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Full Tilt Poker is an online poker card room that opened in June 2004 with the involvement of poker professionals Howard Lederer, Phil Ivey, Andy Bloch, Mike Matusow, Jennifer Harman and Chris Ferguson. No games are offered by the company due to the revocation of its operating license.

Full Tilt Poker was launched by parent company TiltWare, LLC in June 2004 and began full operation on July 10, 2004. On April 15, 2011, Full Tilt Poker was one of several online poker operators to have its .com domain seized by the United States Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) as part of a series of indictments of the sites' owners and employees. On June 29, 2011, the Alderney Gambling Control Commission suspended the license of Full Tilt Poker, and revoked the license on September 29, 2011. The U.S. government has filed a civil suit accusing the company of a $300 million fraud, and called the firm a "Ponzi scheme". Lawyers for the firm have denied the charges.

On September 30, 2011 it was disclosed that French business tycoon Bernard Tapie had agreed to buy the company and its assets despite its legal troubles in the United States and the revocation of its gambling license. According to Full Tilt Poker, the agreement provided for full repayment of poker players, but it was subject to resolution of the US legal actions.

Corporate affairs

Full Tilt Poker is registered in Alderney in the Channel Islands. The company is regulated by the Alderney Gambling Control Commission under the name Filco Limited, and regulated by ARJEL under the name Rekop Limited in France.

On July 1, 2011, it was announced that Full Tilt Poker would be acquired by a group of European investors. The investor group is lead by Bernard Tapie, former French Minister of City Affairs, and known for specializing in recovery for bankrupted companies. He transformed over 40 bankrupted companies into profitable businesses in the 1980's, among which Adidas is the most famous.

On September 30, 2011 it was confirmed that French business tycoon Bernard Tapie had agreed to buy the company and its assets. According to Full Tilt Poker, the agreement provided for full repayment of poker players, but it was subject to resolution of the US legal actions.

Licensure

On June 29, 2011, the commission suspended the license of Full Tilt Poker following a special investigation prompted by indictments by the US Attorney General’s Office in the Southern District of New York on April 15, 2011. In the investigation, it was determined that Full Tilt Poker and its associates were operating contrary to Alderney legislation. Subsequently, all game play was suspended on the site. On July 4, 2011, ARJEL suspended Full Tilt's .fr license in France.

On September 29, 2011, the Alderney Gambling Control Commission revoked the license of Full Tilt Poker. In a statement on its website, the commission indicated that the company reported balances that had been frozen by U.S. authorities as liquid, gave unauthorized loans, and failed to report material events.

Games offered

Full Tilt offered both play and real money ring games (also known as "cash games") and tournaments. Freeroll, satellite, sit-n-go, and multi-table tournaments took place throughout the day and often included participation from Full Tilt’s sponsored professionals. The site offered the following poker variations in limit, pot-limit, and no-limit: Texas Holdem, Omaha, and Omaha 8 or Better (a.k.a. Omaha hi/lo). The site also offers limit Razz, Stud, Stud 8 or better, Draw poker variants and mixed games such as H.O.R.S.E. Stakes offered ranged from $0.01/$0.02 blinds to $3,000/$6,000 blinds.

In early 2010, Full Tilt introduced a new poker variation called "Rush Poker" designed to increase the number of hands a player receives. In "Rush Poker" players do not remain at a specific table. Instead, they join a pool with hundreds of other players. Whenever they fold their hand, they are instantly transferred to a new table and dealt a new hand. Full Tilt Poker also launched Rush Poker Mobile for iOS devices such as the iPad and iPhone and Android devices such as the Samsung Galaxy Tab.

Members of Full Tilt

Full Tilt's team of professionals was an integral part of the company's marketing strategy, its slogan being "Learn, Chat and Play with the Pros."

"Team Full Tilt" was composed of fourteen noted professionals who played regularly on the site and were considered full-fledged members.

In addition to Team Full Tilt, several other pros were "Full Tilt Pros," who were sponsored by the site but were not full-fledged members made up of two teams, "CardRunners" and "The Hendon Mob", there were also an additional 164 "Full Tilt Pros" and 41 non-members made up of Authors, Celebrities, Announcers, Commentators and the 2007 Main Event Champion Jerry Yang, they were known as "Friends of Full Tilt" whose names were also highlighted in red text on the site.

In March 2008 Team CardRunners (including Mike Schneider and Brian Townsend) were announced to have been signed as Full Tilt pros. On December 21, 2009, Pokernewsdaily.com reported that Townsend's Red Pro status was suspended for a month for using another player's hand histories to study high stakes player Isildur1, from whom he won $3m in a single day earlier that month.

