Poker world still waiting for news on Full Tilt Poker sale

After tormenting the poker world with rumors of an impending sale, the news coming out of Dublin, Ireland (the home base of Full Tilt Poker) has been scant ever since, with zero  positive developments making it into the news. Instead we have been bombarded with conflicting reports and an ever growing list of stipulations that began with a “reasonable” deal with the US DOJ, and has now spiraled into rumors of everything from equity shares to high-stakes players, to the possibility that there will be a cut-off point put in place that will see only players with over $x repaid by the new owners.

While I take all of these rumors with a grain of salt, what I am seeing is a certain pattern developing. It seems to me that whenever a really harmful piece of information makes it into the news cycle, Full Tilt poker suddenly turns out to be on the precipice of a deal! And any further talk about said harmful piece of information could put the potential deal in jeopardy.

As much as I would like to think that a deal to salvage the once prosperous, but now ailing, online poker room is being negotiated, my natural skepticism leads me to believe that the two sides are miles apart, and the Full Tilt Poker crowd has simply been whispering sweet nothings into the ears of Groupe Bernard Tapie, giving them false assurances as to what they will actually accept as an offer.

Let’s be realistic here; is it possible that the new investors are offering more than past interested parties who were rejected by Full Tilt Poker? I’m curious as to what Groupe Bernard Tapie could now be offering for the company that has the following rap sheet:

• Criminal Indictments handed down on Black Friday to key individuals in the company
• An estimated $330 million in assets seized by the DOJ
• Close to $400 million owed to players
• Civil charges against the owners including Chris Ferguson and Howard Lederer
• Part of the Civil Case filed by DOJ seeking $2 billion from poker sites
• Facing multiple Class Action lawsuits
• More frivolous lawsuits filed by competing companies and even the state of Kentucky
• License revoked by the AGCC
• Hasn’t been in operation since June 29, 2011
• The Full Tilt Brand has been dragged through the mud

At least when the initial talks of investors began players were confident they would be repaid; Full Tilt was still a functioning online poker room; and the only charges were the original Black Friday complaints. It’s as if they were trying to sell a peeled banana and wouldn’t accept the offers coming in: Now the banana is black and moldy and we are led to believe that people are offering MORE, or that the owners have finally come to their senses regarding the worth of the company -which seems almost impossible considering the amount of money owed to players and liabilities they are facing!