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Poker Players still in Debt to Full Tilt

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As the dismantling of Full Tilt Poker continues, it has come out that top poker pros owe Full Tilt money. This is no doubt one of the privileges that come with being a poker pro. I have no doubt that the players were staked in exchange for their play and visibility on the site.

According to an article on Card Player.com it is alleged that 6 poker pros owe Full Tilt about $18 million dollars. And in a sense they owe that money to the players who still haven’t gotten their funds back from Full Tilt. According to the article, Phil Ivey, Layne Flack, Barry Greenstein, Erick Lindgren, Mike Matusow, and David Benyamine all owe differing amounts to Full Tilt.

Greenstein for his part, posted a reply on the Poker Forum 2+2. I have a feeling we may not hear from the others and frankly we don’t have to hear from them. I appreciate Barry’s willingness to come forward and discuss the issue. I do think his response lacks a little in that he mentions the US players and the money that is due to them. I think Barry should be backing and supporting all of the players as from what I understand all of the money is frozen, not just for the US based players.

The whole Full Tilt situation really strikes the nail on the fact that online poker and gambling for that matter, needs regulation. I know, the last thing we need is the government in our business but at the end of the day the only way to play is if you pay. I don’t have a problem paying taxes on my poker winnings as long as I know that the platforms I’m playing on are secure and safe. It really sucks when players are out thousands and possible hundreds of thousands of dollars because it was placed with a risky off-shore business. I know we’re at risk of the corporate fat cats running the online poker industry (MGM, Harrah’s, etc.) but sometimes the devil you know is better than the devil you don’t know.

Poker Strategy Shift in Online Poker

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Revolutionary tools are often called game changers. The invention of online poker rooms has created a game changer within the gambling world. Once legalized (and monitored), online poker will facilitate a shifting of poker skills from the standard skills and methods used in brick and mortar poker rooms to new concepts and skill sets used in online poker.

The value of anonymity with online poker has increased what typical players consider ‘risky plays’. Players tend to make plays in online poker hands that they may not normally make in person at a poker table. Things are a little different when you’re sitting there staring at someone or staring at a computer screen. We all have our favorite poker strategy book(s) but these days those concepts are typically violated with online poker plays. Online players are generally considered to be more aggressive and also loose.

Prior to the US Government shutting down most online poker operations offering tables to players in the US there was a boon of sorts, also known as the Moneymaker Effect. Chris Moneymaker was an accountant from Tennessee who won the World Series of Poker in 2003. Moneymaker was an online qualifier through the website Poker Stars. It started the poker wave of people who found that because Poker is a game of skill, they could make money sitting at home in front of a computer screen. A few years later, the US Government took care of all of that by outlawing the processing of debit and credit cards based with banks in the United States. Essentially, online poker was choked out by the inability to deposit and withdraw funds.

The coming months and years will be telling in regards to how online poker will proceed in the future. Not only will the regulations and potential for taxing be very important but the differing of poker strategy will also be interesting. The days of Amarillo Slim and Doyle Brunson playing in back rooms are over. The online poker revolution started in 2003, now we’re just waiting for it to resume.