How The Media Have Reacted to the Full Tilt Poker Story

The latest Full Tilt Poker news is all over the mainstream media, find out what they are saying here.

Lederer & Ferguson on the Front Pages

For all the many recent scandals in poker, thankfully very few of them have made it all the way to the mainstream media. That is not the case with the amendment to the US Department of Justice’s amendment to their civil complaint yesterday, which has been splashed across the front pages of all the major news websites and inside national newspapers.

Over 700 mainstream news outlets and counting are carrying the news, including all of the major news corporations. CNN, CNBC, Fox News, the BBC, Forbes, The New York Times, Bloomberg, Reuters, and the Financial Times are among the hundreds of news agencies carrying the story.

There is one massive unifying theme between all of the mainstream news reports, and that is they all have jumped on US Attorney Preet Bharara referring to Full Tilt Poker as a 'Ponzi Scheme'.

Almost every single headline uses the word Ponzi to describe operations at Full Tilt Poker. This has also led many poker players to discuss the definition of a Ponzi Scheme. By definition, it is a scheme where returns are paid from their own investors, not from profit earned. Technically Full Tilt also generated profit, so the definition is a little hazy.

Correct definition or not, clearly the usage of the word Ponzi was used for deliberate effect. The word is synonymous with fraud and scandal, and this, coupled with the huge sums of money involved, is likely to leave a profound impression in the general public conscience.

There isn't much variation between any of the main stories, most quote the same figures and sources, most use the word Ponzi, and include FTP screen shots and/or images of Howard Lederer and Chris Ferguson. Sympathies do have to go out to next generation poker room PKR, who unfortunately have had their own distinctive screen shots used in a story from Wired Magazine.

Twitter Trending

Full Tilt on CBS News

As with all major news stories, twitter is playing a significant role in breaking this story. As you can imagine, as very little new has been revealed other than the details of the amended civil complaint itself, this has mostly taken the role of posting links to the major news sources and discussing the events.

There is also a distinct trend, so far, among representatives of the major online poker rooms. Former Full Tilt Pros (with the exception of Tom Dwan) have been rather deafening with their silence, while PokerStars Pros have also remained tight lipped on the subject, no doubt not wanting to rub salt in the wounds.

@TonyGuoga: No mention of Ivey in the documents. I believe we have our inside man.

@KidPoker: why kick a dog that's been dead for so long?

@pokerkat (Kathy Liebert): I'm glad I'm not just coming in to poker now. Dark time for poker for awhile until we get legal online poker

@Tom_Dwan: Super happy with the doj's actions today. Restores a little faith in government for me. Now if the fed will jus not announce qe3 I might be

There have been two significant trends on twitter that has shown at least that poker players are able to laugh in the face of adversity. Those are the hashtags #FTPstandsfor and #RejectedFTPslogans. Here poker players have been submitting their own alternate spoofs on the FTP initials and slogans, and understandably they haven't been pulling any punches.

Make sure to follow @HQPokerStratey & @Barry_Carter for all the latest tweet updates from this story.

Forum Chatter

Understandably, poker forums are going wild with yesterday's news. TwoPlusTwo is clearly the busiest of all the forums, with multiple threads, a Q&A with Tom Dwan, and a container thread that is already over 100 pages long.

You can also have your say over at the PokerStrategy.com forum and in the comment box of our Full Tilt Poker Updates article.

This story is only to get bigger and find its way onto even more front pages, especially with the news due to come out from the AGCC hearing in London. Stay tuned to PokerStrategy.com as we bring you all the latest developments as they happen.

by Barry Carter