Black Friday in the world of poker - how FullTiltPoker scammed thousands of customers. Black Friday What is black friday in poker

Exactly 2 years ago, on the night of April 15-16, 2011, many poker players, mainly from the USA, noticed the unpleasant fact that it was impossible to enter the largest online poker sites - PokerStars, Full Tilt Poker, Absolute Poker and Ultimate Bet. The very first movement was simple - go to the site and see any news from the representatives of the rooms. But, instead of the usual smiles of poker superstars, among whom they expected to see Daniel Negrianu, Phil Ivey and Phil Hellmuth, site visitors were greeted by a message from the US federal authorities - the “ ” came.

Even without fully realizing what was happening, some of the players who still had access to the rooms rushed to play tournaments with huge overlays. Another part of the players rushed for their money. Almost everyone either immediately participated in the “first”, the most difficult cashout wave for the rooms, or planned to do it as the news came in. In less than a day, European rooms have developed a million promotions and improved the old ones (including rake races, increased guarantees for tournaments, reload bonuses, first deposit bonuses, etc.) in order to attract free traffic.

Despite everything that is happening, we recall that none of the rooms accused by the US authorities closed the game for a long time. PokerStars and Full Tilt Poker, but continued to accept players from other countries, albeit with restrictions. Both rooms within 24 hours confirmed their obligations for guarantees, safety of depositors' money and promised to give a detailed answer on the situation as soon as possible. The CEREUS network (Ultimate Bet and Absolute Poker) did not stop the game, did not turn off the Americans, but banned everyone from making cashouts (unlike PS and FTP, which, although with a noticeable delay, continued to allow players to withdraw money). All this happened at a sufficiently large .

It would seem that the poker rooms with huge losses, but withstood the blow ... but no. Three out of four major player on the American market ceased to exist in the form in which they met this Friday 2 years ago. The CEREUS network, despite the fact that it was the first to agree with the US authorities on paying off debts to the players and leaving America, did not comply with the authorities either. Up to now, Absolute Poker and Ultimate Bet continued to run promotions, accept deposits and did not stop the game, . During this time, the network paid out less than 10% of the amount requested by the players.

The high rollers who played in these rooms sold their money for 2+2 at the rate of “$1 on UB/AB for 20 cents of real money” or even cheaper. networks appeared at the time of Black Friday, but the first information that Blanca Games would definitely not come up from the bottom appeared only in June. A scandalous network that had a thousand problems, but was loved for its original software, excellent field and good system The return never announced its closure. The game servers were simply shut down, the money was gone, the owners of the storefronts and the network itself went into hiding, and the poker community received a message about the company's "hope" to revive the poker network someday and pay off.

Not much longer was Full Tilt Poker, which continued to operate and pay out most cashouts until June 29, 2011. In the midst of the World Series of Poker, to carry out activities. FTP manual turned off game servers…Plans were publicly announced to restore the license and return online on July 26th… in its original state, Full Tilt Poker never returned online.

After 16 months, after lengthy negotiations with Bernard and Laurent Tapie and the collapse of this deal, after the most difficult negotiations with the US authorities, and finally, after Full Tilt Poker by The Rational Group (owners of PokerStars), players from all over the world ... except America and legalized markets -reservations.

No matter how strange it may sound, but financially, Black Friday was most likely experienced at PokerStars. Firstly, because of the volume of traffic of Americans, which suddenly dried up, and secondly, because of the financial investments that had to be invested in the process of surviving in the hardest time. The purchase of Full Tilt Poker and its debt alone is rumored to have cost the Scheinberg family over a billion dollars. But there were also their debts to the US authorities and American players. Be that as it may, PokerStars was the only poker room that survived Black Friday, did not stop the game and did not prohibit players from making cashouts. The Stars are the only ones who have fulfilled all their obligations to the players and the US Department of Justice. Alas, this is good for the company and for PokerStars players… but something tells me, this is far from good for the industry as a whole, where Black Friday has become an opportunity for Stars to become a super monopoly.

Too much has happened in the 2 years since Black Friday. There were even poker rooms, smaller ones, but almost no one remembers this.

How will the world of online poker change by the next anniversary? ... but we are left with the events that put the market, with which we are somehow connected, under an unbearable blow. And it looks like they survived...

What is Black Friday? What does Black Friday mean in online poker? Do not be surprised to find that this is not only a well-known day of discounts, but also an epoch-making event in the world of gambling.

Black Friday - April 15, 2011, when the US Federal Bureau of Investigation blocked the websites of four major online poker rooms (PokerStars, FullTilt Poker, Absolute Poker, UltimateBet Poker). They were accused of illegal organization of online gambling, as well as fraud. The main reason for the incident was the fact that the law was violated, which was issued in 2006, which prohibits such activities.

Black Friday

Today is Black Friday in the US, which means discount day. This event takes place once a year, the day after Thanksgiving, and has nothing to do with online gambling today.

