Home / Poker News June 2011 / Phil Ivey’s WSOP Boycott, Lawsuit
Phil Ivey’s WSOP Boycott, Lawsuit
Posted by: Randy Williams - Wed, 2011-06-01 03:34
The poker world had been wondering for a while where Phil Ivey had disappeared in the wake of the Black Friday indictments and whether he was going to play in the WSOP. All those questions have been answered the other day, when Ivey came forth through Facebook of all things, and made an announcement that shook the online poker world’s foundations yet again. This blow, coming from the inside, may not have been as damaging as the Black Friday and Black Monday moves, but for a true poker fan it was much more painful.
Ivey didn’t show up at the $25k
NL Holdem Heads-up event, which kicked off on Day 1 of the 2011 Series, together with the $500 Casino Employees event. His absence raised some huge question marks and pushed him to some forward with an explanation.
In the statement he released, he said he was disappointed as well as embarrassed by the fact that
Full Tilt Poker had thus far failed to return the US players’ funds currently locked in the site’s coffers. He also said that the site representatives were clearly not doing everything within their means to make the restitution happen as soon as possible. As a result of the tardiness of the restitution process, scores of players were unable to take part in various poker tournaments, including the WSOP’s events. Therefore – Ivey concluded – if would be unfair for him to play in the
WSOP, while others could not, due to the financial harm caused to them by the site the pro was supposed to represent.
Ivey has also stated that he had filed a lawsuit against Tiltware, in relation to the slighted player accounts.
The authenticity of the statement which showed up on his Facebook page shortly after the $25k NL Holdem Heads-up event kicked off on Tuesday, has since been confirmed by independent sources too.
