The unresolved debt of $16.5 million is not something the Group is willing to take on, Tapie says, especially since the overall financial situation at Full Tilt is "worse than expected."

Still, Tapie says they have reached out to all of the pros and some have even signed repayment contracts already. Some have yet to respond.

Tapie also specifically said Full Tilt players will only be refunded if GBT completes the takeover, which will require "the bulk" of that money returned.

If it isn't repaid, Tapie says it is true it could block the deal.

Said Tapie, roughly translated:

"The poker community, and particularly that made up of former Full Tilt players waiting to recover their funds, deserves to know the reality of the behaviour of some major poker figures who say they are ‘sorry for the situation of Full Tilt players and want to do everything they can to help them get their funds back, blaming the old management, but also refrain from saying how much they have borrowed from Full Tilt, and lost, playing on the site.

"However these losses represent some of the funds owed to the players who are waiting to be reimbursed. When you are a poker player, a great player at that, recognised and admired, the basic rule, it seems to me, is to honour your gambling debts.

"Fortunately, among the 19 players we have attempted to contact, some have immediately called back and worked with us on a repayment plan to clear their debts, and we are already finalising contracts to that effect."

Read the rest of Tapie's comments at iGamingFrance.

The interview with Poker Player UK, written by Alun Bowden and entitled “What’s Wrong With You?” for its January issue, covered a wide range of subjects including the current state of the poker world, improving his online game and the ongoing Full Tilt Poker debacle. True to his nature, Negreanu didn’t pull any punches as, in the first few paragraphs, Bowden states that Negreanu believes that the game of poker is in “big trouble.”

In discussing the current state of the game, Negreanu is quoted as saying, “I think we’re heading in the wrong direction. The WSOP was much more serious and boring this year. It was much more fun with guys in chicken suits being jerks.”

“When poker became popular you had people like Devilfish, Sammy Farha, Doyle Brunson and Phil Ivey,” Negreanu continues. “Today the story is: ‘I dropped out of college and I grinded 20 tables to build my bankroll.’ The story isn’t sexy…they don’t want to hear, ‘Well, he’s raising UTG+1 and polarizing his range with a 31BB effective stack.’”

Daniel allegedly addresses how to fix the current state of the game during the interview, stating, “Televised poker needs to address it. If you want to create the best show you need to create poker personalities. Audiences like Phil Laak and Antonio (Esfandiari)? Then okay you invite them. Daniel Cates? Okay you’re a great player, but nobody gives a s**t. You may be a better player, but who cares?”

Poker Player UK also touches on the subject of Full Tilt Poker, where Negreanu unleashed a few more barbs. Bowden asks the Team PokerStars Pro member his impressions of the ongoing saga and Negreanu doesn’t hold back, stating, “They were running the company like buffoons.” When asked if he had been in touch with any of the former Full Tilt pros, including his good friend Phil Ivey, Negreanu allegedly responds, “I’ve spoken to all of them. They are embarrassed and have disdain for their leaders. They trusted Howard (Lederer)…I didn’t. I don’t trust that family. It’s a family of scoundrels.”

When pressed by Bowdon as to his impressions of Lederer, Negreanu is quoted as saying, “I don’t think he’s evil, but he’s arrogant. He talks to people like they are stupid. I don’t think he set out to defraud people, it’s just negligence, arrogance and incompetence.”

Finally, Negreanu discusses the improvements in his online game, giving credit to his improvement through his usage of poker software and strategy discussions with other players. Perhaps most interesting during this discussion, however, was when Bowden asked Negreanu about his deal with PokerStars.

“If I hadn’t signed with PokerStars I would be a much better player today,” Negreanu reportedly said. “I would be infinitely better. It sounds really bad, and I really enjoy working for PokerStars, but look at the paths me and Ivey took. We were on a similar level and he just played poker non-stop and I started doing a lot more media work. It’s no coincidence that he became the best player in the world and I fell off the map a little. I still think I am one of the best, but I need to work a lot harder on my game.”

