Poker Forum

It is very good news to hear about the French government oversight agency policing any infringement in the rules and regulations surrounding the French Government regulations for online poker. The fact that it is Partouche is unfortunate because the Partouche organization screwed up the guaranteed funding advertised. The owner of the Partouche gambling empire has nothing to do with the day-to-day running of individual casinos he owns. The players (correctly) pointed out the guarantee advertisements. The players (incorrectly) accused the owner of being a crook. After investigating the Partouche group honoured the guarantee because it was clearly guaranteed. Mr. Partouche, however, elected to not take being called a criminal and cancelled the poker tour.

It could have been done better and Mr. Partouche could have had a thicker skin. Nobody intelligent expects the owner of the group to approve the ads for poker tournaments or even know a lot about them. He was told by the organizers there was no guarantee so that is what he repeated when asked. The investigation showed that it was a firm guarantee so they honoured the guarantee. PokerNews had a video of the speech by Mr. Partouche & it was pretty impressive to see the emotions running so hot.

Yes, it was an interesting video coming from a very interesting and controversial story. It's sad to see the Partouche Poker Tour fold after everything that happened, as the tour seemed to be fairly successful overall. Guarantees on poker events are always difficult to gauge, especially when there are some that are extremely large. Given how many events take place all over on a regular basis in today's poker world, it's not often all players flock to the same event, making it harder to reach a guarantee.

It would be interesting to see Partouche possibly try and gain some respect back by investigating the Pasualini-Rossi incident a bit more. If these players did in fact cheat, Partouche should do all the can to make it right.

Don, you are right. Partouche could be convinced to re-launch the tour but it would take a number of top-line poker players to come and see him personally, apologize on behalf of the poker community for calling him a criminal, & do a little public relations. Few players have the class, the wardrobe, or the intellect to give it a try but that is the best shot. If Partouche is satisfied that it is only a few young hotheads not representative of the upper echelon of the pro poker player ranks that were insulting, he would in all probably feel justified in ignoring them satisfied that the top levels are rational.

The idea that Partouche would micro manage a poker tournament is ludicrous considering the scope of his business responsibilities.

I think it would be worthwhile for a few top-level players to change out of their crap poker playing uniforms and slip into some serious suits, invite Partouche to dinner using a mutual friend, and apologize for the clearly-out-of-line insult on the behalf of the poker community.