Online Poker Pros React To Black Friday Shut Down

Following the shut down of PokerStars, Full Tilt and Absolute Poker in the USA courtesy of the FBI, online poker players have been giving their reactions to the historical developments Stateside.
There has, of course, been some lighter reactions to the situation which now affects nearly 15 million US players. Matthew Waxman, for instance, wrote:
“Pretty excited I ran out of excuses not to hang out with my family on Sundays,” while Doyle Brunson on his Twitter page quipped: “Now maybe we will see if these online “superstars” can play real poker. Ante up suckers!”
However, judging from the heated reactions from his followers, Doyle instantly regretted his levity and later felt compelled to retract his comment as table chit-chat, writing:
“I guess when u have almost 400,000 followers, u had better be careful what u tweet. Does anyone in their right mind think I don’t feel bad.”
Click here for the poker rooms still accepting players from the USA.
Another pro speaking out on the demise of US online poker was Finland’s Ilari ‘Ziigmund’ Sahamies, who indicated he would no longer be playing at Full Tilt Poker and Pokerstars, and would stick to EU-sites and live poker, instead.
Likewise, Daniel Negreanu tried to put an optimistic spin on ‘Black Friday’ and said he was looking forward to going back to his roots and now concentrating on the live casino poker scene. However, the reality didn’t quite reach his expectations and in a follow up post he wrote:
“I tried to get a game together with Sammy Farha, Sam Stein, and BenB the other night, but it played super small. $50-$100 NLH/PLO. I genuinely thought there would be more action this week, but maybe I’m just being impatient. I just really want to play poker, but I don’t want to play 12 hands an hour either.”
In the meantime, many players have been pondering the status of the monies still held in their online accounts, with one of the young generation of US online pros writing:
“I currently have about $3,500 on Full Tilt Poker. I am a college student who built it from $500 two months ago.  I also have a good amount of money on PokerStars.  As of right now me and my roommate (professional online gamer with a 6-digit bankroll tied up in this mess) don’t know what’s going to happen. I can still sign in and view my account, but when I click Withdraw, a message pops up saying I can’t… but in an initial message that pops up when you open the program it says “all players money is safe and secure”.  I don’t know what this means, but it’s at least a little comforting.”
As US players and pros alike continue to vent their views and concerns via Twitter, blogs and forums across the net, it now appears there is likely to be a lot more talk and a lot less poker action coming from frustrated poker fans across the Atlantic.