Naturally, Negreanu’s alleged statements during the interview were like chum in the water for sharks when it comes to the message boards. Negreanu seemed to have started it himself when he Tweeted on Wednesday, “Just read my article in Poker Player mag and it set a new record for the number of misquotes. Pretty impressive! They twisted everything.”

On the Two Plus Two message boards, the discussion escalated between not only the posters on the site but also Negreanu and Bowden. “Let’s nip this one in the bud,” poster ‘InsidePoker’ (apparently Bowden) wrote yesterday. “There is nothing in that article that is misquoted. It’s all on an audio file if he has any specific points he would like to address.” In the thread, Bowden also apparently releases the audio file after several requests by posters.

Negreanu and Bowden discuss their issues through the 2+2 thread and reach a form of détente, with Negreanu contributing an article to the online arm of PPUK where he clarifies the interview, while the discussion continues to rage on the message board.

Subject: Poker, who has provided many of the details regarding the GBT/FTP deal, reports that Ferguson is allegedly holding up any further movement over the deal because of money that he put towards the site following “Black Friday.” According to S:P, the former World Champion accepted just under $60 million from Full Tilt since 2007, which he put into different bank accounts under the Pocket Kings, Ltd., umbrella. Although he withdrew and spent about $45 million of that money, what Ferguson is looking for is allegedly the remainder, $14.3 million, after a rather ill-advised move.

According to the S:P report, Ferguson allowed that $14.3 million to go back into the Full Tilt accounts to take care of expenditures by the company post-Black Friday. While allowing this money to go back to FTP, Ferguson allegedly felt that this “good will” gesture would put him at the front of the line as a potential owner under the revamped Full Tilt Poker, in whatever form. This, however, would prove to be wishful thinking.

Negotiations with the U. S. Department of Justice by Groupe Bernard Tapie have allegedly resulted in the federal authorities approving the deal for GBT to buy Full Tilt Poker, but with a caveat: that none of the current ownership of Full Tilt Poker be allowed to have even partial ownership of the company post-deal. This is the current hang up, according to S:P, and it could be some time before there is a compromise made.

Ferguson and his attorney, Ian Imrich, have requested an accounting of the Full Tilt books and, as of today, have not received this accounting. S:P reports that Ferguson and Imrich have threatened to file lawsuits to create a “constructive trust” (a trust set up by the court to benefit a party that has been wrongfully deprived of its rights in business dealings) and to file for injunctive relief against Full Tilt Poker. These actions would potentially delay the plans for Groupe Bernard Tapie to take the helm of the Full Tilt ship, delaying payment to potentially thousands of players around the world (U. S. players, under the deal with the government, would be paid by the Department of Justice).

Subject: Poker appropriately ends this discussion by stating, “(We) would like to make it clear that we have no reason to believe that the above threats (by Ferguson and his attorney) have in any way been successful in stalling or impeding the (GBT/FTP) deal.”

As expected, the backlash in the poker community has been fervent and, for the most part, entirely against Ferguson and his attorney. On the Two Plus Two forums, poster ‘Carthac’ stated, “I really want to react with a rational response to this, but what can be said of his actions besides of them being pure greed. This man not only shamed himself with FTP, put 100′s of millions of dollars of player money in jeopardy because of his extremely dishonest, greedy, and immoral actions, but now he wants to stand in the way of possibly recuperating and refunding his customers because of personal monetary issues from his former company? What complete scum of the earth.”

On the Pocket Fives forum, poster ‘maxtinder’ says, “Chris Ferguson should be extremely embarrassed that he plays poker,” while another poster, ‘emptypockets,’ writes in his post, “Just lost all respect for Jesus…no pun intended.”

This is just the latest is what has turned out to be a Shakespearian tragedy for what used to be the second largest online poker site in the industry. As of now, there are hopes that Groupe Bernard Tapie is still involved in the purchase of the assets of Full Tilt Poker, but each day that goes by without closure only incites the ire of the online poker community even more than it already has reached.

The West Virginian had over one million chips midway though Day 3 of the 2012 Aussie Millions and was looking dangerous in almost every hand he played.

