick Lindgren. The rest stayed completely away from it. They didn’t want to have to answer all these questions and face the heat.”

Cloutier’s thoughts on the government weren’t exactly flattering either. “As far as I am concerned, the government is stupid,” he said. “They could have been making all this money on taxes and stuff all along (since the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act was passed in 2006). There was money there. All these poor homeless people and the troops that come home and can’t find jobs … some money could be going to them that they could have been collecting from this.”

If you wanted to check out the entire interview, go to Covers.com.

Duplicate Poker and The Table

The International Federation of Poker announced the details of two new tournaments on Wednesday. The events will take place from Nov. 17 through 20 in London.

On Nov. 17, the inaugural Duplicate Poker Nations Cup will kick off at the EDF Energy London Eye (you know, the tallest Ferris wheel in Europe). The Nations Cup will pit 12 different countries against each other for the championship trophy, medals, and of course bragging rights.

“The Nations Cup will be a genuine celebration of all that is best in intellectual sports. Some of the world’s best players playing for pride and the honor of representing their countries in an intense competition with the added spice of international rivalry. Poker is played by millions around the world and Duplicate Poker is the game in its purest form. Players compete against each other based on skill, without any fluctuation in chance,” IFP President Anthony Holden said.

What is duplicate poker? It’s a poker variant where “each table is dealt an identically shuffled pack of cards, which means that each player holds the same hand as those in the equivalent seat on other tables.”

The IFP also launched The Table tournament, where 130 of the world’s best will play against each other in a freeroll with a $500,000 prize pool.

Find out more about the launch of these two tournaments at UK.PokerNews.com.

There is Something Cool About Being Good at Poker

On Sept. 22, 4th Row Films uploaded a teaser trailer for its poker documentary on YouTube. All-In: The Poker Movie features Howard Lederer (yup), Matt Damon, Scotty Nguyen, and plenty of other notable players.

We’ll let you come to your own conclusions about this one.

Is That…No, It Couldn’t Be

In the midst of our flurry of work on Friday, we came across our favorite thread of the moment on TwoPlusTwo – Phil Hellmuth Riding a Giant Hotdog on Water. Yes, you read that right, and yes, it’s literal – well, almost. We aren’t sure if it’s Hellmuth on the hotdog, but if it’s not, the guy in the photo is a dead ringer for the Poker Brat. The initial image is gold in and of itself, but as you’re all aware, there are some Photoshop masters on TwoPlusTwo.

This thread is a must read.

You should follow PokerNews on Twitter for up-to-the-minute news. Not only that, like PokerNews on Facebook, and sign up for the Nightly Turbo newsletter below.

Follow Elaine Chaivarlis on Twitter – @LaneyLV

September 22 2011, Elaine Chaivarlis

Since Tuesday, there has been no shortage of news on Full Tilt Poker, so we’ll be going over everything Full Tilt Poker related, including what the company’s lawyers have said, and Gus Hansen’s latest interview. On top of that, The Hendon Mob has secured a new sponsor just days after ending its exclusive relationship with Full Tilt Poker. There’s a lot going on so we’ll get you caught up.

In Case You Missed It

The World Poker Tour Borgata Poker Open continued with Day 3 on Wednesday. The money bubble burst and by the end of the day, Will “The Thrill” Failla had claimed the chip lead.

Day 1b of the World Poker Tour Malta kicked off on Wednesday and 139 players entered, to bring the total field to 240, creating a “698,400 prize pool. Tommy Vedes finished at the top of the pack, but there are still plenty of notables left looking to take over the chip lead.

There are just a few days left of the 2011 World Championship of Online Poker, so if you’re looking for gold, you better get busy. Four players won bracelets on Day 18 of the WCOOP, including Jason “jdtjpoker” Wheeler.

We can’t all have the biggest stack in the tournament all the time – even though we’d like to. So you need to have some sort of short-stack strategy. Ben Wilinofsky discusses short-stack strategy in the latest Strategy with Kristy podcast.

The first stop on the 2011-2012 World Series of Poker Circuit wrapped up on Sept. 19. Read our WSOPC Results recap to find out which two players earned seats in the $1 Million National Championship during the stop.

The Global Poker Index released its rankings as of Sept. 19. The only change in the top 10 was John Juanda’s 10th place spot being overtaken. Who cracked the top 10?

“Not a So-Called Ponzi Scheme”

According to the Wall Street Journal, Full Tilt Poker attorney’s slammed the U.S. Department of Justice for its allegation that the company ran a Ponzi scheme.

“A Ponzi scheme requires an investment vehicle in order to receive a certain rate of high return,” Jeff Ifrah, one of Full Tilt Poker’s attorneys, said. “None of those things happened here.” Ifrah says Full Tilt Poker “should be likened to that of a problematic bank, rather than an illegal investment scheme.”

The attorney for recently accused Chris Ferguson, Ian Imrich said, “While the government has obviously taken issue with the underlying activities of FTP, under any reasonable interpretation, the world-wide operations of the online cardroom are not a so-called Ponzi scheme.”

