Full Tilt Poker to Re-Launch by November
Last week it was announced that PokerStars purchased Full Tilt Poker. The news was announced to the poker community through forums such as TwoPlusTwo and now executives from both PokerStars and Full Tilt Poker have released new information on the forums.
Following last week’s announcements, it has now been confirmed that Full Tilt Poker will be re-launching in the coming months.
A spokesman for PokerStars, Lee Jones, was the first to post on TwoPlusTwo saying that deal has been “officially closed” with the U.S. DoJ and that Full Tilt Poker will be live again by November 6th.
Shyam Markus, a poker room manager at Full Tilt took to the forum to answer a number of questions relating to Full Tilt. Markus confirmed the re-launching of Fill Tilt and said it may be as early as October. Even though Full Tilt is now owned by PokerStars, Markus said that they will be managed separately and have different looks.
According to Markus US players will still be able to play with fake money under their original Player IDs. Full Tilt is also working on a .eu site and expects to launch it soon.
PokerStars will be paying a total of $731 million for Full Tilt Poker in several instalments over the next three years. The next payment will be the repaying of non-U.S. players which will take place no later than the site’s re-launch.
At present there is no word on a payment plan for U.S. players. All that is known is that players will need to submit claims through the DoJ’s Asset Forfeiture and Money Laundering Section. There is also some speculation that the DoJ won’t be willing to pay back winnings, just money deposited by players. However, according to the Executive Director of the Poker Players Alliance, John Pappas, the Alliance will be exerting pressure on the DoJ to fully reimburse players as PokerStars were allowed to fully pay its players following last year’s Black Friday.
