A couple of weeks have now passed since FBI and the U.S. Department of Justice closed down 3 of the world's largest poker sites in the U.S. and charged 11 persons with running illegal online gambling operations. Black Friday happened over a night and turned the poker world upside down to say the least. Ever since Black Friday lots of rumors regarding what will happen with U.S. players outstanding [...] Read more » UB.com / Absolute Poker files for bankruptcy
Joined: Oct '09
Location: Lithuania
Age: 43 (M)
Posts: 2805
bad news for people who playedf there have money and now all was frozen sites will go to bankrupct and all the money will be stolen they work hard and now all the job for money increasing was just stolen Sad bad bad bad Sad good luck and never loose your hope
Joined: Apr '11
Location: Romania
Age: 35 (M)
Posts: 6669
It was clear this is the end result for these two poker platforms. They had very few european poker players on their sites to start with so now no one really plays there. No rake means no buisness. Still it's hard to believe that pokerstars and full tilt poker will have the same outcome, even as i type these words pokerstars has over 100.000 players online and full tilt poker has over 75.000 players online so make sure rake is still generated. I'm sorry for alll the people that had money on those poker platforms, the future doesn't look too bright for them but i hope they'll be able in the end to recover all or some of the money they had in their accounts. Good luck to all!
Joined: Nov '10
Location: Serbia
Age: 37 (M)
Posts: 2087
Ups... After I read this I have made withdraw. I really like UB, especially HU SNG. And I made same nice money on MTTs there. Sad news. I really hope they will find way to sort it out...
Joined: Apr '09
Location: Portugal
Age: 44 (M)
Posts: 4827
Bankruptcy can be a strategy for Absolute Poker to loose the least possible with this investigation. This way, they can give away all social capital from this enterprise and then start a new one, with other name, just like a new identity rising. This is called technic bankruptcy, and many companies, when passing bad moments, do this in order to reduce the costs of all the operations. Can you believe its cheaper to "take everything down" and "build again from the start" than to pay for the debts and continue with business? The business world is really complex.
------------ Bankruptcy can be a strategy for Absolute Poker to loose the least possible with this investigation. This way, they can give away all social capital from this enterprise and then start a new one, with other name, just like a new identity rising. This is called technic bankruptcy, and many companies, when passing bad moments, do this in order to reduce the costs of all the operations. Can you believe its cheaper to "take everything down" and "build again from the start" than to pay for the debts and continue with business? The business world is really complex.
Joined: Apr '11
Location: Romania
Age: 35 (M)
Posts: 6669
It makes sense actually, i know other companies from united states(not poker or gambling related) did this a while ago. But again i must say this can be a really risky move, imagine what the players will think about the new poker platform(s) that they'll create next. Who do you think will have confidence to make a deposit at them and start playing knowing what they did the first time. As also think Party Poker is the safeest poker room for the moment, the software is pretty good but the only disadvantage is that the stakes for some types of games are waay too high compared to other sites(plo and hu sng).
Joined: May '09
Location: India
Age: 37 (M)
Posts: 4873
wow never expected this to happen, sure they lost lots of players but bankrupt. i dont play much there but guess with this happening i can say goodbye to around 100$ i have there.
Who really expected these guys to pay that money back? These are the 2 poker rooms who had superuser accounts and multiple cheating scandals. Good riddance to bad rubbish.
Joined: Feb '11
Location: Canada
Age: 39 (M)
Posts: 1660
That is bad news for anyone who played there. Many sympathies and condolences to those who lost their funds. I hope that somehow in the processing their insolvency that your funds are miraculously returned to you.
Joined: Jan '11
Location: United States
Age: 60 (M)
Posts: 3361
I think some investors should investigate what policies or requirements if any, need to be established to implement a legal on-line poker site in the U.S. If the U.S. government would allow a on-line site to be established here in the U.S. and players would have to pay taxes on their winnings would or could this be establisehed legitimately. I'm telling you, if this could happen, the first to do so will be wealthy beyond their dreams. So anyone out there who has the time, the backing and the initial money to invest had ought to think about this.
Maybe the U.S. Government should be the backers and establish this themselves. Do something for the people that would be enjoyable to many. Make it open to all countries, but let there be acknowledgement that all winnings are taxible.
Joined: Apr '08
Location: Finland
Age: 35 (M)
Posts: 1613
Yes it sucks but when you create an account at ANY site you agree that they can close you account down and take every cent in your account without having to even explain to you why ... so the only thing one can do is to whine about it in pokerforums
Joined: May '10
Location: United States
Age: 34 (M)
Posts: 32
I wonder if all the pro players that had thousands locked up and recieved sponorship will be getting there money somehow vs the natural players on the site
Joined: Mar '11
Location: Serbia
Age: 33 (M)
Posts: 7
pretty crazy what happened... I didn't believe when I saw... black friday, definitelly BLACK I don't know where to play now? where is safe to play? I am from Europe, but it doesn't matter, this can happen to me also, or could.. I don't know... party poker maybe?? I don't know... I am not smart right now... Does anyone has any suggestions?? Where is safe to put my money?? tnx
Joined: May '10
Location: United States
Age: 34 (M)
Posts: 32
since you live in europe, you would probally be safe to play at any site that doesnt allow US players. Party poker is probably one of the safest sites out there available for european players imo