The Wall Street Journal reports that as of Wednesday, the U.S. Justice Department had no comment.

WSJ.com has more.

The Great Dane Opens Up

On Tuesday, Tom “durrrr” Dwan broke his silence regarding Full Tilt Poker. On Wednesday, Ekstra Bladet published an interview with Erik Balck Sørensen, Gus Hansen’s manager.

Disclaimer: The interview was in Danish and has been translated with Google Translate, our best friend of the past two weeks.

“Until Black Friday Gus was convinced that he was part of a well-oiled business machine with a professional management team who had a clear separation between the players’ money and the operation of the site. The people must believe in it or leave it,” Sørensen said.

According to Sørensen “the reality looked very different” than what Hansen was told internally.

Gus has never been anywhere near the leadership of Full Tilt. Perhaps they have filled him and others with falsehoods. It would seem so, but we can not, in any way, say anything concrete about it at this time. Gus is critical of it and is really sad both for the poker site, he has been part of, and the players who have not been paid their money,” Sørensen continued.

Read more at EkstraBladet.dk.

Dealing with The Mob

No, not this mob. A few days after announcing it ended its exclusive relationship with Full Tilt Poker, The Hendon Mob has snatched up another sponsor – Genting Poker. Weirdly enough, the first sentence of the announcement painted a mob-like picture in our head, so maybe it’s not far from the mob linked above. Kidding!

“In a deal struck over a meal at Soho’s Little Italy The Hendon Mob shook hands with the godfathers of Genting, securing the future of the Hendon Mob website and guaranteeing the boys all the pasta they can eat.”

According to the announcement, the partnership crosses over both live and online.

If you’d like to find out more, read the announcement on TheHendonMob.com.

Pros Go Mainstream

On Thursday morning, Greg Raymer appeared on CNN to discuss the latest allegations against Full Tilt Poker, Howard Lederer, Chris Ferguson, Rafe Furst, and Ray Bitar.

“Since I know some of these guys personally, I’m just surprised that they could be guilty of such a thing,” Raymer said when asked why he was stunned by the news.

“All of this really highlights the need for tough U.S. regulation,” said Raymer.

And if you missed Tom “durrrr” Dwan on Fox, you can watch it at FoxBusiness.com.

Barney Frank to Give Back Money

The Boston Herald is reporting that even though U.S. Rep. Barney Frank is “very disappointed to hear the allegations” against Full Tilt Poker’s, Howard Lederer, Chris Ferguson, and Rafe Furst, they don’t change his views on online gambling legislation. “If anything, it strengthens them.”

Critics berated Frank, as well as Sen. Harry Reid, for taking money from Full Tilt Poker. “Frank should refund every nickel of the tens of thousands in campaign donations linked to online gambling,” Tim Buckley state GOP spokesman said. “It appears Mr. Frank is another congressman willing to associate with criminals.”

According to the Boston Herald, Frank is willing to put the “donations from Lederer, Furst and Ferguson into a special account and donate it to a fund for victims if the Justice Department sets one up – and if the men are found guilty.”

Read more at BostonHerald.com.

Online Poker Traffic Numbers

The online poker traffic numbers are out for last week. PokerScout is reporting that online poker traffic slumped 2.4 percent last week. Seven of the top 10 sites saw decreases in traffic.

The rankings are steady and no changes are being reported for the top 14 poker sites and networks. The iPoker Network remains in the second spot, behind online poker giant PokerStars, but PokerScout’s weekly update says PartyPoker is gaining ground.

As for year-for-year numbers, in the last year, online poker traffic has decreased by 32 percent, according to PokerScout’s ACES indicator. Sites with the biggest year-over-year gains include 888poker (106 percent), Bodog (53 percent) and the Merge Gaming Network (20 percent).

If numbers are your thing, check out online poker traffic numbers at PokerScout.com.

Morale is Low

On Wednesday, Reuters reported that the allegations against Full Tilt Poker and the fallout have affected those at the Cherrywood Business Park in Dublin, Ireland. According to the article, nearly half of “the employees of Pocket Kings, which operates the IT, customer services and marketing for Full Tilt, are set to lose their jobs and many of them surf the web for clues about what will happen next.”

According to the article, morale is “really bad.” A French employee at Pocket Kings spoke with Reuters and said, “At the moment we just sit here and do nothing all day, just reading news from poker websites and message boards. For three months, we are doing nothing.”

The Pocket Kings employees are being told the minimum and the employee says that “there is no communication” and they get “most of the news through online forums.”

Reuters.com has more.

Inside Deal

ESPN’s Inside Deal is back this week to discuss Full Tilt Poker, obv. Jon Anik, Andrew Feldman, and Bernard Lee caught viewers up on the recent news and then spoke with 2011 November Niner Sam Holden.

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Follow Elaine Chaivarlis on Twitter – @LaneyLV