Poker player hopes feds return big bankroll

Mercer Island native Lee Goldman tells Ross and Burbank he hopes to recover a “substantial six-figure sum” he had frozen when the Justice Department cracked down on Full Tilt Poker (AP image)

Poker players are known for their patience. Professional
player Lee Goldman, a Mercer Island native,
has needed every bit of it after the Justice Department
cracked down on the two largest poker websites, freezing
him out of what he calls a “substantial six-figure sum.”

But thanks to a newly
announced settlement, Goldman tells Ross and Burbank
he’s
hopeful he’ll be able to get a
good chunk of his bankroll back.

“Most poker players keep money on these sites like a bank,
like day to day we have money to play. We just trust
you’re playing on the top two sites on the world the money
is pretty much safe,” Goldman says.

It wasn’t. He was one of thousands of American’s affected
when the Justice Department shut down PokerStars and Full
Tilt Poker. The feds accused the two companies of
breaking federal Internet gambling laws by tricking banks
and credit card companies into illegally processing
payments for U.S. players.

Officials also alleged Full Tilt was running a Ponzi
Scheme of sorts, not keeping enough money on hand to pay
out players like Goldman.

“After all these months transpired, we realized the site
actually just didn’t keep the money on hand to cover
player balances like they had told everybody,” Goldman
says.

With so much of his money possibly gone for good, Goldman
says he began to worry that he’d never see his money
again.

“I had a substantial six figure sum on Full Tilt and it
just so happened that was where most of my money was kept
at
the time,” he says.

Under the terms of the complicated settlement, Full Tilt
will forfeit virtually all its assets to the government
and then be acquired by rival PokerStars.

Goldman and other U.S. players will then be able to apply
to the Justice Department for reimbursement.

“We’ll have to see how cumbersome the process is, but at
the moment, it’s going to be a real shock to everybody if
we all get paid 100 percent by the DOJ,” he says.

Goldman admits it was a bit of a gamble. After the
federal crackdown on what was called “Black Friday” April
15, 2011, Many players sold off their bankrolls to
speculators for a fraction of the value.

He tells Ross
and Burbank he could have done so and at least gotten a
small payout. Instead, he held out like a poker player
trying to catch a card on the last deal and he’s hopeful
it’ll amount to a winning hand.

Josh Kerns, MyNorthwest.com Editor