In response, Full Tilt Poker tried to reassure poker players that the money in their accounts was safe and would eventually be returned, but that no withdrawals or transfers would be accepted temporarily. They moved their server to http://www.fulltiltpoker.co.uk for non U.S. players to continue accessing the site.
"Full Tilt Poker is saddened by today's charges against its CEO Raymond Bitar and offers its full support to Mr. Bitar and Nelson Burtnick," the statement read.
"Online poker is a game of skill enjoyed by tens of millions of people in the United States and across the world. And, Full Tilt Poker remains committed as ever to preserving the rights of those players to play the game they love online."
"Bitar and Full Tilt Poker believe online poker is legal - a position also taken by some of the best legal minds in the United States. Full Tilt Poker is, and has always been committed to preserving the integrity of the game and abiding by the law."
PokerStars also was quick to assure players that their funds were safe and moved their server to http://www.pokerstars.eu. "Online poker is a game of skill enjoyed by tens of millions of people in the United States and across the world. And, Full Tilt Poker remains committed as ever to preserving the rights of those players to play the game they love online."
"Bitar and Full Tilt Poker believe online poker is legal - a position also taken by some of the best legal minds in the United States. Full Tilt Poker is, and has always been committed to preserving the integrity of the game and abiding by the law."
Immediate speculation was that TV poker shows would suffer, due to their heavy dependence on poker site advertising. ESPN indicated that they were looking to fill the spot previously scheduled for coverage of the NAPT PokerStars Caribbean Adventure Super High Roller final and Bounty Shootout that was due to air this week.
Full Tilt Poker did announce that they have postponed their recently announced ultra-high $100k buy-in Onyx Poker Cup series.
Full Tilt saw a nearly 50% drop in cash game traffic with Absolute and Poker Stars also show large decreases.
Full Tilt's opening FTOPS XX event cut down its guaranteed prize pool from $3 million to $1 million, while yesterday's Sunday Million on PokerStars was cut around $500,000 from $1.5 million to a little less than $1 million.
Non-indicted U.S. facing poker rooms, and non-U.S. facing poker rooms saw a significant bump in their site activity in the wake of Black Friday.
Bodog Poker, which continues to offer online poker to U.S. players, saw traffic go up by almost 25%, followed by the Merge Network, which experienced a 23% rise in overall player traffic from Friday to Sunday.
Stay tuned for further updates in this fast moving issue within the poker world. The reach and impact of preventing U.S. players from playing online poker and withdrawing their money from these three sites will have significant impact moving forward, especially at the upcoming World Series of Poker due to begin in six weeks.
