A Herculean task makes progress

Unless you have been living under the poker community version of a rock for the last couple of months, you're aware that, in early August, PokerStars signed an agreement with the U.S... Department of Justice that settled their suit against us. That agreement also included PokerStars acquiring a number of the assets of Full Tilt Poker and committing to pay back their non-U.S. players within 90 days.

It is safe to mention that we've been hustling to fulfill the 90-day stipulation (which falls on November 6th, coincidentally the day of the united states.. presidential election). Many of the poker community was incredibly gracious and patient about looking ahead to the large day, but there are a couple of individuals who have wondered out loud, "Seriously - how hard can this be? Push the large green button at the servers, wait 30 seconds, and the famous Full Tilt deck-fanning animation appears on computer screens internationally".

If only it were that straightforward.

More than simply a green button

For Exhibit A, I offer this video (at the side of some great commentary by PokerStars Head of Corporate Communications Eric Hollreiser) of the entire Tilt Poker servers and associated bits being airlifted into the Isle of Man from Guernsey on Friday, September 21st. And yes, that's a Lockheed C-130 Hercules bringing the CPUs in. I mean, we adore the Manx 2 planes over here within the Isle of Man, but they are not equipped to hold 15 lots of computer hardware. In fact, that Hercules payload represents about half the overall weight of computer server equipment that's coming over; the remainder came by more traditional methods.

Eric Hollreiser reporting live from the airfield

To nobody's surprise, our IT people have abandoned their weekends to start out the method of plugging cable A into socket B (I USED TO BE just at corporate headquarters and saw one of the five kilometers of cables there). They need to undergo the method of reassembling this 30 a whole bunch silicon and metal after which ensuring that after they do, in fact, push the large green button, they're serving Full Tilt Poker to the web. Having spent 25 years within the IT business before joining PokerStars, I WILL BE ABLE TO inform you this can be a daunting task; I'm supremely happy that our IT folk are as competent and dedicated as they are.

Of course, we didn't move all of the hardware to the Isle of Man simply because we discovered there has been a Hercules available to do it. PokerStars chose the Isle of Man for its headquarters (and license) for plenty of reasons back in 2005. It has a gradual government and world-class civic and IT infrastructures. But one of the compelling reasons for selecting the Isle of Man was its strong gaming regulations. They take very seriously their obligation to observe their gaming licensees and supply oversight that further protects players.

Lee Jones

Furthermore, this discussion doesn't touch on myriad other aspects of restarting Full Tilt: staffing, organizational dynamics, account security, policy and procedure (I'LL go on).
But the key is that non-US Full Tilt players can have access to their money by November 6th and entire Tilt Poker may be dealing cards that day, too.

Lee Jones is the top of Home Games at PokerStars and have been keen on the pro poker world for over 25 years. You'll be able to read his occasional Twitter-bites at @leehjones.

Read More... [Source: PokerStarsBlog.com :: Corporate Blog]