It’s sayonara for Black Belt Poker after the owner, and founder, Neil Channing calls time on the iPoker skin after six years of operation.
The 2008 Irish Poker Open champion Neil Channing has decided to call time on his involvement with the iPoker skin Black Belt Poker after advising all of its players that the site will close at midnight Friday, February 28th.
Channing launched Black Belt Poker, which he co-founded with Nik Persaud, in April 2009 and it quickly became a hit due to the grass roots appeal of the innovative staking system that Channing introduced to the industry.
“It’s now almost six years since I came up with an idea which I thought at the time could lead to a shake-up in the UK online poker market. Since that time I have worked tirelessly to try and develop the project and to build the Black Belt brand. I’ve been helped in that endeavor by some excellent staff, some loyal and patient investors and a fantastic community of players who I hope have all had plenty of fun along the way.” Channing wrote in his blog on the site.
The past six years has seen Black Belt Poker pros hit the headlines on a number of occasions including Neil Channing himself who had a couple of runner-up spots the World Series of Poker (WSOP) and GUKPT victory at Luton; Jamie Burland taking down the UKIPT in Brighton, and Sam Razavi winning more awards in Asia than Bruce Lee.
Channing has dedicated a large part of life to this endeavor, and he believes that there comes a time to ‘accept that things are not working and move on,’ which is exactly what Channing is doing after deciding to invest more time in his other businesses such as the Betting Emporium, and of course the tireless work he does with his sports betting picks and playing poker.
Black Belt Poker will still operate as a limited company but will cease to trade. Channing confirmed that all players’ funds are safe and they have until Friday to withdraw them in the normal manner. After that date players will have to contact Boyle Poker to have their funds returned to their bank accounts. Players are advised to withdraw their funds whilst the iPoker site is sill in operation as this is the quickest way to retrieve your funds.
Players who still have ‘spending points’ on the site may still have an opportunity to use them after Channing confirmed that he is in discussion with another iPoker skin to allow former Black Belt Poker players to redeem those points through them.
“All that remains is for me to thank everyone who invested, who worked hard for us, who were sponsored by us, who participated in poker discussions on our website and particularly those who played on Black Belt Poker.” Said Channing.
