PokerTableRatings

Options for US & Worldwide Online Players

Friday's crackdown on Stars, Full Tilt and UB caught the entire industry off guard. Domains were seized, arrests were made, partnerships with traditional casinos were cancelled, and in the end, US cash players were locked out with their bankrolls unavailable due to the freezing of funds at over 75 payment processors. Stars & FT have both released official statements, with Stars now moving to Pokerstars.eu and FT to FullTiltPoker.co.uk. Ultimate Bet / Absolute just switched to .eu, but we are awaiting an official statement from them. Sources say they're allowing existing U.S. customers play, but no deposits or withdrawals are permitted.

So, what's next for online players in the US and Worldwide?

Players from the U.S.

The U.S. Department of Justice is taking a heavy stance on this matter, as bank fraud is an extraditable offence and international law enforcement has been contacted for assistance. Assume that U.S. cash play on any of the indicted sites to be all but over. So where can U.S. players play online poker?

Of the remaining networks accepting US real money players, Merge Network is currently the front runner with 30% more cash players online ...

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Can PokerListings Save Cake Poker?

Several sources have claimed that 50% of the embattled Cake Poker network has been sold to PokerListings. This acquisition is Cake's saving grace. PokerListings has the power to turn Cake Poker around.

First, let's recap some of the events that got Cake in this mess:

1. Last July, PTR uncovered a security vulnerability in Cake Poker's software which could be exploited to reveal usernames, passwords and hole cards.


2. Cake took another hit late December, when industry veteran Lee Jones abruptly left his position as Card Room Manager, citing a disagreement with management's "strategic decisions" on TwoPlusTwo.


3. One month later, DoylesRoom surprisingly switched from the Cake Network to Yatahay, giving few details in their press release.

So how have these events affected Cake's bottom line?  Here's how much rake Cake Poker generated in the last 5 months:

OUCH! That's a soul-crushing 30% downswing since December.

But let's put this in perspective: When you factor in SNGs, MTTs, and Blackjack, you're probably looking at $1,200,000 in revenue per month.  That's nothing to sneeze at.

How much did PokerListings pay to get 50% of Cake?
Assuming Cake has a 15% profit margin ...

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Cereus: An Editorial

State of Things

On Friday May 7th we first reported on the now well known security holes in the Cereus network's data encoding, and ten days later we're pleased to say that the known issues appear to have been fully resolved. The Cereus network has upgraded all of their server communications to adhere to industry standards of OpenSSL, which will prevent any user data from being stolen. The rest of this article will serve to recap the incident, discuss possible implications of this vulnerability, give you a few tips to protect yourself while playing, and then lastly comment on the industry as a whole as it relates to the player’s safety.

If you only read one portion of this article, skip to the section entitled “Protecting Yourself” and be sure that you’re taking the basic precautions necessary to protect your roll.

Cereus’ Response Recap

Much to our surprise when we first publicized the problem Cereus acknowledged the issue almost immediately both privately and publically. There was minor down-playing on the severity of the issue, but still it was much more than we hoped for. Within a couple of days they introduced a band aid bug fix ...

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Illusory Superiority

I think I'm a better driver than average. 93% of people think they're a better driver than average too. Statistically, 50% of people are above average and 50% are below average. I guess most of us are pretty delusional when it comes to our driving ability.

The tendency for people to overrate their skills is called illusory superiority. It happens in all kinds of situations –including the self-assessment of intelligence, memory, job performance, popularity, happiness and poker skill.

Incompetent players overestimate their skill and fail to recognize the skill of other players. Ironically, good players tend to underrate their skill. As Bertrand Russell put it, "the trouble with the world is that the stupid are cocksure and the intelligent are full of doubt."

Illusory superiority is also one of the main reasons fish continue to play despite losing a significant amount of money. They've deluded themselves into thinking they're good and just rationalize away their losses. They blame bad luck, the government, rigged poker rooms, etc.

It's important to remember that we were all fish when we started playing poker - we were all below average. The players that recognized their weaknesses and worked hard at ...

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