Full Tilt Poker Payday - Pros Expecting Millions Back

The relaunch of Full Tilt Poker is very good news for all players, but there are several pros who expect millions of dollars eagerly. Alderney Gaming Control Commission (AGCC) revoked Full Tilt Poker's operating license on 29 July, 2011 [3], a few months after Black Friday [4], and as a consequence, players couldn't access their bankroll anymore. Almost exactly a year of misery, scandal, proposed acquisition, failure of acquisition, hope and hopelessness followed.

On 31 July, 2012 the news broke all players dreamed about for a year: Full Tilt Poker has been sold, and the buyer is the world's largest poker site, PokerStars [5], who announced they will repay all the bankrolls in 90 days. This brought not only the two poker rooms, but the whole of online poker to a new milestone, which might be the beginning of another surge in online poker traffic. It is estimated that almost $150 million will reenter the money circulation of online poker, by way of non-US players alone. Even more than that, because many poker pros moved from the United States, joining the global poker market.

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One of the most notable pros who moved to London from their native country is Daniel 'jungleman12' Cates, who was the number one online nosebleed NLHE Heads-Up player in the world.  He is also a recorder concerning money stuck in FTP, he collected $7,003,234 in 2 years, which made him the 5th most profitable player in the history of Full Tilt Poker. There were rumours after Black Friday that Cates sold his Full Tilt Poker Bankroll to Tom 'durrr' Dwan. The information is unofficial, and even though he might sold a portion of it to Dwan, he revealedd in a recent interview that he still owns the majority of his Full Tilt money. He expects 80% of his $7 million back. Cates also reported that losing his bankroll was a terrible blow mentally, but he successfully overcame it and decided to rebuild his bankroll from scratch. He currently has $1,5 million profit at European sites. If he indeed gets his money back, he can dominate nosebleed tables with an even bigger roll.

There are players who were much more traumatized by the loss of millions. They were so shocked and disappointed such a thing could happen that many of the players quit online poker altogether. Di 'urindanger' Dang and Hac 'trex313' Dang, the Dang brothers nowadays work as entrepreneurs. Di Dang won $7,411,127 at FTP, Hec Dang $5,571,517. Ashton 'theASHMAN102' Griffin is also a major winner in FTP history, he won $4,850,074. Although Griffin didn't reveal how much of his winnings got stuck in the poker room, he said it is a considerable sum.

When asked, whether he will return to play the game when he got his money back, he simply replied "You aren’t going to see theashman103 [his screen name] at the $200-$400 tables anytime soon." He added that he is much more interested in live poker, where he can enjoy the conversation between players, as it is a much more social experience.

On the other hand, the Danish pro Gus Hansen is eager to play with his reclaimed bankroll at Full Tilt Poker. He is currently an overall loser at FTP, he is down $3,206,733, but from 2010 onwards he collected a $3,716,474 profit, out of which $2,5 million got stuck in the room.

"I feel like I got an unexpected Christmas gift. Of course, I'll only believe this if the money is on my account." - Hansen told to the Danish newspaper Bladet.

As a Danish citizen Hansen will probably get his money without any problems, however, the situation of US citizens is not that clear cut. According to the settlement between PokerStars and the US Department of Justice, PokerStars paid $547 million to the DoJ for Full Tilt Poker, and will repay non-US players, and the DoJ would pay the citizens of the United States from the $547 million. On the other hand, the Department is reluctant to pay money which was earned playing at Full Tilt Poker, as online poker is illegal in the United States of America, and money earned while playing poker is necessarily illegal, therefore they plan to reimburse only the amounts of the deposits.

This move would be highly beneficial for players like Guy Laliberte, one of the biggest losers of all time, who would get millions of dollars, while high stakes pros, who started out with $100-$200 and made millions would only get the amount of their deposits.

The news is not yet official, but John Pappas, Executive Director of the Poker Players Alliance already stated that this idea is ridiculous and unfair to American players.

"This wouldn't be fair to successful online poker players, who earned their money in a fair game" - said Pappas.