Full Tilt 토토 꽁머니 Poker has another lawsuit on their hands, this time by virtue of Canada’s Consumer Law Group. This lawsuit, of the class action variety, was filed in the Superior Court of Quebec on September 8. It bases its case upon the claims of “all residents in Canada who have money being held in their Full Tilt Poker Player Accounts since approximately June 30th 2011, or any other group to be determined by the Court,” according to the official release.
Contrary to expectations, the primary victims in this lawsuit are not the highrollers who boasted massive online bankrolls. Instead, says the Montreal Gazette, “The lead plaintiff in the class action is a Montreal man, Mitchell Schnurbach, who had between $1 and $5 in his player account.” Indeed, a great deal of the players involved in the class action lawsuit have “much smaller accounts,” according to Consumer Law Group lawyer Jeff Orenstein.
While the majority may be small, the total estimated loss for Canadian players is estimated to be between $5-$10 million.
Since the events of Black Friday, Full Tilt has faced major problems on several fronts. Things came to a head in late June, when the British gaming commission of Alderney revoked the company’s online license. Since then, players across the globe have been locked out of their accounts. Several lawsuits have been filed against the former online gaming giant, of which this Canadian effort is the latest.
While a hearing before the Alderney commission is scheduled to take place in the near future, delays and a possible purchase by outside investors continue to cast a cloud over Full Tilt and its former players.
FTOPS XI kicked-off today with a huge bang. FullTilt continues to deliver a great tournament series with 25 scheduled events and over $15,000,000 in guaranteed prize money! First up, Event #1, a $1,000,000 guaranteed NL Hold’em Event.
The $200+$16 buy-in tournament attracted 6,275 of the best tournament players around the world, creating a prize pool of $1,255,000. This event was hosted by FullTilt Poker co-owner and WSOP bracelet winner Howard Lederer. Lederer is no stranger to tournament success, having won two WSOP bracelets, two World Poker Tour titles, and the 2008 Aussie Millions high-roller $100,000 buy-in event. Lederer isn’t the only great player in his family, as his sister Annie Duke also has a WSOP bracelet to her name.
Lederer fared quite well in his own event, eventually busting out in 697th place for a $326.30 payday. All in all, 58 FullTilt sponsored professionals played in the event, with five, including Lederer, making the money. Lee Watkinson, a final-table participant from the 2007 WSOP Main Event, had the best run of all the pros, finishing in 211th place for $727.90. Other big names playing included Allen Cunningham, Brandon Adams, David Pham, and former WSOP ME Champion Huck Seed.
As the final table approached a few well known names remained, including John Newcombe, a tournament grinder who finished 4th for $175,106 in FTOPS Event #17 this past February. Another player with success on FullTilt was kudos1017 who finished 4th in the Sunday Brawl this past May for $21,596 to go along with 7 other 5-figure scores. Dan “Wretchy” Martin made a nice run, finally busting in 13th place when his ATo could not outrun pocket Queens. Martin had to be considered one of the favorites as he has many big wins to his name including a victory in the Brawl this past June and a win in the $109r on PokerStars in October.
