Daily Rewind: Full Tilt Deal Complete, High Roller Award, FTPDoug Returns

Today in the Daily Rewind we reveal when you can expect to see the relaunched Full Tilt and return of non-US player funds. The EPT has unveiled a new award for their nosebleed players, and we celebrate Marvin Rettenmaier's success in Cyprus.

The Daily Rewind is your one-stop-shop for a sharp review of the day in poker. Join us here for a mix of the latest news and a more irreverent insight into the poker world. Today we discovered the following topics for you:

Full Tilt takeover complete, relaunch by November

FTP returns this year

Yesterday PokerStars announced that they have completed the deal to purchase the assets of Full Tilt Poker, and gave a date for the relaunch of the site.

PokerStars have now officially paid the first installment of $225m, as part of their three-year deal with the US Department of Justice worth $547m. Player funds of non-US players should be made available within 90 days of August 9.

Lee Jones confirmed yesterday when we can expect to see Full Tilt back in operation, which should be no later than November 6.

FTPDoug returns

A familiar name to Full Tilt players returned to poker forums yesterday. "FTPDoug", the poker room manager for Full Tilt, is back answering player questions on 2+2. The identity of FTPDoug has always been kept secret, but he has now been revealed as Shyam Markus, and will now be posting under the forum and twitter name FTPMarkus.

Markus came under fire from many on the 2+2 forum yesterday, as they believe some of his posts after Black Friday deliberately misled players about the safety of their funds. He commented that while he did post many FTP statements, he never posted anything he believed at the time to be untrue.

Markus also confirmed a few new facts about what we can expect from the relaunched Full Tilt. These include new bonuses, the return of the FTP store, and access to play money games for US players. 

EPT 'High Roller of the Year' award

Duhamel mastered the high rollers last season

With the 9th European Poker Tour season just around the corner, PokerStars has unveiled a new addition to the tour which will have the railbirds very excited.

The EPT is introducing new 'High Roller of the Year' award, where players will earn league points for every event they play with a buy-in of €/£/$10,000 or higher.

16 high roller events are already scheduled on the EPT calendar, including three super high roller events. The first one is a €50,000 event at EPT Barcelona, which takes place on August 17.

“High Stakes poker action is as exciting as any sport in the world and features the best players competing against each other and those with enough confidence and cash to take on poker’s elite players,” said Edgar Stuchly, President of the EPT. “These high stakes tournaments provide high-drama, deep strategy and potentially life-changing rewards.”

37 players are already confirmed for the first super high roller event, including Daniel Negreanu, ElkY, and Jonathan Duhamel.

Mad Marvin wins back-to-back WPT titles

In case you missed it, last night PartyPoker pro Marvin 'xcrash154' Rettenmaier became the first person to ever win two World Poker Tour titles in a row.

Yesterday the German pro took down the WPT Merit Cyprus Classic at the start of season XI, just three months after winning the WPT Championship at the Bellagio.

He won $287,784 this time around for his victory, which he can add to the $1,196,858 he won in the previous event. He is already looking like a strong contender for player of the year.

Back-to-back titles for Mad Marvin

Daily Signoff

To celebrate his success winning back-to-back WPT titles yesterday, we take a look back at why Marvin Rettenmaier is such an entertaining character on the poker circuit.