One of the rumors circulating in the wake of the sale of the Cereus Poker Network to Blanca Games is that the new owners may be looking at signing new poker networks (skins) to what is currently the 6th largest online poker network.

Recent moves by other online poker sites/networks have threatened to displace the Cereus Poker Network from its #6 spot, including the recent merger between Party Poker and bWin (combining the #3 and #5 poker networks), as well as Victory Poker’s move to the Cake Poker Network and the less recent migration of PlayersOnly and Sportsbook to the Merge Gaming Network.

Not to mention the Cereus Network’s security issues once again rearing their ugly head: First was the revelation of weak encryption discovered by PokerTableRatings.com; followed by a renewed interest in the Super-User scandal after WickedChops Poker posted an in-depth look into the scandal.  And right on the heels of this we have the sale of the network by Tokwiro Enterprises to Blanca Games.

In a recent interview UB sponsored pro Joe Sebok told PokerNewsDaily.com that, “The company’s strategy is not to have network partners. But, I think that more acquisitions in the future are not out of the question.” In my experience, the words, “We have no plans… but it’s not out of the question” are similar to, “It’s not for sale, but we will listen to offers” which means they plan on doing precisely what was asked; in this case taking on new skins.

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In a move to prevent online gambling in South Africa the high court of North Gauteng and judge NB Tuchten on august 20th levied its ruling that it is now illegal to gamble using digital products in South Africa. Those who are found to be in violation of this new law, both players and casinos alike, could face a fine of up to 10million in local currency and/or up to 10 years in jail. The heated battle over this topic has been debated since october of 2004 when swaziland based Casino Enterprise (pty) Ltd also known as Piggs Peak filed an application to determine where online gambling starts.

Piggs Peak’s view is that it starts where the servers are located, which for them is swaziland where it is perfectly legal to conduct this type of business. The ruling on that matter was that it starts where the “punter” is seated and ends where the servers are located thus facilitating this most recent ruling by the high court. This ruling came as no suprise to the Gauteng Gambling Board who’s head of legal services Lucky Lukhwareni views the ruling as a major victory for them. Under this new law advertisers who promote online gambling services will also be liable for the fines and jail times, which does not bode well for any casino affiliates advertising to the South African market,  and as such South African television station News24 has since pulled all of said advertising from their online portal and plans 100% compliance with the new laws.

Piggs Peak is not going to give this up without a fight, as stated by Operations Director Lew Saul Koor in an email to users of its product, and has filed an appeal to the high court to reverse its ruling. Meanwhile during the appeals process business will go on as usual,  without any issues, pending the outcome of the appeals process.

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Middle Tennessee State’s star quarterback Dwight Dasher was suspended from the team by the NCAA, but not for playing poker –which most people would consider gambling—and he wasn’t suspended for being a bad poker player, which should be a crime in my book. What landed Dasher in the doghouse was the fact that he took a loan to facilitate his poker habit –a major no-no for NCAA athletes.

Still, Middle Tennessee State and Dwight Dasher have petitioned the NCAA to have the suspension lifted, but of course, there is still the pending investigation into stolen checks and such still to be dealt with as well. The school’s response sends a really bad message about the priorities of MTSU, clearly saying winning the Sun Belt Conference title is more important than the actions of their student-athletes.

It would be a miracle if Dasher stepped onto the football field this year, but stranger things have happened in college sports over the years, such as LeGarrette Blount’s sucker-punching of an opponent as the two teams walked off the field last season. So by comparison, Dasher’s transgressions seem almost like a misdemeanor.

Stay tuned to for more details as this strange story continues to unfold.

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In a move that seems to have come out of nowhere on Thursday, Tokwiro Enterprises has sold the Cereus Poker Network to Blanca Games. According to PokerNewsDaily.com, a press release will be issued by Tokwiro Enterprises sometime next week. Blanca Gaming issued a press release Thursday night where CEO Stuart Gordon stated: “The acquisition of CEREUS is a significant opportunity for us. CEREUS is a major platform of well-managed assets. Over the past few years, it has created new brands, like UB.com, that are extremely well-positioned in the most desirable demographic in our market: players in the 20s and 30s age brackets.”

The day-to-day operations of the Cereus Poker Network –which encompasses Absolute Poker and UB Poker—will remain unchanged, as will the software, management team, employees and promotions according to PokerNewsDaily.com.

It’s unclear if the recent security breach discovered by pokertableratings.com had any influence in Tokwiro Enterprises decision to sell the Cereus Poker Network, especially considering the past security issues the sites have gone through. Gordon also commented on Blanca Games security measures in the press release: “We intend to leverage the existing strengths of the CEREUS Poker Network, particularly in the areas of security and customer service. Although we are impressed with many of the new security features on the Network today, security is and will remain our top priority.”

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Bookmaker one of the leading online sportsbook sites has announced its new mobile betting platform version. Its reported to improve customer’s experience while betting on the go. The new mobile platform compatibility with iPhone, Blackberry, and Android.

“After taking into consideration the feedback from our customers, we have implemented changes to improve the usability of the site on any mobile device,” explained Mickey Richardson, Bookmaker.com CEO. “Many users had also requested us to add new sections and that is the reason we worked on the Mobile Racebook service which is up and running now.”

