In a large surprise to the poker world, Ray Bitar broke Full Tilt Poker’s silence by apologizing to the poker world in a brief interview with Pokernews.com. In it he detailed his apologies as well as his efforts to get Full Tilt sold to repay the poker community their lost funds. This interview has been met with mixed reactions from the poker players ranging from skepticism about his motives to optimism that this apology points to small steps to recovery of Full Tilt funds.
In his interview, Ray Bitar says to PokerNews that he has remained silent, not due to cowardice or because he was hiding out, as the poker world has believed, because his legal advice has directed him to remain silent. It was believed silence was the best way to try and get a deal done to salvage the situation. He further stated he is very apologetic and that he has never worked harder in his life than he has now. PokerNews ends the article by saying that there was more to the interview, but Ray Bitar wanted the first release of the interview focus on his apology and there will be more releases to follow.
In my opinion, Ray Bitar’s interview says absolutely nothing. Apologizing at this point is utterly meaningless to myself and many other poker players. There was plenty of time for this many many months ago, and to do so now when it seems the deal is about to fall through seems to rub salt in the wound. Like the rest of the poker world, I will save my final judgment as more details about the future of Full Tilt are released as well as the rest of the interview, but for now I, and most of the poker world, believe this may be too little too late.