Since 1932, the sale has been seen as the start of the Christmas shopping season. Today this day is called "Black Friday" and it is not an official holiday.

This year, in 2016, this date is November 25 at 21:00. Most shops plan to open their doors at midnight or even earlier. Why is this event called Black Friday? Because for organizations, unlike shopaholics, this is a “bad” day. These days, discounts, from the point of view of buyers, are not just pleasant, but incredible - up to 90%! There are a number of rules for successful shopping on Black Friday.

What does Black Friday mean in online poker?

This day, April 15, 2011, caused huge damage to online poker , more specifically, the four poker rooms that were noted above, their "tops", as well as US users who could no longer play online on these servers. On this day, eleven people were arrested who held senior positions in online poker rooms. More than 70 bank accounts belonging to poker rooms and companies through which illegal payments were made to online poker players were also blocked. Black Friday had a negative impact on online gambling around the world. Only five years later, the largest poker room - PokerStars - was able to take the first step to return to the "open spaces" of America. To date, the PokerStars game is available so far only in one state - New Jersey, while players can only play among themselves.

Poker players have flocked to lesser known poker sites.

"Black Friday"(from English Black Friday) - this is the name given to the date April 15, 2011 in poker circles. It was on this day that the sites of the four biggest poker rooms (PokerStars, FullTilt Poker, Absolute Poker and UniBet Poker) were blocked by the US Federal Bureau of Investigation.

The main reason for such a sharp and massive intervention of the FBI in poker affairs and as a result of "Black Friday" for the entire poker community was the fact that the above poker rooms allowed players from the United States to play at their tables, regardless of the law UIGEA (Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act).

UIGEA was developed and submitted to the US Congress in October 2006. Its essence is to ban banks and other FROs (financial settlement organizations) from accepting American players' accounts in online casinos and online poker rooms. Due to the fact that the bill had many opponents, it will only come into force on June 1, 2010.

After collecting enough information against PokerStars, FullTilt Poker, Absolute Poker and UniBet Poker, the FBI blocked the websites of these poker rooms, and also issued arrest warrants for 11 people holding senior positions in them. Among other things, about 70 bank accounts belonging to poker rooms and companies that illegally (bypassing the UIGEA) served American players online were blocked.

Charges were filed on a number of violations: money laundering, illegal processing of payments, bribery, deception of authorities. April 15, 2011 began a massive "fever" of all poker sites, as well as players. Players were afraid for the safety of deposits and winnings on their accounts. Affected poker rooms were flooded with massive cashouts from poker players and were forced to reduce the guaranteed prize pools in their regular tournaments. European poker rooms, on the contrary, did everything in their power to attract new players - increased the guaranteed prize pools of their regular tournaments, offered reload bonuses, increased first deposit bonuses, held exclusive rake races, etc.

"Black Friday" has radically changed the attitude of not only American, but also European poker players"look" at less popular poker sites and poker networks. While Absolute Poker, UB.com, Full Tilt Poker and PokerStars are trying to recover from the "shock", smaller online poker rooms quite successfully increase their traffic.

The poker rooms of the Merge network are still accepting players from the USA and their traffic growth is simply impressive. The US Department of Justice went to meet poker players and demanded payment from poker rooms Money stored in accounts. Full Tilt Poker and PokerStars graciously accepted this offer. As for the Cereus network, which included the poker rooms Absolute Poker and UB.com, their management, having weighed all the pros and cons, decided to start bankruptcy proceedings.

Americans can no longer play on any of these sites, which were previously considered the best in the industry. The result of "Black Friday activity" was the closure of a number of payment operators. This further aggravated the situation for American players: they were left with very few options for depositing / withdrawing funds. The same problem to some extent affected many European players.

The Australian payment processor that became the key for US authorities to prosecute the top three online poker rooms in "black friday", can become the main trump card of the prosecution, speaking as a witness at the trial against two defendants in a high-profile case. April 9 Dan Tsvetkov, the former owner of Intabill will testify in a New York court against Chad Alley and John Campos.

Eli and Campos are charged with three counts of violating the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act of 2006 ( UIGEA), money laundering and participation in organizing an illegal gambling business. They are also accused of fraud to mislead banks.

Federal charges against defendants in the case " black friday ” will remain in effect. Manhattan County federal judge Lewis Kaplan denied the motion to dismiss the case.

The petition was filed by John Campos, former Vice President Utah bank who received money from online poker sites in exchange for conducting transactions related to online poker and Chad Alley, a payment processor who also handled the flow of funds between US players and offshore sites.

« The argument that poker is not gambling, declared insolvent Kaplan concluded in an eight-page memo.

Ira Rubin , one of 11 accused by the US Department of Justice in the case " black friday pleaded guilty to conspiracy. The verdict will be announced on May 17.