Bookmaker.com customers may access its mobile site with the same account number and password and enjoy of its new interface which also includes a “Last Minute Bets” section for sports.

“To encourage the use of our mobile betting platform, we will soon inform our customers with one of the biggest promotions just at the doors of 2010 football season so stay tuned for the news,” Richardson added.

2010 NFL betting season is going to be a very good reason for sports bettors with the new mobile platform. If you haven’t signed up yet. Click here to signup to bookmaker and use bonus code PCFORUM for 25% deposit bonus up to $500.

Much like his identity as Daniel Cates, the Jungleman12 vs. durrrr challenge match is all but official. The two started their conversation about participating in the ‘durrrr Challenge’ at the high-stakes tables on Full Tilt Poker after playing a heads-up session; a conversation which caused a 700+ post thread over at the 2+2 Poker Forums. A few weeks later the conversation resumed with jungleman12 (Cates) confirming that he shipped Phil Ivey the requisite $500,000 to take part in the match –apparently Ivey is the guy who holds the money, wonder if he takes a cut!

Dwan’s response to the news that he has a confirmed opponent was: “I can start talking &&%% since we’re booked and say that its cute you think you’ll ever have an edge.”

Tom Dwan, known as durrrr, is currently in the midst of another challenge match that has been going for well over a year against Patrik Antonius. With around 10,000 hands out of 50,000 left to play Antonius has all but conceded, down around $2 million –not to mention the extra $500k that Ivey is likely holding in escrow.

The rules of the match state that they will play 50,000 hands of heads-up poker; if Dwan wins he will be paid an additional $500k by Jungleman12 in addition to whatever he wins at the tables; if Jungleman12 wins Dwan will have t cough up an additional $1.5 million.

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For those of us that have been following poker before the ‘Poker Boom’ in 2003 this seems almost unthinkable, but poker pro Kathy Liebert has just played her 100th World Poker Tour tournament! The strangest part isn’t that Liebert has played 100 WPT tournaments, but that there have been 100 WPT tournaments to play!

Liebert joins another iconic name in poker, Erik Seidel, as the only two players to accomplish the feat thus far – Seidel hit the century mark just a month ago at the WPT Bellagio Cup. Liebert’s WPT honor comes on the heels of the announcement that she will be inducted into the Women in Poker Hall of Fame, alongside Jennifer Harman and Billie Brown.

Liebert is also one of the most successful World Poker Tour players, even though she hasn’t won an event up to this point. Her career WPT resume includes:

·    First female poker player to make a WPT final table, in the second WPT tournament held
·    Winningest female poker player in WPT history with over $1.7 million in career earnings
·    Six World Poker Tour final tables –Tied for 6th on the all-time list
·    15 World Poker Tour in the money finishes

Congratulations to Kathy Liebert for this amazing accomplishment.

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The long-running feud between the two poker superstars seems to have been rekindled after the controversy surrounding the Ladies-Only tournament at the World Series of Poker in 2010, and when asked in an Interview by Mark Stuart of www.pokerplayer.co.uk about the controversy, Daniel Negreanu quickly brought Annie Duke’s name into the conversation.

Negreanu rightfully takes Duke to task for saying the tournament needs to be abolished because men and women are on equal footing in poker, but calls herself the best FEMALE poker player in the world on her website –basically using gender when it suits her needs.

However the real story, the one everyone will be talking about soon enough was the term in which Daniel applied to Duke for her double standard: “So I’m like ‘how offensive are you, you f***ing c***? You want to say you’re speaking for women, yet you claim superiority over all of them.”

Thus far Annie Duke’s only response was through her Twitter account where she said: “Thank you for the support. I was certianly shocked at the language myself. I welcome criticism but not abuse.”

The interview will likely carry the poker news cycle at least through the weekend, and at least a Negreanu blog post or two on the subject!

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The nosebleed tables at Full Tilt Poker haven’t been as wild as they were at the end of the 2009 –mostly due to the absence of Isildur1—but there have still been plenty of big games, which have produced some very big winners in 2010, and of course when there are winners there are also losers.

Below you will find a list of the top 5 winners in online poker up to this point:

1.    Tom ‘durrrr’ Dwan — +$4,369,422
After an abysmal 2009 campaign durrrr has logged an amazing 240k which nearly triples the number of hands of anyone else on this list!

2.    Phil Ivey – +$3,239,673
Ivey is consistently one of the biggest winners in online poker year after year, and 2010 is shaping up to be no exception. This is despite the fact that Ivey typically plays less online poker than anyone in the top 10 as far as money earned.

3.    Jungleman12 — +$2,535,924
The new Cardrunners instructor has taken the online poker world by storm in 2010 after being a consistently break-even performer in the past. Jungleman12’s identity is not confirmed, but he is widely thought to be Daniel Cates, a University of Maryland student.

4.    Jared ‘Harrington25’ Bleznick — +$1,866,409
Bleznick is another young online poker player who has been taking his shots at the biggest online poker games lately, and he has been doing quite well up to this point. But as we have seen in the past, it only takes a few bad sessions to wipe a couple million dollars out of your bankroll!

5.      LokoIsBack — +$1,863,852
LokoIsBack is an unknown player from Finland –the only rumored name to go with this account is poker pro Juha Helppi, but this is pure speculation at this point.

News supplied by PokerNewsBoy.com