Today, many members of the online poker community were expecting to learn the fate of Full Tilt Poker, which saw its gaming license temporarily suspended by the Alderney Gambling Control Board in late June. A hearing open to the public in London today on the matter ended with a postponement until September 15th. PocketFives.com has learned that in the meantime, the Gambling Control Board will discuss matters with Full Tilt’s prospective investors. Read more about the prospective sale.

PocketFives.com has also learned that one of the Gambling Control Board’s criteria for the reinstatement of Full Tilt’s gaming license is that the site has sufficient capital to pay back U.S. players. An agreement between the Board and Full Tilt’s investors could be reached prior to September 15th, which could lead to an early return to the global market for the former second largest site in the land.

PokerNews was one of several poker media outlets on-hand for the hearing, which took place in London. Its last entry, which came at 18:00 GMT, simply read, “It was announced that in the interests of justice and the best interest of Full Tilt customers, the hearing will be adjourned. This is so Full Tilt can pursue advanced investment negotiations, which could result in a better outcome for the players.”

PokerNews’ coverage began around midday GMT, with site officials explaining, “Martin Heslop, a lawyer representing Full Tilt, started the proceedings by making a pre-pre-application to make a pre-application to adjourn in-camera. What this basically means is that they wanted to privately appeal to the AGCC representatives to adjourn the meeting until a later date.”

The hearing was of particular interest to U.S. players, who have been unable to access their bankrolls since Black Friday three months ago. Full Tilt, PokerStars, Absolute Poker, and UB – all targeted by the U.S. Department of Justice on April 15th – abandoned the American market shortly following the legal actions three months ago; only PokerStars has refunded players.

According to PokerNews’ coverage of today’s gathering in London, the only new piece of new information released was that Full Tilt owes £250,000 in licensing fees to Alderney. PokerNews added that this sum could be paid within the next week.

Now, it appears that the poker world will take a “wait and see” approach to Full Tilt’s myriad problems. In the interim, PocketFives.com has learned that the exclusive agreement between the site and a group of European investors purportedly corralled by Phil Ivey has been extended. PocketFives.com was one of the first sites to report that the two sides had an exclusive agreement in place to negotiate a sale of a majority stake in the gambling company, which expired on July 21st.

Members of PocketFives.com vented their frustrations with the situation in a Poker Sites thread. One player wrote, “If FT still doesn’t have an investor and isn’t back up and running by Sept 15th, then they’re likely done anyway. Too much damage is being done to their brand with the site being down and I feel like it’s irreversible if it’s still down come mid-September.”

Other posters on our site questioned why the issue of missing licensing fees came up so early in today’s meeting: “It is ridiculous that this comes up right at the beginning. It makes it seem like [the Board members] just want their money and DGAF about us.”

According to Bluff Magazine, Full Tilt Poker and Alderney officials privately met for five hours in London today before announcing the postponement. One industry official PocketFives.com spoke to claimed that the extra time could be beneficial to Full Tilt in the long-run, as its new investment group would have already negotiated, in theory, with Alderney licensing officials.

Earlier today, the Alderney Gambling Control Board published a statement on its website that said, “The FTP Respondents finished at 1:15pm. They have broken for lunch until 2pm. After lunch, the Executive will respond. That may take up to 30 minutes and thereafter the Commission will withdraw to make a determination on the application to adjourn.”

Stay tuned to PocketFives.com for the latest on Full Tilt Poker.