Doyle's Brunson Fraudulent Bluff Offer for WPTE

[fxpeculator]

World Poker Tour shares slid as bid crumples
Tue Jul 12, 2005 04:42 PM ET
NEW YORK, July 12 (Reuters) - Gaming entertainment company WPT Enterprises Inc's (WPTE.O: Quote, Profile, Research) shares slid on Tuesday after a $700 million bid from U.S. poker champion Doyle Brunson crumpled, prompting some queries about the offer's veracity.
A company spokeswoman said WPT, which owns the popular World Poker Tour television series, spoke to Brunson late Monday who indicated he would provide no further information about the vague, cash offer that was received last Thursday.

The offer represented a 100 percent premium to WPT's closing price on Thursday when the market valued the company at about $357 million. It priced WPT shares at about $36.50 each.

"We expect the bid to expire at 5:30 p.m. today with no further action taken. It's back to business," she said.

The company said it had tried repeatedly to get information about the offer and Brunson himself then declined to give more details. The spokeswoman said she did not know whether Brunson had failed to secure financial backers or why he made the bid.

But analysts questioned the credibility of the offer which triggered a 50 percent surge in California-based WPT's share price on Nasdaq on Friday to a new closing high of $26.50.

Since then the shares have slipped, dropping 5.3 percent to $21.98 on Tuesday after falling 12.5 percent on Monday.

Analyst Steven Gart from San Francisco-based Langner & Co., that focuses on small cap investors, said some were terming the offer a "pump and dump" but stressed the potential of WPT's online gaming operations launched two weeks ago.

"We feel that shares will continue to be weak as it now appears, perhaps, there isn't anything tangible behind the Brunson bid," he said in a client note. "We would be buyers at the $18-$19 level based on our fundamental analysis."

Shares in WPT's largest shareholder, casino operator Lakes Entertainment Inc. (LACOE.O: Quote, Profile, Research) , that holds a 62 percent stake, has also had a rollercoaster ride on the back of the offer.

Lakes shares rose almost 22 percent on Friday to $18.09 before falling 11 percent on Monday and 3.5 percent on Tuesday to close at $15.51.

 

[dgabriel]

Although it sounds like it, we don't know if it was a hollow bid.

 

[fxpeculator]

My call here is a massive fraud as the offer expired today and Dolly was quoted on the wires that he was looking to close the deal after the tournament on the 16th but the offer was set to expire today. LMAO


Dolly has backers for his site Doylesroom.com who pay him to use his name for his poker site. The site is registered in Curacao, Netherlands Antilles and have a reasonable assumption a few slapped some massive longs on before putting out a press release for the offer.


Looks like a massive and sloppy fraud. Very odd that the WPTE said Friday the deal had no terms but announced Monday of an acceptance term that the deal would expire today.

Also possible as explaining why Dolly would risk jail and taint his legacy in the 9th inning of his life is he owed a click some money so had to go all in with the sloppy fraud.

 

[fxpeculator]

If you go back and read that Post article, it's clear that Brunson was pretty out of touch with even the simple terms of the offer. When a reporter asked him if it was an all-cash bid, he was like, "Well, if that's what it says."

Sounds like he played a high stakes game and lost and had to go 'all in' in the massive fraud or fold his life if he refused

 

[dgabriel]

We only have Lipscomb's side of the story at this point.

Maybe Brunson is playing possum.

Notice there was a run-up two weeks before the offer was leaked to the Post.

It's hard to believe that the bid was fraudulent, because it's too easy to unmask.

 

[fxpeculator]

Quote from dgabriel:

We only have Lipscomb's side of the story at this point.

Maybe Brunson is playing possum.

Notice there was a run-up two weeks before the offer was leaked to the Post.

(1) The CEO and Brunson are "friends" so why wouldn't WPTE be able to get Brunson on the phone before Monday when offer was submitted on the 6th?

(2) Why did the law firm back out over the weekend?


(3) Lipscomb was on CNBC today acting like it wasn't a big deal.

(4) Most likely, the run up driver was the launch of their online gambling site last week and the partygaming run up in the UK into a 8 yard (bil) valuation in USD.

 

[Cdntrader]

Quote from fxpeculator:

(1) The CEO and Brunson are "friends" so why wouldn't WPTE be able to get Brunson on the phone before Monday when offer was submitted on the 6th?

(2) Why did the law firm back out over the weekend?


(3) Lipscomb was on CNBC today acting like it wasn't a big deal.

(4) Most likely, the run up driver was the launch of their online gambling site last week and the partygaming run up in the UK into a 8 yard (bil) valuation in USD.

Anyone else think poker mania has topped?

 

[stock777]

Dunno. I have no interest in poker. So after the mania is gone, I will still have no interest.

 

[nkhoi]

Quote from Cdntrader:

Anyone else think poker mania has topped?

I am not "all-in" yet so it still has long way to go.

 

[fxpeculator]

Quote from Cdntrader:

Anyone else think poker mania has topped?

I don't.


Thats a potent combination of competitive sport with characters (Moneymaker, Phil Ivey, etc.) and gambling. People always will be bullish on the excitement and high that comes with taking risk and losing money. I believe the high growth is in Europe now, not the US.