Editorial: Full Tilt Poker/Groupe Bernard Tapie Deal Off To Rocky Start

The opinions in this editorial do not reflect the positions of the ownership or management of Poker News Daily.

The saving grace that came last week with the announcement of the long-awaited deal for the sale of Full Tilt Poker to the French investment company Groupe Bernard Tapie looked, at the start, to be what the online poker world was waiting for. The deal would solve the problems – payment of players, the current litigation in the United States, the site’s licensing – that face the former number two player in the online poker industry. But the first week following the agreement brings some ominous warning signs.

As reported here on Poker News Daily, Groupe Bernard Tapie and its managing director, Laurent Tapie, have been looking at some unusual methods for handling the issues facing Full Tilt Poker. The Wall Street Journal stated that the company is considering offering certain customers stake in Full Tilt Poker to settle the accounts of those players. In something that should send up warning flares as well, it is also possible that Groupe Bernard Tapie may give the former owners of Full Tilt Poker a chance to buy back into the company to raise capital.

These proposed moves by Groupe Bernard Tapie should be something that the online poker community disavows immediately. Taking the first option – the payment of major account holders in stock equity in the company – this does not treat the customers waiting for their Full Tilt money equally. It has to be figured that only the biggest players on the site – those with the most money in their accounts – would be treated differently than the Average Joe that has a few hundred (or less) on the site.

What would be the cutoff line for this “equity stake” in the new-and-improved Full Tilt? Even though there are potentially millions of players who are waiting for their money, you would have to figure that only the top 5% may have enough money in their account to be in position to take advantage of the equity deal. This is a discriminatory move that puts more value on those that are owed the most versus taking care of all players equally.

Furthermore, the equity deal may violate some tenets of many online poker operations. For many sites, owners and employees of an online gaming operation are not allowed to play on the site due to a potential conflict of interest. How would it affect the rank-and-file players to know that the “big guns” who took equity in the company are still allowed to play on the site?

The second part of the proposals by Groupe Bernard Tapie should be the most alarming to the online poker world, however. After the mismanagement of the company by its previous owners, how would it serve the online poker community to allow them back into ownership of the site that they nearly destroyed? The outrage over the potential for the former ownership of Full Tilt Poker – people such as Ray Bitar, Howard Lederer, Chris “Jesus” Ferguson and Rafe Furst (all indicted by the U. S. Department of Justice), among others – should be something that is expressed by the poker community.

Although it has been stated by Groupe Bernard Tapie that, if this was to take place, those investors would have no management input, how can this be taken as true? A person who invests millions of dollars in a company is going to have some say in that company’s operation and, as such, it would make no sense for the people that have ruined the reputation of the site back into the game.

This part of the proposed plan from Groupe Bernard Tapie more than likely wouldn’t pass the muster of the U. S. Department of Justice. With the litigation pending, any potential view that the company’s former ownership was still involved with Full Tilt would probably not be met favorably by the DoJ. While Groupe Bernard Tapie is facing a huge uphill battle – not to mention the potential investment of an estimated $750 million in Full Tilt – the proposals set forth over the past week should be something that the poker community doesn’t accept if Full Tilt Poker is to move forward.

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Poker argot:

FULL OF - Describes a full house. "Fives full of queens" is 5-5-5-Q-Q.
BLUFF - To make a bet or raise with a poor hand, in hope that the remaining active player(s) will fold.
SPREAD LIMIT - A variation on fixed limit wherein the minimum and maximum bets are different. A 1-4-8 game allows bets from 1 to 4 in the early rounds and 1-8 in the last round. A 1-4-8-16 game allows bets from 1 to 4 in the early rounds, 1 to 8 in the next-to-last round, and 1 to 16 in the last round.
ROYAL FLUSH - An ace-high straight flush, the best possible hand in regular poker.
OPENER - The player who opens the betting, especially in draw poker. A hand may have no openers, in which case it is PASSED OUT, i.e., new hands are dealt.
COLD CALL - Calling both a bet and raise at the same time, as opposed to calling a bet then later calling a raise made after the call.

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