Las Vegas, NV
I was riding in a car en route to In-N-Out Burger (with Merchdawg, Timtern, and KevMath) when an email appeared on my CrackBerry from Full Tilt Poker's PR rep, Michele Clayborne, at 7:30pm PT or 3:30am Dublin Time (where FT's HQs is located). I sensed the seething anger with the ALL CAPS title... "TILTWARE'S RESPONSE TO THE PHIL IVEY LAWSUIT."
Here's the brief 130-word press release I received...
"Contrary to his sanctimonious public statements, Phil Ivey’s meritless lawsuit is about helping just one player – himself. In an effort to further enrich himself at the expense of others, Mr. Ivey appears to have timed his lawsuit to thwart pending deals with several parties that would put money back in players’ pockets. In fact, Mr. Ivey has been invited -- and has declined -- to take actions that could assist the company in these efforts, including paying back a large sum of money he owes the site. Tiltware doubts Mr. Ivey’s frivolous and self-serving lawsuit will ever get to court. But if it does, the company looks forward to presenting facts demonstrating that Mr. Ivey is putting his own narrow financial interests ahead of the players he professes to help."Benjo summed it up the best, "That's the fastest Full Tilt has responded to anything since Black Friday."
Man, oh man. The scathing press release reads like something from a scorned lover. Talk about an ugly break-up that the entire poker community gets to see unfold in front of their eyes --- at the start of the WSOP nonetheless.
The most interesting bit is this sentence...
"Mr. Ivey has been invited -- and has declined -- to take actions that could assist the company in these efforts, including paying back a large sum of money he owes the site."I never viewed as Ivey's lawsuit as an altruistic move to get back money to me and my friends, rather, I figured he was trying to seek out his own recovered funds and everything else was just fluff. After reading the details of the lawsuit (read Ivey-Tiltware complaint here), it became apparent that it was more of a contract dispute and Ivey wanted to terminate his non-compete clause in order to engage in other business opportunities. But then again, that's the spin from Camp Ivey.
But now, Tiltware is claiming that Ivey owes them money, which will supposedly help get money back to us faster. I'm calling bullshit on that. I mean, how much money do they claim Ivey owes them? $100 million?
This saga gets weirder and more exciting every minute. Stay tuned for further developments.
