Late yesterday evening, 'FTPDoug’ – a member of Full Tilt’s poker room management and representative on 2+2 – created a thread to answer some of the many questions players have had. Prior to this thread there had been no communication publically for the last week, in which time PokerStars had begun processing payments to US players; this undoubtedly increased the frustration level of players with burning questions regarding their funds. Doug attributed the delay in answering questions to responses needing to be “double and triple approved”.
The first question addressed was regarding cashouts for US players to which he provided FTP’s official statement, “Full Tilt Poker is diligently working on return of US Players funds [sic] which is a top priority and will have a further update for US customers by early next week.” Many players viewed this as a non-statement. Already-frustrated players were annoyed that the main topic on which they had been waiting was not going to be addressed until next week.
Doug then went on to discuss how the value of US players’ accounts will be determined for non-monetary items such as tournament tickets, FTP points, Iron Man medals, and unpaid rakeback. Though it remains undetermined if many of these items will be converted to cash, it was stated that unpaid rakeback, “will be paid out as soon as possible. Almost definitely before cashouts are turned on.”
Other financial questions including cashouts for non US players using Neteller, Moneybookers, Webmoney and Instadebit were largely left unanswered. Those players with questions regarding bounced checks and unreconciled wire transfers requested prior to April 15th were directed to contact 2+2 rep “FTPSean” for assistance.
Although the information provided in the thread was limited, it is still viewed by some posters as a step in the right direction. Others are less optimistic and some even feel that the lack of crucial information regarding payouts further feeds the speculation that FTP is headed towards bankruptcy.
However, lack of communication might be a false tell in this spot because – as anyone who has dealt with FTP customer service in the past knows – response time has been a source of many complaints.
