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Poker Stars, Full Tilt Poker, and Absolute Poker/Ultimate Bet were the 3 affected by what is known as "black friday" in the poker community. Poker Stars paid b

Poker Stars, Full Tilt Poker, and Absolute Poker/Ultimate Bet were the 3 affected by what is known as "black friday" in the poker community. Poker Stars paid back players relatively quickly so I'm not sure anyone sold any of their frozen assets on that site. For Absolute Poker, the exchange rate began at 50 cents on the dollar and plummeted quickly from there all the way down to 1 cent on the dollar. For Full Tilt, the exchange rate started higher but also eventually went as low as 1 cent on the dollar. 14 months after black friday, Poker Stars bought Full Tilt Poker and has since returned all funds owed to Full Tilt players. Ultimate Bet still has not paid any players back and likely never will. Fun story: I was a professional online poker player when black friday happened. And I just happened to be in Guatemala, on my honeymoon. Prior to going on my honeymoon, I had experienced the worst downswing in my career and all we had left (about 20k) was now frozen in my Poker Stars account. When we returned home, we didn't have enough to make the next month's mortgage payment. What we did have was about 1k in cash from our wedding gifts. The night after we got back, I took that 1k to the local casino and played in the highest cash game I could buy into. It was high risk but I didn't have time to grind it out at lower stakes. Luckily I went on an amazing heater, ran the 1k up to 10k and that was enough to last us until Poker Stars unfroze my account.

arfliw 13y ago
What do you do now, if you don't mind my asking? I was an online pro too. Taught myself to code since Black Friday.
- avalaunch 13y ago
  I started coding professionally as well. I had some experience before Black Friday. I had been working on a few side projects (in Python) for a couple of years. I augmented that by attending the App Academy, which at the time was teaching Objective C.
hangonhn 13y ago
"The night after we got back, I took that 1k to the local casino and played in the highest cash game I could buy into. It was high risk but I didn't have time to grind it out at lower stakes. Luckily I went on an amazing heater, ran the 1k up to 10k and that was enough to last us until Poker Stars unfroze my account." That's a fantastic story my friend. It took some luck but also a lot of guts and self confidence to do that. Glad you managed it.
- levosmetalo 13y ago
  > That's a fantastic story my friend. It took some luck but also a lot of guts and self confidence to do that. Glad you managed it. Story is fantastic, but I'm not glad he did it. I would like it much more if he understood that gambling is a zero sum game except for gambling companies, and stopped playing it after learning a lesson.
  - bermanoid 13y ago
    When the payoff for not hitting a certain monetary threshold is extremely negative and out of proportion to the amount of money in question (lose your wife/house/family/life) that can actually change that calculus, and taking a losing bet is your best move in the absence of other options.
  - avalaunch 13y ago
    I'm well aware that poker is a zero sum game, at least as far as the exchange of money is concerned. That being said, that doesn't mean that playing professionally provides no value to society. As with any game or sport, there's a certain entertainment value provided to those that play as well as those that watch. Even those players that never make it on tv help to provide the foundation for the ecosystem needed to provide the entertainment on a global level, in the same manner that minor league sporting athletes help support the majors. All that being said, the entire reason I was devoting time and effort to my side projects was the belief that I could derive more meaning from life doing something other than poker. I was already trying to transition to something new. Black Friday just gave me a giant kick in the ass. Also, poker is not gambling, at least not the way I play.
    - shawabawa3 13y ago
      > Also, poker is not gambling, at least not the way I play. What you did that night was definitely gambling (buying in with 100% of your bankroll). Glad it worked out for you though
      - 13y ago
triplenineteen 13y ago
> 14 months after black friday, Poker Stars bought Full Tilt Poker and has since returned all funds owed to Full Tilt players. Not totally correct. As part of the deal, Pokerstars paid out balances for all non-U.S. Full Tilt players. Players from the U.S. are still waiting for their money, which will be in the form of remittance through the DOJ. The latest news is that those payments will begin soon (nearly 3 years after "Black Friday").
- avalaunch 13y ago
  Ah. I knew the date to file your claim with the DOJ had already passed so I assumed (incorrectly it seems) that the refunds had already been processed. Thanks for the correction!
holyjaw 13y ago
Reminds me of the story of how FedEx almost went under [0]. 0: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/10/15/fred-smith-blackjack-fedex_n_1966837.html http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/10/15/fred-smith-blackjac...
rjzzleep 13y ago
no offense really, but it's stupid to always bring up these things. it's not like people got their money back from lehman brothers demise. banks take your money, and can then trade on a 1000:1 leverage, and when they lose all your money it's pretty much tough luck. sure, mtgox sucks, but this is in no way something new.