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Team Full Tilt

• Howard Lederer
• Phil Ivey
• Chris Ferguson
• John Juanda
• Jennifer Harman
• Phil Gordon
• Erick Lindgren
• Erik Seidel
• Andy Bloch
• Mike Matusow
• Gus Hansen
• Allen Cunningham
• Patrik Antonius
• Tom Dwan

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CardRunners

There were a total of 10 Card-runners members which included:

• Isaac Baron
• David Benefield
• Taylor Caby
• Ryan Daut
• Brian Hastings
• Eric Liu
• Mike McDonald
• Haseeb Qureshi
• Mike Schneider
• Andrew Wiggins

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The Hendon Mob

• Barny Boatman
• Ross Boatman
• Joe Eats Beevers
• Ram Vaswani

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In late 2008 it was alleged that Full Tilt Poker owned a number of domain names, including ones incorporating the names of rising players – even some of those who are not affiliated with the cardroom. These domains redirect to Full Tilt Poker's main site.

Full Tilt on television

Full Tilt Poker is or has been the principal sponsor of a number of poker television programs, including:

• Learn from the Pros
• Poker Championship at Red Rock
• Poker After Dark
• Pro-Am Poker Equalizer
• Face the Ace
• Late Night Poker
• Poker Million
• The Poker Lounge

Legal matters

Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act

On September 29, 2006, the U.S. Congress passed a harbor security measure, the SAFE Port Act, which included a last-minute amendment known as the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act (UIGEA). While the law does not outlaw online gambling, it does make it illegal for financial institutions, such as banks and credit card companies, to transfer funds to online gambling sites.

In response to passage of the UIGEA, PartyGaming Plc, owner of Party Poker, left the US market, creating a vacuum largely filled by PokerStars and Full Tilt Poker.

Clonie Gowen

In late 2008, Full Tilt was sued in Nevada by Clonie Gowen, prominent poker professional and former Full Tilt endorser. She claimed that during Full Tilt's formative year of 2004, she was offered a 1% ownership in the company in exchange for her promotional efforts. The suit was dismissed by a trial court, but later partly reinstated on appeal.

James Hicks

On April 29, 2009, James B. Hicks filed a civil complaint against Tiltware, LLC (d/b/a FullTiltPoker.com), TiltProof, Inc., and Chris Ferguson generally alleging unfair and unlawful business practices including illegal Internet gaming and violations of the UIGEA. Hicks is seeking injunctive relief to prevent Full Tilt from operating its website, soliciting players, or funding or accepting payments for illegal gambling in California. No monetary damages are being sought save reasonable costs and attorneys' fees.

The Plaintiff, Hicks, is a Los Angeles lawyer and a partner in the law firm representing him in his case against Full Tilt.

Jason Newitt

On September 11, 2009, Full Tilt was sued civilly in Nevada by Jason Newitt in the case of Jason Newitt v. Tiltware; Full Tilt Poker; Pocket Kings Ltd.; Pocket Kings Consulting Ltd.; Raymond Bitar; Howard Lederer. Mr. Newitt alleges that he was unfairly fired and that his distribution payments were unfairly ceased.

Lary Kennedy

On October 1, 2009, Lary Kennedy and Greg Omotoy filed suit against Full Tilt Poker, Tiltware and several individual members of Team Full Tilt alleging fraud, libel, slander, false advertising, and racketeering. Kennedy and Omotoy filed suit following unsuccessful attempts to have Full Tilt refund $80,000 which it had seized from Kennedy’s and Omotoy’s accounts asserting a violation of Full Tilt’s Terms of Service for using "bots". On October 17, 2009, Full Tilt responded to Kennedy’s lawsuit by claiming the suit was baseless and frivolous and stating that it “has never knowingly allowed ‘bots’ to play on its site.”

After the case was removed to the United States District Court for the Central District of California, on April, 26, 2010, Judge Margaret Morrow dismissed the case with leave stating the Kennedy had failed to "detail many portions of her case regarding state violations and, in particular, there could be no claim under the RICO Act. However, as the case was dismissed with leave, Kennedy may re-file the complaint in federal court if she is able to correct the deficiencies in her original complaint.

Grand jury investigation, indictment, and website seizure

On April 5, 2010, the Financial Times reported that a federal grand jury in Manhattan is investigating Full Tilt Poker and individuals associated with the company, including Howard Lederer and Chris Ferguson, for violations of gambling and money-laundering laws. Although neither the Manhattan United States Attorney nor officials with the United States Department of Justice would comment on the matter, it was reported that such an investigation “would fit the federal law enforcement strategy by trying to make an example out of prominent targets”. The Department of Justice maintains that online poker violates the Interstate Wire Act of 1961 (Federal Wire Act).