Despite some close calls over the years, Koon has never won a major live tournament and while he was reluctant to say he was due he did mention he was ready to win in terms of ability, preparation and mindset.

“I do have the ability to dominate this tournament and I’m looking forward to playing the best that I can and going as deep as I can,” he said.

It’s been a life-changing 12 months for Koon who saw his ability to play online poker in the USA disappear with Black Friday. He also had a substantial amount of money stuck on Full Tilt Poker.

“It was a big hit financially and in terms of lifestyle,” he said. “I was back home in West Virginia hanging out with some friends and making a pretty great living grinding four or five days a week.”

Like many online pros Koon opted to move to poker player haven Vancouver, Canada, so that he could continue to ply his trade online.

At first the adjustment of moving from the USA was difficult but Koon eventually got into the rhythm of it.

“Vancouver’s a beautiful city and I lived in Coal Harbor and Yaletown, which are both nice areas,” he said.

Despite his good experiences in Vancouver, Koon is once again on the move and plans on living in Cyprus with Chris Moorman for the next while.

“I’ve been bouncing all over the place and it’s been a lot of fun,” he said.

Earlier this year Koon Tweeted that 2012 would be his year and so far he’s lived up to his promise.

At the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure Koon made the final table of the $25,000 High Rollers event and ended up finishing in fourth place to take down $271,950.

The final table was no walk in the park with pros Jonathan Duahamel, Isaac Haxton and Randy Lew all competing for first place.

“I was first in chips heading into the final table I was obviously not completely satisfied with fourth but getting fourth in one of the toughest tournaments in the world is never a bad thing,” he said.

Right now Koon is firmly set on making a deep run in the 2012 Aussie Millions. He had nothing but good things to say about the signature Australian event.

“The value is good and the structure is great,” he said. “This is a fantastic tournament.”

Of the 314 players that entered the day only 75 still have a shot at winning the event.

Payouts were announced on Day 2 and although first place will walk away with $1.6 million the more important number for players right now is 72. That’s when the payouts begin.

Ultimately this year’s Aussie Millions, with 659 players, came short of the 721-player mark it reached last year.

Of course since that time there has been major changes to the poker economy with the fallout from Black Friday and Full Tilt Poker’s hiatus.

Regardless the prizepool contains over $6 million, which should provide enough motivation for Ivey.

There is one player, Australian Tim O’Shea, who has more chips than Ivey with 921,000 to Ivey’s 778,000 but Ivey looks almost unbeatable as the field continues to narrow.

Dwan, Tony G Among Pros Sent Packing on Day 2

Outside of Ivey the pros had a rough day and Tom Dwan, Annette Obrestad, Gus Hansen, Tony G and Maria Ho were all sent to the rail.

Tony G had a particularly ironic departure as one of the players who qualified for the Aussie Millions on the site he represents – PartyPoker – busted The G out of the tournament.

Meanwhile Tom Dwan had an extended battle with Australian Tom Grigg. Grigg needled Dwan several times and the New Jersey native even called the clock on the Aussie at one point.

Grigg eventually got the best of Dwan when he hit a straight against the pro's turned set. Dwan was crippled in the hand and busted shortly after. Grigg finished the day with 225,500 chips.

Not every pro was eliminated, however, as David Steicke (453,000 chips), Lee Nelson (432,000 chips), Michael Tureniec (289,000 chips), Matt Wakeman (170,000 chips) and Grant Levy (80,000 chips) will carry the torch into Day 3 of the Aussie Millions.

Day 3 kicks off at 12:30 p.m. tomorrow with the money bubble likely to burst early.

Rubin admitted to working with online poker rooms PokerStars and Full Tilt Poker as a payment processor.  He said he made sure cashouts from the online poker rooms were “disguised as payments from nonexistent online merchants,” so that U.S. banks would not be able to detect their true origins and therefore not be able to block the transactions.  This activity went on from 2006 through March 2011, the month prior to the Black Friday indictments.

