Once again, the action at the WSOP has been overshadowed by Black Friday-related announcements. Today, the poker world was rocked by news that Full Tilt Poker has had its license suspended by its regulatory body, the Alderney Gambling Control Commission. Full Tilt was forced to refuse any further real money play from American members following the April 15 site seizure, and now they will also be unable to offer real money action to European players pending a hearing in July. Many sources are already speculating that this latest move could spell the end for the once wildly successful poker room.
While FTP’s biggest competitor – PokerStars – has already refunded more than $100 million to its outgoing American members, Full Tilt has yet to cut a single check or even to give a concrete date on when they will start processing U.S. withdrawals. Up to this point, most of Team Full Tilt’s sponsored pros have been very guarded about commenting on the site’s inability to follow through (with the obvious exception of Phil Ivey, who filed suit against FTP’s parent company, Tiltware, earlier this month).
Despite the controversy, Tom Dwan has remained one of Full Tilt’s staunchest supporters, even pledging $1 million of his own FTP earnings should the site fall through on its promise to refund his fellow American players. Dwan’s reaction to news of FTP losing its license today was originally disbelief, but only hours later it was clear that durrrr’s confidence in the site had been shaken. This morning, Dwan admitted that he and many of his cohorts were feeling “worried now that FT can’t payout or find a buyer.” Only an hour later Dwan’s confusion and concern had morphed to anger as he tweeted, “I’m pretty sick about all this. It’s ridiculous that players weren’t paid weeks ago. I feel pretty sick to my stomach.”
Durrrr did hint that an FTP response might be in the works before he logged off this morning, remarking that he had, “Just heard some rly good news that I’d love to trust.” Now all the site’s members can do is wait and hope that a payout plan is on the way. In the meantime, the 2011 WSOP rolls on with less than ten events left on the schedule. Durrrr is out of Event #47, but rallied to stick it through to Day 2 in Event #49: 2-7 Triple Draw Lowball, the latter of which he recently called one of his “last great hopes” for a bracelet at this year’s World Series of Poker.