arfliw 13y ago

What do you do now, if you don't mind my asking? I was an online pro too. Taught myself to code since Black Friday.

avalaunch 13y ago
I started coding professionally as well. I had some experience before Black Friday. I had been working on a few side projects (in Python) for a couple of years. I augmented that by attending the App Academy, which at the time was teaching Objective C.

hangonhn 13y ago

"The night after we got back, I took that 1k to the local casino and played in the highest cash game I could buy into. It was high risk but I didn't have time to grind it out at lower stakes. Luckily I went on an amazing heater, ran the 1k up to 10k and that was enough to last us until Poker Stars unfroze my account." That's a fantastic story my friend. It took some luck but also a lot of guts and self confidence to do that. Glad you managed it.

levosmetalo 13y ago
> That's a fantastic story my friend. It took some luck but also a lot of guts and self confidence to do that. Glad you managed it. Story is fantastic, but I'm not glad he did it. I would like it much more if he understood that gambling is a zero sum game except for gambling companies, and stopped playing it after learning a lesson.
- bermanoid 13y ago
  When the payoff for not hitting a certain monetary threshold is extremely negative and out of proportion to the amount of money in question (lose your wife/house/family/life) that can actually change that calculus, and taking a losing bet is your best move in the absence of other options.
- avalaunch 13y ago
  I'm well aware that poker is a zero sum game, at least as far as the exchange of money is concerned. That being said, that doesn't mean that playing professionally provides no value to society. As with any game or sport, there's a certain entertainment value provided to those that play as well as those that watch. Even those players that never make it on tv help to provide the foundation for the ecosystem needed to provide the entertainment on a global level, in the same manner that minor league sporting athletes help support the majors. All that being said, the entire reason I was devoting time and effort to my side projects was the belief that I could derive more meaning from life doing something other than poker. I was already trying to transition to something new. Black Friday just gave me a giant kick in the ass. Also, poker is not gambling, at least not the way I play.
  - shawabawa3 13y ago
    > Also, poker is not gambling, at least not the way I play. What you did that night was definitely gambling (buying in with 100% of your bankroll). Glad it worked out for you though
    - 13y ago

triplenineteen 13y ago

> 14 months after black friday, Poker Stars bought Full Tilt Poker and has since returned all funds owed to Full Tilt players. Not totally correct. As part of the deal, Pokerstars paid out balances for all non-U.S. Full Tilt players. Players from the U.S. are still waiting for their money, which will be in the form of remittance through the DOJ. The latest news is that those payments will begin soon (nearly 3 years after "Black Friday").

avalaunch 13y ago
Ah. I knew the date to file your claim with the DOJ had already passed so I assumed (incorrectly it seems) that the refunds had already been processed. Thanks for the correction!

holyjaw 13y ago

Reminds me of the story of how FedEx almost went under [0]. 0: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/10/15/fred-smith-blackjack-fedex_n_1966837.html http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/10/15/fred-smith-blackjac...

rjzzleep 13y ago

no offense really, but it's stupid to always bring up these things. it's not like people got their money back from lehman brothers demise. banks take your money, and can then trade on a 1000:1 leverage, and when they lose all your money it's pretty much tough luck. sure, mtgox sucks, but this is in no way something new.