This is the story of Full Tilt Poker’s 2011: Lawsuits, lawsuits, and more lawsuits. It all began with the US DOJ slamming them with the whole Black Friday incident thing, followed by Phil Ivey’s indignant lawsuit, and finally this RICO class action lawsuit which affected not only the company, but also its poker pros. In fact, most of Full Tilt’s high profile pros were included, even Phil Ivey. The only one who was not named in the lawsuit was Tom Dwan. But this time, Phil Gordon is free as well because he just managed to get the charge against him dismissed.

About the RICO Lawsuit

“Conspiracy” is a word that seems highly frivolous, especially since it’s so commonly related to people who believe in the government hiding something and aliens creating crop circles. But the people who filed this lawsuit were dead serious when they used it to describe what Full Tilt was doing with the non-payment of funds. They say that there is a conspiracy among the company, Full Tilt, and some ‘related entities’ to deprive the US players of their money. Since the hearing has not yet happened, then there’s still no decision whether or not this rings true or if they have any valid legal claim. What was interesting about their lawsuit, however, was that they named even the poker pros hired by Full Tilt. Big names such as Phil Ivey, Patrik Antonius, Mike Matusow, and Phil Gordon were all named in the lawsuit. No one among Full Tilt’s roster of pros was spared, except for Tom Dwan. Dwan, who is still pretty young and well-meaning – even offering to pay the US players with the money he gained from working as a pro for Full Tilt, was understandably exempted from the lawsuit. However, there were other pros who did not even have a say in the administrative functions in Full Tilt, and yet were still named in the lawsuit. One of them is Phil Gordon.

Off the Hook

Of course, Phil Gordon applied for the dismissal of the case against him. Since he never participated in management decisions or even any operational roles, then it follows that he was an innocent party in all of this. He issued a statement saying “I have always held myself to the highest standards of conduct. As part of that, I have repeatedly emphasized that full Tilt should repay the US players as quickly as possible. His lawyers were also pretty happy that the plaintiffs decided to spare Gordon in all of this, especially since Gordon is pretty much on their side.

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