Ladies and gentlemen, the sound you are hearing is not only silence, but the sound of a broken record when it comes to Full Tilt Poker and any potential sale, as the Monday announcement players were once again semi-promised has come and gone with no sign of an imminent deal, or anything in the way of an official announcement.
Beginning this past Friday the poker community was informed from multiple outlets that not only was a major breakthrough reached in the potential sale of the beleaguered online poker site Full Tilt Poker to their one-time competitor PokerStars, but poker players could expect an announcement on Monday –an announcement that would actually be the first official message to come out of PokerStars, Full Tilt Poker or the US Department of Justice regarding a potential deal.
The first hints of a deal between the two former rivals came via www.pokerplayernewspaper.com’s Wendeen Eolis, who wrote a short, but straight to the point article on Friday that set the poker social media world on fire. After Eolis basically said the deal was done and players would be having their checks in hand by the Christmas shopping season a number of other people posted their own stories and Tweets on the matter, basically corroborating Eolis’ story, sometimes with a few minor tweaks, but the main point was that something substantial happened on Thursday or Friday, and an announcement was likely on Monday.
Of course Monday has all but come and gone (press releases usually don’t occur in the late-night hours) and there is still not a word from PokerStars, the Department of Justice, or Full Tilt Poker, which unfortunately for poker players is becoming an all too familiar scenario.
Unfortunately for the reporters who put their necks out on the line –announcing inside information that never comes to fruition—the poker world is very unforgiving place, and credibility is hard to regain in these matters, especially after having their hopes dashed not for the first, second, or even third time, but countless times during the Black Friday trials of Full Tilt Poker.
The problem seems to be that everyone wants to be the person to break the biggest poker story since Black Friday, having their name go down in the poker annals as the person who broke the story that would see the poker community reclaim some $350 million, and announce what is likely to be the biggest merger in the online gaming industry’s history.
But, even though there was no announcement on Monday, there is little doubt that a major hurdle was cleared late last week which could lead to announcement in the near future –my advice is to follow the more pessimistic Twitter users and not hold your breath and just keep a wait-and-see attitude about the whole thing.
