The Garden City Group, the appointed claims administrator in charge of paying back U.S. players of Full Tilt Poker, has announced that initial payments will begin Friday, February 28.

In an email to OSGA, the GCG stated that "Petitioners who have been approved for payment in the first round of distributions and whose bank account information has passed the preliminary testing process will be sent an email notice on Monday, February 24 or Tuesday, February 25 with the amount of their payment." They went on to include that the first round of payments is "scheduled to be issued on Friday, February 28."

Last week test transactions were conducted for former Full Tilt players that had confirmed their balances on file with the Garden City Group. Still not all players wil be paid back in this first round. GCG has identified certain petitioners who are approved for payment but who submitted account information that was either incomplete or incorrect. Last Friday players whose accounts were unable to recceive the test transactions did receive a notice from the Garden City Group with instructions as to how to update their bank account information through the online filing site. Players are urged to udpate any information by March 13, 2014, the deadline for the 'second round of payments'. Players who stillahve incomplete information can expect a check sent to the mailing address they had provided.

We did not get confirrmation from the GCG as to wether players will be made whole, getting thier entire balances frozen since Black Friday, April 15, 2011. If the total amount of approved claims exceeds the total funds forfeited, then only a percentage of funds will be returned. However, according to sources, the amount of forfeited funds are more than enough to cover estimated claims. This first round of distributions will include approximately 30,000 petitions submitted by former players totaling $82 million.

Players can head to the website setup by the Garden City Group - www.FullTiltPokerClaims.com - for more updates. Players who have yet to file for a refund or need to make changes to any account inforatmoion already filed should click here for direct access to thier claims.