Rubin admitted to working with online poker rooms and Full Tilt Poker as a payment processor. He explained that money transfers for gambling sites were carried out as fictitious payments for non-existent goods. Thus, the banks did not understand the true purpose of these payments and could not prevent them. This criminal scheme worked from 2006 until April 2011.

In July 2011 Ruby offered a $300,000 bail and permission to live with his parents in Florida, but Judge James Colt denied Rubin bail on " a number of reasons”, including the risk of leaving the country.

Holder of the prestigious title online player of the year "according to the magazine Card Player became Jason" jdpc27 » Wheeler. Over the past year, he has earned 8,076 OPOY points and $768,877 playing online.

However " black Friday” could well have ended the career of a brilliant pro who had to move to Mexico to continue playing online.

US Department of Justice responded to a series of complaints John Campos and Chad Eli , passing on the case of "black friday". Both allegedly petitioned for the removal of all charges against them, but the Department denied that such a fact took place.

The US Department of Justice sent a detailed response to the petition of Chad Ely and John Campos - two of the 11 defendants in the case " black friday».

Both defendants were arrested in the morning "black friday" for their involvement in an illegal payment scheme with the help of a Utah banker, but were later released on bail.

Chad Eli and John Campos , two of only 11 individuals who were indicted by the US Department of Justice on April 15, 2011, decided to fight the charges in court, demanding that all charges be dropped.

One of the defendants, Chad Ely, is the head of a payment processing organization who was charged in connection with the Justice Department's investigation into PokerStars.

Having worked properly poker rooms PokerStars, Full Tilt Poker and Absolute Poker, Eli was charged by the Department of Justice with four counts of UIGEA violations, three counts of illegal gambling operations, conspiracy to commit bank fraud, and conspiracy to commit money laundering.

Online poker room Full Tilt Poker issued a statement that was exclusively posted on the well-known poker information site PokerNews.com. These events were preceded by the promise of the management of the poker room to make the whole situation around its affairs as transparent as possible. Black Friday.

Main Event Winner WSOP 1998 Scotty Nguyen and recent 2011 PCA 4th place winner Sam Stein share their vision in an interview with CardPlayer Magazine further development events around poker in the USA.

Nguyen, who was interviewed during the $1,000 Event at the Bellagio in Las Vegas, stated that after " black friday » poker has a chance to return to the old days, when in real casinos it was possible to quickly and easily find a good game.

Black Friday is the biggest sale in the world! Almost any business company does its best to provide its customers with the biggest discounts and bonuses.

Online poker keeps up with the world trends and that is why Partypoker will give its players a bunch of bonuses over the next few days.

Black Friday at Partypoker

There will be 3 happy hours during the day, during which you can triple your earned cashback points.

This means that you will earn 3 points for every $1 of rake.

Please note that each hour will have its own additional condition:

• Play through mobile app partypoker with 12:00 to 12:59 (CET) to earn triple points
• Accumulate Triple Points from 13:00 to 13:59 (CET) playing at the Sit & Go Jackpot and Sit & Go Hero tables
• Accumulate Triple Points by Playing Multi-Table Tournaments from 15:00 to 17:00 (CET)

In addition to the Black Friday Happy Hours, the Happy Hour promotion will run as usual from 18:00 to 19:00 and from 21:00 to 22:00 (GMT). This is another opportunity to get double the points and increase your rakeback.

cyber monday

Cyber ​​Monday is a continuation of Black Friday, and on this day Partypoker players will have the opportunity to receive a deposit bonus, as well as several special tournaments.

Deposit bonus

On Monday, if you deposit more than $50 into your Partypoker account, you will receive a lottery ticket that you can use the next day to win one of the following prizes:

• ticket for $215 Title Fight
• ticket for $44 Title Fight satellite
• ticket for $8.80 Title Fight satellite
• ticket for $1.10 Title Fight satellite
• cashback points

Special Schedule of Cyber ​​Monday Tournaments

More than 30 MTT tournaments will be held at Partypoker on Cyber ​​Monday.

The $109 buy-in Heavyweight Apollo will double the prize pool, with a $10,000 guaranteed tournament on that date instead of the usual $5,000.

In addition, there will be 50% discounts on select buy-ins on Cyber ​​Monday. Discounts will apply to 6 Featherweight tournaments with $500 Gtd. On Monday, the buy-in for the tournament will be only $2.75. The discount will also apply to the $5,000 Heavyweight Progressive Knock-Out Freezeout tournament, which will be reduced to a $55 buy-in.

Rakeback deal from VIP-Grinders

If you do not have a Partypoker account, but want to take advantage of all the Black Friday and Cyber ​​Monday bonuses, then register using our link and you will receive:

• 40% fixed rakeback for the first month of play
• $500 First Deposit Bonus
• 15% additional rakeback from VIP-Grinders
• Access to our private rake race with prize fund $25.000