The $25 Coral Poker No Deposit bonus promotion has ended after we met our 100 player maximum within 24 hours. Thanks for your participation in promoting the offer; we hope to be able to offer it again in the future.

Just a reminder to publishers that Coral Poker offers a variety of additional perks when signing up through your site including:

• 100% up to $1000 sign-up bonus
• VIP Program that awards up to 40% valueback through the exchange of VIP Points for up to $690 in cash
• $1,000 New Player Points Race
• $10,000 VIP Points Race

Tags: coral poker, ongame

Categories

‎ Uncategorized

Today the Kahnakwake Gaming Commission issued a statement that Blanca Games, operator of Absolute Poker and UB.com would begin a process to liquidate the assets of the company and ultimately distribute proceeds to players. The plan has been submitted to the U.S. Department of Justice in the Southern District of New York for approval.

The announcement comes approximately six months after the April 15th Black Friday seizures, which of course saw the domain names seized of the top three U.S. facing sites at the time. After the seizures and the subsequent banning of U.S. players, the Cereus Network took a huge hit that became precipitously worse in the months that followed as cashouts grinded to a halt and a lack of confidence in the brand grew.

For players, this is likely the beginning of a long process that will have to play out over many more months and perhaps years. Although the statement from Kahnawake sounds optimistic, previous liquidations of online poker sites have not gone quickly or produced impressive results. BetonSports, which got into trouble before the UIGEA, eventually paid players just under 5% of their balances that were owed. Other liquidations have produced no return of funds to players.

Read below for the full statement.

(MOHAWK TERRITORY OF KAHNAWAKE – October 27, 2011) – Since the actions taken by the US Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York (the “SDNY”) on April 15, 2011, the Commission has been in close and regular discussions with its licensee, Blanca Games Inc. (“Blanca”), operating as Absolute Poker and UB.com (“AP/UB”), to facilitate the reimbursement of both US and non-US players. The Commission has also received regular updates of discussions between AP/UB and the SDNY.

Over the past several weeks, we were advised of a potential solution prepared by Blanca and its representatives, establishing a process to liquidate Blanca’s assets and distribute proceeds to players. We understand that this process has been presented to SDNY for consideration and approval.

The Commission’s foremost concern in this matter has been, and remains, the reimbursement of both US and non-US players, as quickly and completely as possible.
To avoid further prejudice to affected players, the Commission has demanded that all parties complete their discussions and implement a reimbursement solution without further delay.

Tags: absolute poker, cereus network, doj, ub.com

Categories

‎ Uncategorized

In case you missed it, on Tuesday the House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee held a hearing on online poker legislation in the United States. A list of witnesses included representatives from a variety of mostly pro-legislation organizations including FairPlayUSA and the PPA.

The panel also included representatives for various organizations arguing for customer protection: safeguards for problem and underage gamblers and ensuring fairness of games and protection again unregulated operators. The lone opponent of legislation, Ernest Stevens, representing the National Indian Gaming Association, opposes legislation due to a concern on the effects of U.S. American Indian tribal gaming.

The 2 hour plus hearing has been posted on CSPAN. Once directed to the page, navigate to the "Hearing on Online Gaming" link on the right.

Having seen a lot of these hearings over the years, it was refreshing that the panel testimony focused on making online poker work instead of discussing why it must be stopped. It appears that an increasing number of policy makers are realizing what proponents have been arguing for years: online poker is here to stay and must be regulated and taxed.

Summaries on the Hearing:

Pokerfuse's Summary of the Testimony
The Hill - Online Gambling Finds Support in the House
PPA Statement on Hearings

Chairwoman of the committee, Rep. Mary Bono Mack, says she plans to hold another hearing on online poker soon but that "to rush [legislation] would be a mistake." Bono Mack suggested that there is just too little time for online poker to be part of the $1.2 trillion deficit reduction package that faces a November 23rd deadline. Proponents of online poker regulation have cited the deficit reduction package as an ideal vehicle for passing legislation this year.

If you support the efforts in the U.S. to regulate online poker, the PPA is recommend you throw your support behind H.R. 2366. The PPA has outlined an action plan where you can do your part in a variety of ways, such as contacting your representatives and getting the word out about the crucial need for regulation.

Tags: barton bill, regulation

Categories

‎ Uncategorized

Full Tilt announced today that French businessman Bernard Tapie has agreed to buy the company and all of its assess. The agreement is subject to a variety of conditions, including a positive resolution with the U.S. Department of Justice, but if allowed to go forward would include the repayment of funds to players. In an interview with iGamingFrance, Tapie acknowledged that there was a "still a long way to go" before the deal is done but hoped that he would have the site reopened by January 2012.

The announcement comes a day after the Alderney Gaming Control Commission revoked the gaming license that had previously been suspended since late June. A consensus feeling was that the revoking of the license would significantly harm the chances of an agreement going forward; this was echoed by Full Tilt's own lawyer, Jeff Ifrah.

Bernard Tapie is a former government minister, sports tycoon and an actor. It is unclear whether prior legal troubles in the 1990's will hurt the deal going through or the ability of the new company to acquire a gaming license. The executive director of the AGCC noted yesterday at the time of revoking the Full Tilt license that "the revocation of the license does not prevent a reactivation of the business new ownership and management."

