Rudy Edwards

Now that I have publicly made a point of being dissatisfied with Full Tilt Poker's payment processing, I thought I would follow it up with how things have resolved so far.

Since I discovered that FTP had cancelled the Cash Pickup option, I've played exclusively at Pokerstars. The rumor that Stars had a cash pickup option seems to be just that, as I have not discovered one. I made a check withdrawal request on August 28th from Full Tilt, who make it clear that it can take up to 15 business days for your check to arrive. It has been my experience that you rarely recieve it much earlier than that. I made a check withdrawal request a week later from Pokerstars, on September 4th.

5 days later on the 9th of September, My Stars check had arrived. Today, September the 16th, 19 days after my cashout request, I received my FTP check. That's almost 4 times longer waiting for FTP than Stars. I will say that I am relieved to have received the Full Tilt money, but I find it hard to imagine a legitimate reason for this discrepancy. It's been this way as long as I've been playing both sites. I don't know if I can keep money on a site that is so cavalier with my money. Sure, I can get rakeback on FTP, but there are less players and the games are worse for that reason anyhow. I've always preferred a few small things about the FTP interface, it's always seemed more user friendly to me.

The only reasons I can conceive of for the discrepancy in payout time are as follows:
1. FTP just plain has a slow system, which doesn't prioritize timeliness.
2. FTP wants to squeeze out that extra profit from holding on to our money for a few weeks longer
3. FTP is in financial trouble, or keeps in funds in a bank that is close to insolvency.

None of these excite me, and even if it is just the first one, the reason they haven't solved it may be the second or third. The payment problems FTP has had over the past few months make me consider the third more than I otherwise would. It's a shame, because between rakeback and the interface, I would rather play on Full Tilt, but I just don't feel comfortable doing that now, and the timeliness of payouts is important to me.

Perhaps I will return to Full Tilt if they bring back Cash Pickup as a payout option, but as of today, it's still not available.