You will have seen the signs that Full Tilt Poker have been coming back to life this week, under new management and new ownership. On Wednesday we re-opened the location for play-money action as something of a beta-test of the software. The feedback was very positive and we're ironing out the predicted bugs before we launch real-money in lots of markets on November 6th.

We've also provided access to accounts for former players in lots of licensed markets - Estonia, Belgium, Denmark and Spain - so those players can now "pair" their Full Tilt Poker account to a PokerStars account, giving them full access to their previous Full Tilt Poker balances.

Today we will be able to open the functionality to French players, permitting them to transfer funds from their Full Tilt Poker account to a PokerStars.fr account. As we've indicated in recent weeks, we continue to stand obstacles in Italy so unfortunately we will be able to be unable to supply Italian players with access to their Full Tilt Poker funds by November 6th as we had originally hoped. We continue to work with legal advisers and Italian authorities to unravel this matter, and can be updating Italian players at the progress.

For players within the remainder of the sector (excluding the United States), we remain on schedule for re-opening the positioning for real-money play on November 6th, at which period you'll have full access on your account and can again be capable of play on FullTiltPoker.com.

For the millions of players who can have access to their funds, this marks the tip of a protracted and emotional roller-coaster ride. We are hoping this begins a brand new journey that permits players to enjoy two great poker sites - Full Tilt Poker and PokerStars - with the arrogance within the shared ownership of The Rational Group, who will make sure the security and safety of your funds and the integrity of your poker action.

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Eric Hollreiser is Head of Corporate Communications for The Rational Group

Read More... [Source: PokerStarsBlog.com :: Corporate Blog]