Because of his entrepreneurial energy and his undying passion for poker, Raymond Bitar was able to start from nothing and grow his firm into one worth multiple millions of dollars. He is known for establishing Full Tilt Poker, which is now regarded as one of the most successful online poker companies in the industry.

Unfortunately for Bitar, he let his desire for greater riches to drive him down the path of engaging in illegal activity. He then resorted to stealing money from his players’ accounts, ultimately making off with more than $390 million. Please continue reading this in-depth biography to find out more information about Raymond Bitar, including his early life, his involvement in the controversy involving Full Tilt Poker, and what he is doing at the present time.

In the Beginning

Raymond Bitar was born in the year 1972 in the state of California. Because his father left the family while he was still in diapers, he never had the opportunity to get to know his biological father. However, he had a very strong relationship with his mother, who was a very hard-working lady who worked three jobs in order to care for her family. In spite of all of her hard work, the family was still struggling to make ends meet.

When Bitar was in the sixth grade, one of his buddies asked him over to play poker with a couple of the youngsters from the neighborhood. Because Bitar had such a good time, he decided to make it a regular thing for him and the others to compete in poker. In his spare time, he would devote himself to mastering competitive methods that would give him an advantage over his peers. Poker was quickly elevated to the status of his go-to game, and he would maintain this devotion to the card game for the whole of his life.

Even though he was only a student in high school, Bitar began his career in the financial industry as a market maker for the Pacific Stock Exchange. Among his tasks was acting as a broker for customers in the purchase and sale of equities. He worked there on the side for a number of years up until he completed his senior year of high school. Instead of going to college, which he had no interest in doing, he sought for a job that required him to work full time. His background in day trading was important in his landing a full-time employment with a private stock trading firm. After some time, the company moved him up the corporate ladder to the position of manager, at which point he began to earn a respectable salary.

Full Tilt Poker is a poker website.

As a consequence of Bitar’s new job, he was given the chance to have one-on-one conversations with a wide array of customers. One of these customers was the poker great Chris Ferguson, who had just recently taken down the World Championship for No Limit Texas Hold’em at the World Series of Poker. Both Ferguson and Bitar worked together to assist each other better their respective skill sets; for Bitar, it was poker, and for Ferguson, it was stock trading. The two became very good friends with one another.

At one time, Bitar proposed to Ferguson the concept of establishing a website that would be devoted just to the game of online poker. It would come with an intuitive user interface and a selection of various types of poker games from which to pick. Ferguson supported the idea, and as a result, the two of them collaborated to establish Tiltware, the business that would eventually own and run Full Tilt Poker.

The selection of the website’s emblem was the very first thing on his agenda. He aimed for it to be straightforward and uncomplicated for the reader. In contrast to the designs of other poker websites, he didn’t think it was necessary to include playing cards or poker chips in the layout of his site. Instead, he went with a red triangle that was slanted and placed it below some white writing.

The year 2004 marked the beginning of Full Tilt Poker’s formal operation. The fact that this website provided users with the opportunity to compete against real pros at poker was what set it apart from similar platforms. The phrase “Play Poker with the Pros” was eventually used as their motto. Full Tilt Poker is known for endorsing professional poker players including Andy Bloch, Phil Ivey, John Juanda, Howard Lederer, Erick Lindgren, and Erik Seidel, all of whom often participate in tournaments held on the site.