Sadly, this is not a joke.
Shyam Markus has been appointed by Pokerstars to be the manager of the relaunched Full Tilt Poker. He has since come forward and admitted to being the infamous "FTPDoug" on 2+2, the longtime 2+2 Full Tilt rep, who blatantly lied to everyone regarding the post-Black-Friday situation at Full Tilt.
Here's the article where he admits to being FTPDoug:
http://onlinepokerreport.com/ftpdoug...as-ftp-markus/
This isn't trivial, though. FTPDoug was the mouthpiece for FTP's lies last year, and while he was likely just following orders, it's disturbing and uncomfortable to have this guy as the head of the new Full Tilt.
This thread was posted on May 30, 2011 -- just 45 days after Black Friday:
http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/28...-30-a-1045358/
Most notable from the original post, written by Shyam (aka FTPDoug):
2. Is FTP bankrupt?
No. FTP's worldwide business is healthy and, although we've had some short-term challenges, it is operating as normal.
Ugh.
That was about as far from true as possible.
I am willing to believe that Shyam was lied to by Bitar, Lederer, Ferguson, etc., but he pretty emphatically and confidently peddled those lies, and definitely had reason to question their truthfulness as the time.
I don't blame him for what happened to Full Tilt, but I think he was a bit too close to the situation to be leading the new version of Full Tilt.
Pokerstars should have started fresh with someone who had nothing to do with the previous company. This is just going to erode confidence in the relaunched brand.
Basically, they shouldn't let anyone work for new Full Tilt who had any managerial or visible role in the old Full Tilt, aside perhaps from some old red pros who were clearly innocent of wrongdoing.
This is a step in the wrong direction, and I'm surprised that Stars is being so stupid.