The news last week that PokerStars is purchasing Full Tilt was some of the biggest to hit the industry in months and has come as a big surprise to many who expected Group Bernard Tapie to acquire the fallen giant.

Though PokerStars has yet to public comment on the acquisition, many industry insiders see this silence as a confirmation that the deal is nearing completion and a highly anticipated confirmation from PokerStars is expected to arrive soon.  Expect first word from a  leading affiliate site such as PokerNews.com – although it’s always possible that a smaller poker portal such as http://pokersites.co.uk/ could break the news first, as mediums like Twitter and Facebook have leveled the poker media playing field somewhat – at least in terms of distribution capability.

Back to the topic at hand: On the heels of this development, there are many questions surrounding the future of Full Tilt as a stand-alone room.  Rumors swirling through the industry suggest that PokerStars is committed to continuing to maintain Full Tilt as a separate room, though there are many who suspect that in a post-takeover world, PokerStars will collapse the Full Tilt brand into its own, ceasing operation of the room as an independent entity.

Continuing to operate Full Tilt as a separate brand might be something PokerStars ultimately won’t want to do, instead giving in to the temptation to merely cherry-pick from Full Tilt.  Certainly there are aspects of Full Tilt that are of great interest to PokerStars, among them the player base, software, and licenses to operate in various nations around the world.  In the end, PokerStars might determine that is easier to mine the value out of Full Tilt rather than to continue to keep it up and running as a distinctive room and brand.

There is some speculation that players might not take well to such actions on the part of PokerStars.  Full Tilt had a large and devoted player base, which has been continuing to closely follow Full Tilt related news ever since the company’s downfall last year.

Will these players defect to other rooms once Full Tilt re-opens under the umbrella of Full Tilt?  The situation is simply too fluid at present to allow for a clear answer, though it seems slightly more possible than not that the Full Tilt fan base would reject a collapsing of the room into the PokerStars brand. This and many other things remain to be seen as we await official confirmation of the deal from PokerStars.