On April 15, 2011, the Department of Justice unsealed an indictment, dated March 10, 2011, against two of the owners / employees (Raymond Bitar and Nelson Burtnick) of Full Tilt Poker, along with some of the owners / employees of PokerStars and Absolute Poker. The defendants were charged with fraud, money laundering, and violation of United States federal gambling laws, and certain domain names for the sites were seized by the FBI. The Full Tilt Poker homepage was reinstated six days later on April 20, 2011.

A companion civil case, U.S. v. PokerStars, et al. (11 Civ. 2564) was filed on April 14, 2011, and includes Full Tilt and its related entities as defendants. The U.S. government is seeking the forfeiture of approximately $3 billion USD in defendants' assets as a remedy.

Phil Ivey

On May 31, 2011, Phil Ivey announced that he has filed suit against Tiltware, the software and marketing provider for Full Tilt Poker, as a result of Full Tilt's failure to reimburse online account holders following the Department of Justice indictment unsealed on April 15, 2011. Ivey further noted that he will not compete in the 2011 World Series of Poker since it would not be fair for him to compete when others cannot as a result of Full Tilt's failure to reimburse account holders. Ivey voluntarily withdrew the suit on June 30.

Justice Department accusation

On September 20, 2011, The U.S. Justice Department accused Full Tilt of defrauding poker players out of more than $300 million. The U.S. Attorney in the Southern District of New York filed a motion to amend an earlier civil complaint to allege that Chris Ferguson, Howard Lederer and two other directors for Full Tilt operated what the Justice Department says was a Ponzi scheme that allowed the company to pay out $444 million to themselves and other owners, which included other famous poker players. A lawyer for Ferguson has denied the allegations, suggesting that the issues may have been the result of mismanagement not malice.

Full Tilt Online Poker Series

The Full Tilt Online Poker Series (FTOPS) was Full Tilt's premier tournament series. It was established in August 2006 and was held approximately every three months. The FTOPS consisted of multiple tournaments in a variety of different poker games and formats, each of which was hosted by a different Full Tilt professional. Throughout the series, Full Tilt offered a number of challenges and prizes that rewarded players for accomplishing certain feats.

Full Tilt also sponsored a Mini FTOPS, which took place one month later and featured the same events at 1/10 the buy-in.

Records

On July 19, 2009, Full Tilt attempted to beat the world record for the highest number of players playing in an online poker tournament. This event was part of their fifth anniversary celebration. They broke the old record of 35,000 by hosting a tournament with 50,000 players, but this record was surpassed later that day by PokerStars.

According to the hand history database at Pokerlistings.com, Full Tilt, known for hosting the highest stakes games in online poker, was site to the 100 biggest online pots of 2009, including the ten largest pots in online poker history. On November 21, 2009, Team Full Tilt Professional Patrik Antonius beat the Swede Viktor "Isildur1" Blom for a $1,356,947 pot in a hand of Pot Limit Omaha: the largest online poker pot to date.

Motor Sports sponsorship

Full Tilt is a major sponsor of the Formula One racing team, Virgin Racing.

Currently Full Tilt Poker sponsors a Driver in Formula D Joon Maeng along with the Bergenholtz Racing crew. The sponsored car is a Mazda RX8 built to 600 Horsepower using a 3 rotor motor from Japan.

Full Tilt is also the major sponsor for Taylor Barton Racing.

Rugby League Sponsorship

Full Tilt is a senior sponsor of the Sydney Roosters of the National Rugby League.

References

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9. ^ Full Tilt Poker (30 September, 2011). "Full Tilt Poker and Groupe Bernard Tapie Sign Acquisition Agreement". PokerStrategy.com. Retrieved 2 October 2011. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
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30. "Jason Newitt Sues Full Tilt, Lederer, et al.Another Ex-FTP Employee Suits Up | Pokerati | Texas Hold'em and Las Vegas WSOP Poker Blog". Pokerati. Retrieved 2011-03-02.
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35. ^ justice.gov
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38. scribd.com
39. ^ ESPN.com: Phil Ivey sits out World Series of Poker
40. Clark County Courts: Register of Actions
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43. Berzon, Alexandra (September 22, 2011). "Poker Site Fires Back at U.S." The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved September 26, 2011.
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52. Burton, Earl (May 8, 2010). "Full Tilt Sponsors Virgin Racing Team". pokernewsdaily.com.
53. "Virgin Racing". Virgin Racing. Retrieved 2011-03-02.
54. "Taylor Barton Racing". Tbartonracing.com. 2010-10-22. Retrieved 2011-03-02.
55. "Official Site of the Sydney Roosters | Sydney Roosters news, video, fixture, results, tickets". Sydneyroosters.com.au. Retrieved 2011-03-02.

External links

• Official site
• Free play site

• Poker companies
• Gambling websites
• Software that uses Qt
• Seized domain names
• Pyramid and Ponzi schemes