News update on Absolute Poker and UB.com
I’ve been following the news on the two Cereus Network poker rooms - Absolute Poker and UB.com since the Black Friday Poker Shutdown back in April of this year. Well, actually, I was following the news before that, but in a different way. Before the Black Friday Shutdown, the two poker rooms were fun to follow for the action and if nothing else, for Phil Hellmuth’s costumed entrances to the World Series of Poker and other tournaments. But I can’t blame the FBI for depriving me of a little Hellmuth overkill, since he left his pro spot with the Cereus Network before the shutdown. (File that under things that make you go “hmmm”)
But the news on the Cereus Network kicked into high gear right after the Black Friday Poker Shutdown when the poker rooms run by the network were the two that didn’t take steps to work with the United States Department of Justice to obtain approval to pay players back money in their accounts. This worried players, who wanted to know just why that was happening. And it turned out the worst suspicions were correct - Blanca Games, the company that owns the two poker rooms, wasn’t worried about negotiating to pay players back because it couldn’t pay players back. But it was easier to let the blame rest with the FBI for as long as people would buy it. Mostly no one did and the company struggled to deny rumors of bankruptcy while laying off support staff.
Well, now the news is out that Blanca Games will be liquidating their assets in order to try to raise enough money to pay out what they owe players. Perhaps what happened to Full Tilt poker has shown them that not paying out will ruin their reputation and cost them their license. That’s if they have any reputation left to ruin.