In the iGamingFrance interview, Tapie suggested that the DOJ would have to play a part in refunding of players. “We have shown that we have the funds necessary to repay player debts. We want to find ways where we don’t have to put in all the money and will be talking to the US Department of Justice next week." The Department of Justice currently has approximately $331 million of Full Tilt player funds that were held in accounts belong to Full Tilt Poker.

The Full Tilt Poker brand would not be changing, according to Tapie. "“The brand is not in question, it’s a well-known brand and the technology is widely recognized as being possibly the best in the industry. The management of the company is being questioned and it will be changed (should the takeover be concluded). "

This will certainly be a hot subject over the coming days and weeks. PAS will be sure to keep you updated with news and commentary.

Tags: full tilt poker

Categories

‎ Uncategorized

Editors Note: I have introduced myself in the forum, but it was suggested that maybe I write something a bit more detailed here. As I got into writing this “introduction” post it swelled beyond my expectations, so I have divided it into three parts. It’s basically a bit of the history of the industry and my very small part in it. I hope you find it interesting.

My real name is Craig, but my online moniker is Gonzo. Please don’t ask about the name; it’s boring. But just know that I am neither Mexican nor a Hunter S. Thompson fan. I joined Poker Affiliate Solutions in May as a Content Specialist. I have now spent 7 years in the online poker industry and as I write this, I wonder where all the time went. I think I may be one of the few remaining people online who doesn’t have a blog or who has never written a blog post (is that a cliché thing to say for a first blog post?), which is further shocking due to the fact I have probably written and posted over a million words on the internet.

I first started playing poker in 2001 or so at Paradise Poker. Prior to that, I had played at a few online casinos when I discovered that there was money to be made in casino bonuses. Unfortunately, it didn’t really dawn on me truly how great those bonuses were back then but I did end up making a few bucks. Once I played a few hours of blackjack at an online casino, poker seemed like a natural progression. Playing online casinos was fun in its own way, but I’ll never forget the rush of playing against other people. This was before the online poker boom, so a lot of the action was still Stud. I gravitated towards this game at the time because it was the closest thing I remember to the game I played occasionally as a kid. Anyway, I think I managed to win a couple hundred bucks or so playing relatively small stakes at a game I basically knew little strategy. Of course, I eventually lost it all. Being relatively cheap, I decided I had enough and moved on.

Forward to 2003, a good friend of my mine who I have known since middle school, Jek187 (some may remember him from BW or 2+2), who also played around with me at those Paradise Poker tables, encouraged me to give poker another look. Jek has a great analytical mind and always tries to optimize many parts of his life. He is the type of person that when he gives advice, especially backed with statistics, you listen and don’t argue. By this time he had read up a lot on poker, and was playing a lot at the local poker rooms and online. He suggested I purchase a little book called “Hold’em Poker” by David Sklansky and start checking out the 2+2 forums. Man, what great advice! I began studying the starting hand charts, learning which hands to raise and fold, how to semi-bluff and the relatively simple math of pot odds.

Around this time, Jek launches a site called BonusWhores.com, a very basic looking site straight out of the late nineties that was a collection of information he had gathered through his experiences playing poker online. The site name was based on a term he and a few other fellow 2+2 posters created, called "Bonus Whoring," which is essentially the practice of taking maximum advantage of promotions — primarily bonuses — that poker sites offer to players (all perfectly legal under the site’s terms and conditions). The site turned out to be one of the first sites of its kind. Not only did the site provide honest details on poker bonuses, but also other objective information that players were concerned about at the time, which was especially helpful given players’ hesitance to put money into what were unknown offshore poker sites.

My poker playing was just starting to get rolling when Jek informed me of his new site. He had his rooms organized by traffic size, so Party Poker was at the top of the list. Since I had last played, they had taken over the lead from Paradise Poker. Chris Moneymaker had won the World Series of Poker and the WPT was becoming extremely popular on the Travel Channel. A poker boom was underway. And Jek had just created a great way to inform players about the murky world -- to many -- of the top online poker sites.

If I recall correctly, Party Poker had a 25% up to $100 sign-up bonus back then. The thought of depositing $400 at a poker site seemed to be a bit crazy but Jek did it and now he had a site devoted to it, so hey, it must be ok, right? So I took my $400 deposit to the Party Poker tables in October of 2003 and started to apply my new poker prowess to the $0.50/$1.00 Limit Hold’em tables. Within a few hours of play, I was up $100 or so and had cleared the $100 sign-up bonus. It was incredibly exciting, but I tried to look at it rationally – I had also won money initially at Paradise a couple years prior and that didn’t turn out so hot. So I played again the next day, and the following day, and then next day. Soon my sessions were getting longer and I was thinking about poker all the time. I also started playing 4 tables, then 8, then 16. This seemed absolutely insane at the time, but by some miracle from the heavens, I was winning. And the more I played, the more I won. I remember in my early naive days, actually feeling bad for the players I was playing against and also feeling bad for the “easy” money I was receiving from the poker sites. I wasn’t even winning that much by comparison to the higher stakes players, but it seemed like a lot to me at the time.

Granted, I wasn’t winning every session. I wasn’t even winning every day, but I could tell by the quality of the play at the tables that I was superior to the people I was playing against and that I was not simply getting lucky. When I did go on a losing streak, I had the Party Poker reload bonuses to help ease the pain. With my winnings and frequent deposits, the money I had online -- which I would have previously been horrified by -- I now didn’t give a second thought to.

Stay tuned for Part II next week