Josh Arieh Tells His Black Friday Story from April 2011

Josh Arieh has been relaying his story from the dark day of Black Friday which took place 13 years ago, threatening to destroy online poker.

The high-stakes crusher kicked off his career in 1999 and was one of poker’s stars during the boom.

He now has six WSOP gold bracelets to his name and already had two by the time of Black Friday, but that fateful day could have changed everything.

My Black Friday story

The week leading up to Black Friday, the games on FTP were great. 200-400 was going all week and there was even 2k-4k Omaha 8/b running regularly.

I had recently won a ‘Poker After Dark’ seat worth $30k and was planning on flying to London on Sunday for…

— Joshua Arieh (@JoshuaArieh) April 15, 2024

Full Tilt Red Pro Status No Help for Josh Arieh

At the time of Black Friday, Josh Arieh had the sought after status as a Full Tilt Poker Red Pro. This put him alongside the likes of Phil Ivey, Tom Dwan, and Viktor “Isildur1” Blom.

But when we all woke up on that day to find Full Tilt Poker displaying a “Seized by the US DoJ” emblem, everyone’s money went down the pan, no matter who you were or what status you had.

Arieh wrote that things couldn’t have been better on the site in the weeks leading up to the calamity. $200/$400 games were running like clockwork and even his favourite side game of omaha hi-lo at stakes of $2,000/$4,000.

He had $180,000 in his Full Tilt Poker account and a seat for the fan-favourite show Poker After Dark worth $30,000. Life was good…until it wasn’t.

Woke up to lots of frantic texts and people all asking if I’d heard anything. Being a FTP red pro, I guess everyone thought I had info they weren’t privy too.

After some phone calls, I was assured that the PAD was still a go and to fly to London as planned.

2/x

— Joshua Arieh (@JoshuaArieh) April 15, 2024

Naturally, being a Red Pro meant that Arieh’s phone was buzzing constantly. Everyone assumed he had answers, but of course he didn’t.

What happened next just rubbed salt in the wounds.

Arieh was assured the Poker after Dark filming would still take place in London and so he hopped on a flight across the pond thinking all might still be well.

I flew to London, then a car picked up to take me to the hotel, that was 2.5 hours away.

I checked into my hotel and was told a car would be there in 15 min, DON’T get in the car, we have cancelled all remaining tables……

3/x

— Joshua Arieh (@JoshuaArieh) April 15, 2024

After landing in London and being subjected to a two and a half hour drive, Arieh was told not to get into a car that was about to arrive to take him to filming because it had all been cancelled.

And so, all he could think to do to lessen the strain was to bang out nine holes of golf on what turned out to be a horrendous course that was far from meeting his expectations.

In summary, he says that was 48 hours of his life that he’ll never get back after leaving the golf course and heading straight home.

But what about the money? Sadly, the Department of Justice demanded proof that it had been legitimately won which, for reasons not provided, Josh Arieh was unable to provide.

A couple hundred thousand dollars in the bin!

In complete shock and no one answering my calls, I decided to rent a set of golf clubs, play 9 holes and see what happens after that.

I played 9 holes on a shitty course, made some more unanswered calls and then took a cab back to the airport and flew back home….

So in the…

— Joshua Arieh (@JoshuaArieh) April 15, 2024

Where Should American Players Play Poker in 2024?

Black Friday saw the end of Full Tilt Poker as a business. Mismanagement saw players account balances massively exceeding what was held in the company accounts.

PokerStars no longer serviced US-based players and Ultimate Bet ceased trading.

But there was a saviour waiting in the winds.

ACR Poker — formerly Americas Cardroom — has steadily built itself into the leading site that allows players based in the United States to play.

Its tournament series featuring massive guarantees has created many millionaires and paid out life-changing money to countless players.

Check out our review page for online poker sites for US players here.