After months of silence, an update – with what appears to be very good news – from the company charged with handling the return of Full Tilt Poker bankrolls to the room’s former U.S. customers.

The Garden City Group (GCG) issued the update today via the official website for the FTP claims process.

The two key points for those who have money stuck on Full Tilt (excerpted from the statement):

“The claims process will begin shortly.”

“It has been determined that the calculation formula to be used for the Petition for Remission process will be based on players’ final balances with FTP as of April 15, 2011 […] If the forfeited funds available for distribution equal or exceed the aggregate FTP Account Balances for all eligible Petitioners, each eligible Petitioner with an approved claim will receive the entirety of his or her FTP Account Balance.”

This update comes only days after reports circulated of additional delays in the remissions process that threatened to push return of player funds into 2014 or beyond.

So how do I get my Full Tilt money returned?

GCG says that they will be emailing players instructions for filing an online claim. While not explicitly stated, I assume they will be working with the email attached to your Full Tilt Poker account.

But no worries if you don’t have access to that email any longer – the instructions will also be posted on the GCG website. OPR (and everyone else) will be posting when the claims form is live.

Otherwise, the announcement provided no information about the logistics of the claims process.

Does this mean I’m getting my full balance back?

Maybe.

It depends on how much money is available for distribution. If the total amount of remission funds available covers balances, then everyone gets their balance as it stood on April 15th, 2011.

If the total amount of available funds is less than the total of balances, then everyone takes a proportional hit.

So, for example, let’s say the total pool is 10% less than the total amount of balances. A player with a $1000 balance would receive $900, a player with a $50 balance would receive $45, and so on.