The biggest poker story of the week was easily the $731 million deal that PokerStars made with the US Department of Justice to acquire Full Tilt. $547 million of this amount will go towards paying off the US government for violating the UIGEA and reimbursing American customers ($150m). Another $184 million will be made available for non-US Full Tilt players who had funds stuck on the site.

Of course, neither the $184 million for international players or the $150 million for Americans will be available right away, which makes it worth asking when players are going to get paid.

Re-launch means Refunds

Within 90 days, PokerStars plans to re-launch Full Tilt Poker, at which point international customers will be able to play immediately. More importantly, these players will have access to their funds and withdraw them if desired. But it is worth stating that there are no guarantees with what we discussed above - it's just the designed plan at this point. 

What about US Players?

When the Full Tilt Poker re-launch happens, US players won't be able to play on FTP due to laws and regulations. That said, they can't access the collective $150 million through the Full Tilt software. Instead, Americans are supposed to contact the US Department of Justice in order to get their money.

The big question now is whether or not the US DOJ will repay all of the $150 million. Poker pro Lee Goldman isn't so confident as he said, "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 added, "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."

Americans will no doubt be hoping that Goldman isn't entirely accurate in his assessment. But only time will tell both when and if players get 100% of their money back.