As Rakerace.com reported, Phil Ivey announced that he had filed a lawsuit against Full Tilt Poker (or, more precisely, against its parent company Tiltware), and would not participate in this year’s WSOP as long as FTP did not start paying its US players. Further details have since surfaced: Ivey contacted LA lawyer David Z. Chesnoff, who filed the lawsuit against the firm in the District Court of Clark County, Nevada. According to this Ivey is suing for breach of contract and for lost business opportunity and income as well as for damaging his professional and personal reputation. In all, these are worth over $150 million – approximately the amount of money Full Tilt Poker owes its US players.
Phil Ivey
Tiltware’s statement goes as follows:
“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.”
Despite the announcement, players – hardly surprisingly – all seem to side with Ivey.
Phil Ivey
Tiltware’s statement goes as follows:
“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.”
Despite the announcement, players – hardly surprisingly – all seem to side with Ivey.
