For US poker players that deadline falls on the day of the next presidential election.
So while they’re busy casting their vote for the person who may one day sign online poker regulation into law, the rest of the world will once again be playing on Full Tilt Poker.
For players with money stuck on Full Tilt Poker it’s been a long and uncertain 15 months, but today’s announcement represents another big step towards a resolution and the return of more than $300 million in player funds.
Jones, who served as Cardroom Manager at PokerStars from 2003 to 2007 and returned to the company in May of 2011 to head up their new Home Games project, had this to say in a thread on Two Plus Two:
Today Jones wrote:
Hi folks - We're delighted to announce that we have officially closed our deal with the U.S. DoJ as of today, August 9th. 90 days from today is November 6th (yes, U.S. election day). Full Tilt Poker will be live no later than that day. Best regards, Lee Jones
Jones’ is the first confirmation that the deal is officially finalized, which starts the clock on the 90 days PokerStars has to re-launch Full Tilt Poker and give non-US players access to their accounts.
While players from the rest of the world will be able to play with their money on the new Full Tilt Poker, or cash out immediately, Americans will have neither option.
More and more information is coming to light about how US players will get their money back from Full Tilt Poker, and a lot of it is coming by way of another thread on Two Plus Two.
FTPDoug Returns to Answer Full Tilt Re-Launch Questions
Picking up where Lee Jones left off is a man named Shyam Markus, an employee of Full Tilt Poker since 2005.
Markus is now the Poker Room Manager at Full Tilt Poker, but most poker players will know him from his previous Two Plus Two account FTPDoug.
The FTPDoug account answered player questions and supplied information on software updates and developments via Two Plus Two in the years leading up to Black Friday.
In a new thread dedicated to the re-launch of Full Tilt Poker Markus identified himself as FTPDoug and proceeded to answer a few of the most common questions about the site’s revival.
Here are a few of the most important answers posted so far:
FTP will be back up and running no later than November 6 but they will be working hard to get it done sooner, perhaps late October. If you are an American player YOU MUST follow the US Department of justice remission process or you will not receive the money in your Full Tilt Poker account. All screennames will remain the same. FTP is working on setting up a .eu site to cater to European players. All active and outstanding bonus’ will be refunded. The FTP forums will be restored at some point after site is re-launched.Visit www.pokerlistings.com