In June 2011, the 53-year old Rubin had requested $300,000 bond and to be permitted to live with his parents in Florida, but Judge James Colt denied Rubin bail, citing “unlimited reasons,” including flight risk.  Assistant U.S. Attorney Arlo Devlin-Brown said that Rubin chartered a plane from Costa Rica to Guatemala on April 15th, the very day of the indictments, with Thailand as the eventual destination.  Rubin was arrested upon arrival in Guatemala.  His attorney denied any nefarious scheme, claiming that the trip to Guatemala had been planned before Black Friday, but Devlin-Brown also cited a conversation Rubin had with a fellow inmate in which he said he wanted to acquire a fake passport once in Guatemala.

Rubin was charged with nine counts in the Black Friday indictment: three counts of violation of the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act (UIGEA), conspiracy to violate the UIGEA, conspiracy to commit bank and wire fraud, conspiracy to commit money laundering, and three counts of operation of an illegal gambling business.  According to an Associated Press article, he faces up to 80 years in prison if convicted of each charge, but his plea agreement with the prosecution stipulates that the recommended sentence be between 18 and 24 months.  Because Rubin has been in jail since his arrest, he is not likely to serve much more time, at least relative to what he could have served.

Ira Rubin’s problems with the law date back to before Black Friday.  In 2006, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) filed a complaint against his company, Global Marketing Group, for committing telemarketing fraud by assisting at least nine Canadian telemarketing firms in selling fake unsecured credit cards to customers.  The victims were required to pay an advance fee for the cards, but these cards often never appeared in their mailboxes.  In December of that year, a temporary restraining order was issued and the following month, a preliminary injunction prohibited Rubin from engaging in telemarketing and payment processing.  Rubin violated both the restraining order and injunction and in January 2008, a judge ordered him to appear in court to show cause as to why he should not be held in contempt for the violation.  He did not show, an arrest warrant was issued, and Rubin fled the country.

Ira Rubin’s guilty plea comes a month after Absolute Poker co-founder Brent Beckley pleaded guilty to a single charge of conspiracy to commit wire and bank fraud.

Formerly a pro at Full Tilt Poker, Weisner is primarily a tournament player, specializing in heads-up Sit-and-Go’s.  According to the tournament tracking site SharkScope.com, she ranked near the top of the leader boards in terms of total profit in several categories in 2010:

Any game with stakes $301-$1,000 – 11th
Any game with any stakes – 20th
Any game on Full Tilt Poker – 17th
Heads-Up Hold’em with stakes $301-$1,000 – 9th
Heads-Up Hold’em with any stakes – 14th

Despite being slowed down online by Black Friday, Melanie Weisner still ranked 8th in short-handed super turbo Sit-and-Go’s with $301-$1,000 stakes.  At one point, she actually held the number one ranking for heads-up Sit-and-Go’s, across any site, period.

According to PocketFives.com, which tracks multi-table tournaments (MTTs), Weisner, who has played under the screen name “Callisto 5” on PokerStars, ranks 2,356th for MTTs worldwide.  She reached as high as 607th back in August of 2010.  Her largest cash according to the site was just over $50,000 for a 3rd place finish in the PokerStars $530 Sunday $500K guaranteed tournament on August 1st, 2010.

While her live tournament resume isn’t nearly as expansive as her online one, she has been ramping up her brick-and-mortar game as of late.  This past fall, she had a successful run in Europe, starting with a 3rd place finish in the £1,000 No-Limit Hold’em event at the European Poker Tour (EPT) London stop (£15,300/$ 23,914), followed by a 4th place finish in the £5,000 Heads-Up No-Limit Hold’em event at the same tour stop (£20,000/$31,260).  A week and a half later, Weisner placed 33rd in the $10,000 World Series of Poker Europe (WSOPE) Main Event (€27,500/$36,736).  She has two live wins under her belt, both in Ladies Events.  The first was at EPT Prague in 2009, while the second came at the EPT Grand Final in 2010.

