Black Friday left many online poker players’ money stuck online. Two of the sites that stranded the some of the highest number of players out there were Absolute Poker and UB Poker. Since April 15th it has pretty much looked like any players on these sites were pretty much out of luck when it came to getting their money back, until just this week. It was reported that both sites will be liquidated, which not only spells the end of the sites in the online poker world, but also means that players could potentially be getting repaid soon from these sites.
Excellent news for players out there, but it unfortunately comes with a catch. While they will be paying players back, it is only look like it will be about 20% at most of the total amount of money in each players’ account. The statement that was released said that it would be around “15 to 20 cents on the dollar” to be exact. These two sites were two of the more popular in the game before Black Friday, but found themselves behind the two other big named sites who were hit by the drama in Full Tilt Poker and PokerStars.
The liquidation situation with the same means that they are completely done in the online poker world, and the reason for them doing this is apparently to appease the United States Department of Justice. Since Black Friday these sites have struggled to get any realistic type of real money poker traffic, which led to this final decision. They have made major layouts among their staff, and while the two sites closing down doesn’t come as a complete shock, it is still an interesting bit of news.
As far as the founders behind the sites, there was also some mention of the two men involved in creating Absolute Poker. One of the two, Brent Beckley, decided to plead guilty to a few different charges relating to their online poker site, and his plea deal will get him between one and 15 years in jail. If Beckley had decided not to agree to this plea deal, he would be looking at a maximum of 30 years of time. Scott Tom is the other co-founder, but no one is quite sure exactly where he is currently.
The Poker Players Alliance just posted a guide to what poker players might try, to get their money back from Full-Tilt, Absolute and the other operators who won’t, or can’t, return deposits. Although I don’t agree with everything the PPA’s say – for example, I think many U.S. courts would throw out claims by players as debts associated with gambling – they raise the important and immediate point: If you are going to file a claim for part of the millions of dollars seized by the U.S. federal government in bank accounts around the world on April 15th, you only have until July 15, 2011.