eCheckUS Accounts Seized by Federal Agents

It appears that eCheckUS is the latest eWallet to have their accounts seized by US federal authorities. Merge and Cereus poker rooms, plus some casino sites, have all removed it from their payment processing options. The eCheckUS website shows the message "The eCheckUS website is currently offline, We apologize for the inconvenience." WHOIS information has been linked to a Houston, TX based payment processor reportedly raided by federal agents.

eCheckUS was an eWallet service, not to be confused with generic echecks which continue unaffected. They are owned by GPS Consulting LTD. As is standard in these situations, it is unlikely the status of customer balances will be known for some time. It is unknown how long their customer support will remain available, so it's advised that customers with balances or pending withdrawals attempt to contact them by email: customercare@check.us.com or phone: 877-844-5623.

This comes a little over 4 months after major eWallet and US payment processor eWalletXpress of Toronto, Canada had their accounts seized by US federal agents.

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Enet Poker Network Adds Hand Histories Written To Hard Drive - EnetPoker

The EnetPoker network has added hand histories written to hard drives in XML format. Enet Poker is one of the softest and most anti-shark networks in the world, and it's been essentially impossible to review their hands in the past, so this is a surprising move. When software is written to take advantage of these hand histories it's likely to toughen up the games somewhat.

Hand history settings are accessible from the options menu in the lobby. Click the image below to enlarge it.


The one oddity I've noticed is that when the client is closed the XML folder containing readable hand histories is no longer visible on my hard drive.

To open an EnetPoker account , or visit our softest sites page.

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US Poker Players Not Required To Report Online Poker Accounts As Foreign Bank Accounts

US online poker players aren't required to include online poker accounts in considering if they have to file a Report of Foreign Bank and Financial Accounts (FBAR) according to new regulations issued by the Treasury's Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN). eWallet accounts do need to be included however. FBARs must be filed if the aggregate value of your foreign accounts exceeds $10,000 at any point in a year. This had been an area of uncertainty for poker players till now.

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Cereus Restricts Rakeback To Your First Account On Network

The Cereus Poker Network has restricted players to getting rakeback only on their first account on the network. It's common for players to sign up for a room, later learn about rakeback, and then move to another room on the network to get rakeback, therefore this is a significant restriction on rakeback. It happens as Cereus is apparently becoming a real network again (Absolute Poker and UB.com are owned by Cereus) by adding Victory Poker. Players who already have two rakeback accounts will be unaffected.

If you don't have a rakeback account on Cereus yet, get one at UB.com or Absolute Poker.

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Wynn Resorts Partners with PokerStars for a Future US Poker Site. Maybe FullTilt too?

Las Vegas casino operator Wynn Resorts announced a partnership with PokerStars to launch an online poker site once US regulation is in place, which they will assist in the push for. The site will be called PokerStarsWynn.com. "The companies will first work to secure the passage of federal legislation" as well as "establishing a robust regulatory environment for the safe operation of online poker by experienced operators, and establish a regime for the assessment and collection of taxes." PokerStars.com is licensed and regulated by the Isle of Man.

Wynn Resorts owns the Wynn and Encore casinos in Las Vegas, NV. Steve Wynn making this partnership may be one of the most drastic signs yet how much the landscape of impending regulation in the United Stats has changed. Wynn was once one of the strongest opponents of legalization, and also the lone holdout that kept the AGA (American Gaming Association) from supporting an online regulatory system in the US.

There is also currently one report that FullTiltPoker is discussing some type of strategic partnership with Station Casinos. Station Casinos operates several casinos in Las Vegas, most notably the Red Rock Resort Spa and Casino

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VictoryPoker Leaves Cake Network for Cereus

RakeTheRake are the first outlet confirming rumors seen earlier on Twitter that VictoryPoker.com is leaving the Cake Network, and joining the Cereus Network. The deal is nearly completed and there will be a formal announcement within a few days. Currently the only two skins on Cereus are UB.com and AbsolutePoker.com. VictoryPoker is home to 20 big name poker pros including Antonio Esfandiari, Paul Wasica, Andrew "good2cu" Robl, and Lee Markholt.

It was only on September 1, 2010 that VictoryPoker had joined the Cake Network after moving from the Everleaf Gaming Network. This is the second piece of big Cake Network related news this week, after the announcement days ago that PokerListings and Cake Network had partnered up.

Update: due to Black Friday Victory stayed on Cake and stopped taking US players. 

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PokerListings & the Cake Network Make Their Partnership Official

PokerListings.com and Cake Gaming NV published a press release today confirming their new "strategic partnership." Most notable is that PokerListings is contracted to acquire a minimum of 2000 new depositing players per month for the network. PokerListings CEO Martin Carlesund was quoted "We have absolute confidence that PokerListings will make a substantial impact on the overall traffic of CakePoker.com and the entire Cake Network to both companies' mutual benefit."

Quotes from Andrew Turner, Cake Network's Marketing Director, also emphasize how the partnership will bring a significant amount of new recreational players. "The value of being integrated into one of the premiere leaders in new player acquisition and poker-related search can not be overstated and will have a significant impact on the Cake Network ecosystem and overall liquidity. This partnership positions the Cake Network for future growth in terms of new depositing players as well as for the addition of several strategic network partners."

See also our previous coverage. 

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PokerListings.com Purchasing Majority of Cake Poker Network

PokerListings.com, one of the most popular poker websites on the net, is purchasing a majority of the Cake Poker Network according to multiple sources talked to by HoldemPokerChat and PokerNewsDaily. The top 3 online poker sites sites shown to US visitors on PokerListings.com are now Cake Poker skins. The network had lost 69% of it's traffic over the last year since its biggest customer, the Jazette sportsbook group, moved to the Merge network. The purchase is expected to be completed this week.

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Everleaf Platform - ITA, U-Poker, and Everleaf Poker Networks

The Everleaf Platform consisted of three separately-owned poker networks sharing the same client software and server farm in Malta, and sometimes sharing tables:

• What was commonly known as the Everleaf Network was the most well-known of the three, but its games weren't as soft as the others (though still softer than most networks'). If you saw an Everleaf room on a major rakeback site it was one of these.
• The ITA Poker Network was the largest of the three, with soft games of mostly Italian players. Some ITA skins had virtually all the tables on the 3 Everleaf Platform networks.
• The U-Poker Network was the smallest of the three, but was one of the very-most profitable poker networks in the world. It was even more heavily Italian than ITA and U-Poker rooms' games were entirely segregated from the other two networks. 

The three networks on the Platform merged into the current Everleaf Poker Network on July 7, 2011.

Holdem Manager and Poker Tracker work with Everleaf software.

The 10 Most Profitable Online Poker Sites

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Online Poker Vetoed By New Jersey Governor

New Jersey's governor vetoed the state's online poker legislation. The legislature will not attempt to override the veto.

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New Jersey Online Poker Legislation Vetoed/Approved Live On Web 11 AM Thursday, March 3

New Jersey Governor Chris Christie has scheduled an 11 AM Thursday press conference, live streamed over the internet, at which he will announce whether he's signing or vetoing the bill to regulate online gambling in New Jersey. The deadline to act is Thursday at 11:59 PM ET. Had that deadline passed without action, the bill would have automatically passed into law. An additional option available to him would be a conditional veto, with which the governor could request amendments making the bill acceptable to him.

[UPDATE 11:56AM] Gov Christie said shortly ago that he is undecided on what action to take on the intrastate online gaming bill, and he will decide on the issue later this afternoon. If no action is taken by the governor by 11:59 PM ET tonight, the bill automatically passes into state law.

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