All told, Melanie Weisner has won $388,002 on the live tournament circuit.  She currently ranks 74th on Epic Poker’s Global Poker Index.

“Melanie is a perfect fit for Lock. Passionate, relentless in her dedication to the game and incredibly intelligent,” said Lock Poker’s CEO Jennifer Larson in a press release. “Players like Melanie give us the true insight into the product and player experience that we need to become the best. Partnering with our players is the true path to greatness.”

The 25-year old Houston native said, “I am thrilled to join a team of world-class players and talented peers such as Chris Moorman, Matt Stout and Leo Margets.  I feel very honoured to be a part of this exciting and growing brand, and look forward to representing Lock around the world.”

Today we touch on a very readable, surprisingly candid interview with Dan “Jungleman12” Cates, a special photo/hand history combo from the nosebleed cash games in Macau and a glimpse of something so horrifying it may scare you away from live poker tables permanently.

You Can Take the Man Out of the Jungle but …

Dan Cates recorded a big year in 2011 and finished as the third biggest winner in online poker, up $1.9 million on Full Tilt Poker. How much he successfully withdrew from the site is anyone’s guess.

Cates opened up to Black Belt Poker about the ongoing durrrr Challenge, Cates’ inclusion in the Jose “Girah” Macedo scandal and what life is like grinding high-stakes on Euro sites from his new home in the UK.

Highlights include:

“We've played around 20,000 hands, but we're not really done yet. He has not settled. However, if he's incredibly flakey about following up with the Challenge, and it doesn't seem very high on his priority list, then I would like him to settle, or play out his hands pretty soon. Technically, it's still on, but it's not really going anywhere. I want durrrr to show a little more commitment to this Challenge, especially because we both agreed to play 5,000 hands a month, and that obviously hasn't happened at all.”

“I think Haseeb [Qureshi] and I took way too much shit for it, more than we should have.”

What can we say, Gus works fast.

 

“The whole thing did cause a little interruption in my friendship with Haseeb, but I still think he's a good person. Perhaps his standards for ethics might be a little out of line sometimes, but I don't think he was trying to scheme to deceive people, that much is true. Maybe we've hit a few rocks in our relationship, but on the whole, we're still friends.”

Hansen and Trickett in Action in Macau (Not the same kind of action)

Gus Hansen and Sam Trickett are both in Macau and although they’ve been experiencing the city in their own ways, it’s safe to say they’re both having a good time.

Gus Hansen blogged that he just got into Hong Kong and is pondering whether he should play in the big game. Here’s an excerpt.

“The more I think about it the less chance there is I will be playing in some million dollar buy-in No Limit Hold Em game in Macau – but maybe once I get there the good old bug called ‘Degenerate Gambling’ will get a hold of me and make me change my mind.”

Sam Trickett, meanwhile, has already been mixing it up in the million-dollar buy-in game that’s been running since December.

Trickett told Bluff Europe about one hand in particular that caught out attention, details below:

Macau Game No Limit Hold'em ($1300/$2600)Sam Trickett (BTN): ($1,900,000 in chips) Aggro Cbets (SB) ($3,000,000 in chips) Pre Flop: ($3,900)3 folds, Sam Trickett raises to $13,000, Aggro Cbets raises to $40,000, Sam Trickett callsFlop: ($83,900) T♠ 7♦ 3♣(2 players) Aggro Cbets checks, Sam Trickett bets $60,000, GianniLuke callsTurn: ($203,900) 3♥(2 players) Aggro Cbets checks, Sam Trickett bets $140,000, Aggro Cbets raises to $490,000, Sam Trickett callsRiver: $1,183,900 Aggro Cbets checks, Sam Trickett bets $1,310,000, Aggro Cbets folds Sam Trickett mucks 6♥ 8♥

Those numbers are all in USD by the way.

Poker Demon takes Poker Face to Scary New Places

Thanks to a burgeoning photoshop thread in Two Plus Two we have a new leader in the "Scariest/Most Mentally Unstable Player" race, unseating previous leader ElkY Grospellier

Keep an eye on the thread to see what they do with this photo: