Three Outstanding Blog Posts
If Full Tilt's response to the Phil Ivey lawsuit has done anything it is that it has made people hate Full Tilt even more. In just one paragraph Full Tilt has managed to obliterate their…
If Full Tilt’s response to the Phil Ivey lawsuit has done anything it is that it has made people hate Full Tilt even more. In just one paragraph Full Tilt has managed to obliterate their reputation in the industry.
Sure, a lot of people were pissed at them before they got into a pissing contest with Ivey but the fact that this is the only official statement out of the company in six weeks with players hanging in limbo has really set off some raw nerves.
Case in point are the three blog posts I ran across this week that I think everyone should read.
Kim Lund’s Full Tilt Poker’s Last Out is an excellent read. He is as surprised as I am that Tilt was commingling funds. And like him I just thought it was unthinkable because that’s just something you don’t do if you’re running an ethical gambling operation.
F-Train has a field day debunking any sort of Full Tilt excuse making. He has good fun ridiculing Tilt for trying to scapegoat Ivey. It was their incompetence that got them into the situation and they should start accepting blame rather than fire off pissy press releases when Ivey decides he’s had enough.
And Jesse May makes a complete mockery of Michelle Clayborne’s sanctimonious “Ivey is evil” press release.
I think a lot of the heat Full Tilt is taking right now is because we all thought Tilt were supposed to be the good guys. I worked for the company and Ray and Howard and the rest of the owners that I’ve met are all decent people who I was willing to give the benefit of the doubt to. Sure, I’ve busted FTP’s chops for staying in the US post-UIGEA. I’ve always held that both Stars and Tilt were illegally operating in the US.
But this whole incident drags the company down to UB/AP level. And I think for a lot of people, myself being one of them, it’s sort of like you’re let down by someone you used to trust them. I can’t say I ever thought highly (or un-highly) of UB or AP but I always felt a little uneasy about why they remained in Costa Rica when most of the legitimate rooms had relocated to Gibraltar and Malta. So when the scandals broke it was more like “Yeah, doesn’t surprise me.” But with Tilt I’ve been totally and completely amazed.