Full Tilt Poker Release New Statement, But Still No Timeline On US Payouts

Full Tilt Poker released another statement on May 30th, but they still have no timeline or updates on US player cashout. They reiterated they are not bankrupt, confirmed they did not yet have the funds needed to pay by saying "we are raising capital to ensure that the US players are paid out in full as quickly as possible," and referenced a reassuring statement from their regulator, the Alderney Gambling Control Commission.

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Sites Preemptively Abandon .com Domains To Avoid US Seizure

Tuesday Bodog became the first site to preemptively abandon their .com domain after the Blue Monday seizures. .com, .net, and some other top-level domains are run out of the US and therefore subject to seizure by court order. Most other domains, such as .eu and country-specific ones, are run from outside of the United States. Other sites have began moving as well.

Old	New
Bodog.com	Bodog.eu
Sportsbook.com	Sportsbook.ag
RPMpoker.com	RPMpoker.eu
LockPoker.com	LockPoker.eu
FeltStars.com	FeltStars.eu
MintedPoker.com	MintedPoker.eu
Pokerview.com	Pokerview.eu
CakePoker.com	CakePoker.eu
RedStarPoker.com	RedStarPoker.eu
PPNpoker.com	PPNpoker.eu
TruePoker.ag	TruePoker.eu

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CORRECTED: Reports of Full Tilt Having an Irish Bank Account Unfrozen are Proven Erroneous

UPDATED June 2nd:
After the DOJ disputed the claims eGaming Review followed up with their Full Tilt source, who stated that an Irish bank account was in fact unfrozen, however it was not one of those seized in the indictment. They say the account was one voluntarily frozen by the Bank of Ireland after the indictment was handed down.

UPDATED May 31st:
It turns out no site until Subject: Poker attempted to verify this story, and the US Attorney's Public Information Office has confirmed that no funds or accounts have been unfrozen, and that any agreement would be reported in a public filing.

A Bank of Ireland account belonging to Full Tilt Poker and CEO Ray Bitar has been unfrozen by the US Dept of Justice, freeing up over one third of the $100M to $150M owed to US players. This will not result in immediate payouts, and a date for them has not been set yet. Full Tilt is also working with the DOJ to unfreeze additional European bank accounts. There are also additional accounts which weren't seized in the indictment but were voluntarily frozen by banks to protect themselves.

A Full Tilt source also said that Bitar has been searching for up to $150 million from potential investors for the last 3 weeks. 

The source also gave a different version of the DOJ's statement in the Bradley Franzen guilty plea that FTP had a $60M shortfall before Black Friday (previous coverage). He said players’ balances were credited with money in seized accounts before Full Tilt was aware of the seizures: "Because of the broad-sweeping nature of the Black Friday seizures, you had a seizure combined with a backlog and this has resulted in millions which all of a sudden became owed. Normally Full Tilt would cover that and take that loss, but because all their banks got shut down there was no way of doing that until recently when the government agreed to unfreeze the [Bank of Ireland] account."

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Enet Poker Supported By PokerTracker

The latest version of PokerTracker supports Enet Poker and Yatahay. The latter's new software is from the same company as Enet's.

Enet is a soft Italy-centric network. While it's possible to sign up directly on the network we recommend that serious players sign up through an agent like , to bypass the network's paltry cashout limits and for other benefits.

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Poker Agent

Poker agents deal with customers person-to-person. Among other things, they take deposits and make payouts. Traditionally this was done hand-to-hand in cash, and it still often is, especially at places like poker clubs and internet cafes. We generally use Moneybookers for the sites we're agents for, however. Agents also market poker sites person-to-person and sign up customers. We generally use email and Skype for that. Agents are still common in Italy, Asia, and some other parts of the world. Agent rooms are uniformly soft (think of all those players at poker clubs, internet cafes, and playing at terminals). The advantages of using an agent can include faster, easier cashouts direct from your agent; higher cashout limits (we can bypass the paltry limits on Enet's cashier for example); greater knowledge and better customer service; and access to rooms that would otherwise be unavailable to you (their cashier may not work for your country or they may not have one: some rooms only deal with agents).

We are agents for several poker rooms, especially Italian ones such as DBGPoker and Enet Poker, both of which are on our 10 Most Profitable Online Poker Sites list. to learn more, open an account at one of these rooms, or get rakeback.

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Spain Regulates Online Poker, Gambling

Spain's new online poker regulations will go into effect as soon as the EU approves them. Taxes, at 25% of gross profits, are high enough that the market isn't likely to be too successful. While that's not as high as France, it's higher than Italy's reasonable 20% and the optimal rate of 15% or less. Like Italy and France, they will force licensees to create a new site with a segregated player pool. Enforcement against unlicensed operators isn't expected to begin until 2012.

Read more at EGR.

Update: Spanish online poker sites are expected to have a segregated player pool but take players from other countries as well; a tax of 20%; a 30 bb buyin cap; and a maximum monthly deposit limit of  €2,000.

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UseMyWallet/QuickTender and BetED Forced Out of Business By Latest Account Seizures

Two companies were put out of business by the "Blue Monday" account siezures, eWallet UseMyWallet/QuickTender and sportsbook BetED.

The UseMyWallet/QuickTender eWallet website went offline on May 25th leaving only the message "With regret, the Quicktender service has been discontinued. All account holders will be notified by email." Later that day customers received the following email:

... However, further developments specifically relating to our main bank processing company have resulted in our accounts being frozen subject to a seizure order giving us no ability to make payments in any currency.

In light of these developments we have had no option but to discontinue the Quicktender service with immediate effect and for the foreseeable future.

At this time we are unable to confirm when or if we could make payments of remaining balances.

The Linwood Affidavit shows that the Chargestream LTD accounts in the Netherlands that were seized belonged to EcoCard, the parent company of UseMyWallet/QuickTender.

Sportsbook and Merge skin BetED.com, the owners of which were indicted, also went under. Sportsbetting website Covers reported:

betEd is out of business. Period. There will be no alternate site launched. They came to this conclusion upon the recommendation of their lawyers.

And to top it off... the American authorities have seized ALL of the players money. There is no middle ground here. The money is gone until the authorities decide to give it back.

And before you blame betEd for this and make accusations that they have cut and run with the money, it is not so. Yes, they have cut, and maybe they plan to run, but they have no money. They are victims too. In fact, they are currently liquidating their personal assets to fund the lawyers fees they will soon be needing.

Management has already cleaned out their offices according to SBR.

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Merge Restricts Signups From Several US States, Blocks France

The Merge Gaming Network has decided to block new signups from Maryland, Washington DC, Missouri, and Louisiana. They'd announced last week that they were blocking signups from New York. Existing players from these areas will not be affected. Merge has also decided to block all accounts from France and has instructed players to withdrawal their funds.

As previously reported, the Merge Network will no longer offer rakeback to players who sign up after June 1st.

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Doyles and True Poker Domains Caught In Net of Sportsbook Indictments

Doyles Room, True Poker, and other Yatahay poker rooms had their domains seized in a recent sportsbetting indictment (press release), but they continue to operate normally on new Antigua (.ag) domains.

Bookmaker, owner of the Yatahay network on which Doyles and True operate, was indicted along with one person: Ann Marie Puig, who merely handles accounts receivable for the firm. Bookmaker was charged with illegally processing $91,000 through a company set up by the US Attorney for Maryland in 2009 to ensnare online sportsbooks. In a second indictment, BetED.com (which includes a Merge room) and two individuals were charged with processing $31 million. In all, 10 domains and 11 bank accounts were subject to seizure orders.

The US Attorney set up Linwood Payment Solutions to work with online gaming sites until they had enough info to issue indictments. The company processed over 300,000 transactions for $33 million. They worked most extensively with AbsolutePoker. Absolute’s potential indictment was reportedly superseded by the Black Friday indictments from the New York US attorney: "It appears as if they were going to continue running the ‘processing company’ and collect as much funds from Absolute Poker as possible, then seize all their money." UMW/Quicktender had accounts seized as well. Reportedly, there will be no arrests in the MD indictments.

The seized domains show the following banner:

Most of the sites have moved their websites to Antigua domains and will continue to serve US players:

Old	New
Bookmaker.com	Bmaker.ag
Truepoker.com	Truepoker.ag
Doylesroom.com	Doylesroom.ag
2Betdsi.com	Betdsi.com
Betmaker.com	Betmaker.ag
Funtimebingo..com	Funtimebingo.ag

June 29th UPDATE: TruePoker moved again from TruePoker.ag to TruePoker.eu

Shortly after the website seizures, Bookmaker issued a statement:

Bookmaker has temporarily lost the rights to the Bookmaker.com domain. We are confident that in time, it will be returned to us, until then, we have launched a new, temporary site:www.bmaker.ag.

Despite having lost the domain, none of the business operations have otherwise been affected. Player account balances and information are safe and secure. Effective immediately, players can log on to www.bmaker.ag.and it's business as usual.

You likely won't notice any other changes at all and will experience all the same features and benefits as our original site; just on a new address.

DoylesRoom sent out a statement to affiliates and partners emphasizing that other than having to temporarily change their domain to TruePoker.ag, "it is business as usual, and that player account balances and information are safe and secure."

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FTP $60 Million Cash Shortfall: Credited Players For Funds They Didn't Receive

Full Tilt Poker accumulated a $60 million deficit due to their inability to pull deposits from US players' bank accounts according to Bradley Franzen.

FRANZEN admitted that in early 2011 he had been asked to help Full Tilt Poker deal with a $60 million shortfall created by the company’s inability to find a payment processor to process transactions involving U.S. player accounts. The company was facing the shortfall because it continued to credit funds to player accounts despite being unable to actually debit (or "pull") funds from customers.

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Bradley Franzen Pleads Guilty To Black Friday Indictment For Processing Payments

Bradley Franzen pleaded guilty in New York court on May 23rd to conspiracy to commit bank fraud, accepting funds in connection with unlawful internet gambling, and conspiracy to commit money laundering. He is the first of the Indicted 11 from Black Friday to plead guilty. "FRANZEN operated a Costa Rica-based business that linked internet gambling and other merchants with payment processors who opened bank accounts with U.S. financial institutions to collect funds from U.S. customers" according to prosecutors. He faces up to 30 years in prison, but prosecutors are recommending a lighter sentence in exchange for him providing extensive information about the indicted companies.

Two of the other payment processors indicted on Black Friday, Chad Elie and Ira Rubin, as well as SunFirst Bank VP John Campos, are supposed to to appear for trial in March 2012.

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Online Poker Newsbites: Cereus Finally Blocks US Players, Full Tilt Pays US Rakeback, Merge Ends NY Signups

This week's newsbites:

• AP/UB finally began blocking US players on the morning of May 19th, despite their agreement with the DOJ on May 11th claiming they stopped US business at that time. A spokesperson for the US Attorney for the Southern District of New York declined comment on whether AP/UB had previously been in violation of the terms of the agreement.

• An estate creditor's meeting will take place May 31st in Oslo, Norway to present the preliminary report in the bankrutcy case of Madeira Fjord AS, who were uncovered as the controlling shell company of Absolute Poker by Norwegian publication, Dagens Næringsliv.
• Full Tilt Poker's US players have begun receiving their overdue rakeback payments, according to over twenty 2p2 posters Friday. Online Poker Insiders can also confirm that Tournament Tickets have been converted to cash, and added into player balances.
• Federal Prosecutors are attempting to have four homes seized which are owned by Ray Bitar and family members in Glendora, CA, including a $2.9M estate. Feds are also attempting to seize a fifth home owned by Playboy playmate Destiny Davis, who married Chad Elie right after Black Friday. Elie was a payment processor, and among the 11 indicted.
• The Merge Poker Network announced they are blocking new signups from the state of New York. Existing accounts will be unaffected. The Southern District of New York is the DOJ office that indicted PokerStars, Full Tilt and AP on Black Friday.
• HeroPoker, a Merge skin announced that as of May 25th, they will no longer allow new US players to create accounts.
• The Yatahay Poker Network (home of TruePoker and DoylesRoom) has switched their rake caluclation method from Dealt Rake (aka Rakeshare) to Weighted-Contributed Rake (aka Rake Rebate), due to it's change to a new software platform.
• Everleaf released a software update which fixed the long standing focus stealing problems on tables, default settings for Euros, and extended time for rebuying.
• Chris Ferguson and Howard Lederer have stepped down from the Poker Players Alliance, Board of Directors.

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UseMyWallet/QuickTender Announces Suspension of US Payouts and Possible Seizures

UseMyWallet/QuickTender has announced they can no longer process payouts to US players. A few poker rooms still have UMW left as a processor, so anyone with a balance should deposit on a site, to be able to cashout a different way.

The management of Quicktender would like to make the following statement

regarding the current situation with UseMyWallet/Quicktender withdrawals:

Over the past 2 weeks we have in good faith transmitted

withdrawals initiated by Quicktender account holders to beneficiary bank

accounts in the US. The money left our account in Europe. It was only in

response to increasing complaints from our customers that we recognised

there was a problem, and asked our bank to investigate. It emerges that the

money has been accumulated in our bank's correspondent banking partners

accounts in the US, and has been frozen. We suspect it is possible that

these funds may be subject to a seizure order by the US authorities. We

would stress that we do not have bank accounts in the US of our own, and

that the funds have left our account Europe.

It is our express intention to ensure that the funds of our account holders

are safe. For this reason we have decided to suspend future withdrawals

until we understand what has happened to the money that has been frozen. If

we continue to transmit bank wires into the US we could find that these

funds also do not reach their ultimate beneficiaries. This would simply make

the problem worse.

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WSOP.com to Stream Final Tables of 55 Bracelet Events Live

Final Table action for 55 WSOP gold bracelet events will be streamed live on a 5-minute delay on WSOP.com. Coverage will include two cameras and betting announcements by the tournament's final table announcer. There will be no additional commentary or hole cards displayed.

Most days will feature two final tables being streamed, starting around 2:30 or 3:00 PM Pacific Time. Beginning June 1 through July 7th, there will be at least one live stream daily, except on June 2, 7 and July 4-6th when there will be no final tables played. With ESPN3.com streaming the Main Events, $25K Heads-Up Championship, and the $50K Poker Players Championship, this will be the first time all 58 bracelet events will be broadcast.

WSOP.com Streaming Schedule by Event/Date: 

EVENT #	EVENT NAME	AIR DATE	TIME (PT)
1	$500 Casino Employees No-Limit Hold'em Final Table	June 1	2:30 PM
3	$1,500 Omaha Hi-Low Split-8 or Better Final Table	June 3	2:30 PM
4	$5,000 No-Limit Hold’em Final Table	June 4	2:30 PM
5	$1,500 Seven Card Stud Final Table	June 4	3:00 PM
6	$1,500 Limit Hold’em Final Table	June 5	2:30 PM
7	$10,000 Pot Limit Hold’em Final Table	June 5	3:00 PM
9	$1,500 2-7 Draw Lowball (No-Limit) Final Table	June 6	3:00 PM
10	$1,500 No-Limit Hold’em Six-Handed Final Table	June 8	2:30 PM
11	$10,000 Omaha Hi-Low Split 8 or Better Final Table	June 8	3:00 PM
8	$1,000 No-Limit Hold’em Final Table	June 9	2:30 PM
12	$1,500 Triple Chance No-Limit Hold’em Final Table	June 9	2:30 PM
13	$1,500 No-Limit Hold’em Shootout Final Table	June 10	2:30 PM
14	$3,000 Limit Hold’em Final Table	June 10	3:00 PM
15	$1,500 Pot-Limit Hold’em Final Table	June 11	2:30 PM
16	$10,000 2-7 Draw Lowball (No-Limit) Final Table	June 11	3:00 PM
17	$1,500 H.O.R.S.E. Final Table	June 12	2:30 PM
18	$1,500 No-Limit Hold’em Final Table	June 13	2:30 PM
19	$2,500 Limit Hold’em Six-Handed Final Table	June 13	3:00 PM
20	$1,000 No-Limit Hold’em Final Table	June 14	2:30 PM
21	$10,000 Seven Card Stud Final Table	June 14	3:00 PM
22	$1,500 Pot Limit Omaha Final Table	June 15	2:30 PM
23	$2,500 Eight Game Mix Final Table	June 15	2:30 PM
24	$5,000 No-Limit Hold’em Shootout Final Table	June 16	2:30 PM
25	Seven Card Stud Hi-Low-8 or Better Final Table	June 16	3:00 PM
26	$2,500 No-Limit Hold’em Six-Handed Final Table	June 17	2:30 PM
27	$10,000 Limit Hold’em Championship Final Table	June 17	3:00 PM
28	$1,500 No Limit Hold’em Final Table	June 18	2:30 PM
29	$2,500 10-Game Mix Six-Handed Final Table	June 18	3:00 PM
30	$1,000 Seniors No-Limit Hold’em Final Table	June 19	2:30 PM
31	$3,000 Pot Limit Omaha Final Table	June 19	3:00 PM
32	$1,500 No-Limit Hold’em Final Table	June 20	2:30 PM
33	$10,000 Seven Card Stud Hi-Low Split 8-or Better Final Table	June 20	3:00 PM
34	$1,000 No-Limit Hold’em Final Table	June 21	2:30 PM
35	$5,000 Pot-Limit Omaha Six-Handed Final Table	June 22	2:30 PM
36	$2,500 No-Limit Hold’em Final Table	June 23	2:30 PM
37	$10,000 H.O.R.S.E. Final Table	June 23	3:00 PM
38	$1,500 No-Limit Hold’em Final Table	June 24	2:30 PM
39	$2,500 Pot-Limit Hold’em/Omaha Final Table	June 24	3:00 PM
40	$5,000 No-Limit Hold’em Six-Handed Final Table	June 25	2:30 PM
41	$1,500 Limit Hold’em Shootout Final Table	June 26	2:30 PM
42	$10,000 Pot-Limit Omaha Final Table	June 26	3:00 PM
43	$1,500 No-Limit Hold’em Final Table	June 27	2:30 PM
44	$2,500 Seven Card Razz Final Table	June 27	3:00 PM
45	$1,000 No-Limit Hold’em Final Table	June 28	2:30 PM
46	$10,000 No-Limit Hold’em Six-Handed Final Table	June 29	2:30 PM
47	$2,500 Omaha/Seven Card Stud Hi-Low 8-or-Better Final Table	June 29	3:00 PM
48	$1,500 No-Limit Hold’em Final Table	June 30	2:30 PM
49	$2,500 2-7 Triple Draw Lowball (Limit) Final Table	June 30	3:00 PM
50	$5,000 Triple Chance No-Limit Hold’em Final Table	July 1	2:30 PM
51	$1,500 Pot-Limit Omaha Hi-Low Split-8 or Better Final Table	July 2	2:30 PM
52	$2,500 Mixed Hold’em (Limit/No-Limit) Final Table	July 2	3:00 PM
53	$1,000 Ladies No-Limit Hold’em Final Table	July 3	2:30 PM
54	$1,000 No-Limit Hold’em Final Table	July 7	2:30 PM
56	$1,500 No-Limit Hold’em Final Table	July 7	2:30 PM
57	$5,000 Pot Limit Omaha Hi-Low Split-8 or Better Final Table	July 7	3:00 PM

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Full Tilt Poker May 15th Announcement Turns Out to Be, There is No Announcement

Full Tilt Poker's promised announcement on US player cashouts by May 15th, turned out to be nothing more than again stating there is no timeline, and it has taken longer than expected.

Unlike PokerStars, Full Tilt has decided player points will not be converted to cash. Instead players will only be able to use FPPs in the FTP Points Store in a few weeks.

They also updated their US player FAQ.

May 17th Tony G reported, "I have information that leads me to believe that the FTP, and TEAM FTP are working harder than ever to ensure all players get paid. I would like to ask everyone to give FTP 2 weeks of grace to sort out the situation. I understand the FTP teams personal assets are on the line and they will liquidate own assets to pay the players out."

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ESPN Networks to Air 34 Hours of Same Day WSOP Main Event Coverage

Day 3 through Day 8 of the WSOP Main Event, scheduled for July 14 - 19th, will feature 34 hours of "live" coverage on ESPN, ESPN2, and ESPN3.com. ESPN2 and ESPN3.com will carry same day coverage on a 30-minute delay of two feature tables, with hole cards postflop, and unedited play. ESPN's standard Tuesday night weekly WSOP broadcasts run July 26th through November 8th.

ESPN will also broadcast the WSOP Grudge Matches, the $25,000 Heads-Up World Championship, and the $50,000 Poker Players' Championship bracelet events will be streamed unedited on ESPN3.com on a 50-minute delay, with no hole cards. ESPN will also air their edited versions with all hole cards in late July.

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AB/UB Reach Deal To Return Funds, Fire Sponsored Pros, and Have Offices Raided

Absolute Poker (including UB) reached a deal with the Department of Justice (press releases: AP, DOJ) that will allow third parties to "work with Absolute Poker to facilitate the return of funds to players located in the US." Absolute notes this is only the first step to paying back players, and that "unfortunately, the Company still faces several legal issues which must be navigated before funds can be paid out to US players." Unlike the agreements signed by PokerStars and Full Tilt three weeks ago, AP's deal does not allow the use of their AbsolutePoker.com, UB.com and UltimateBet.com domain names. While the agreement requires Absolute Poker to cease US operations, Online Poker Insiders can confirm there are still Americans playing on the site.

On May 9th, Blanca Games issued a statement that they terminated the contracts of all Team UB pros, which included Prahlad Friedman, Joe Sebok, Tiffany Michelle, and Scott Ian (of Anthrax).

Saturday, May 7th, Blanca Games issued a press release trying to downplay the Costa Rica raids on Friday by the OIJ (the Costa Rican version of the FBI) on their offices and homes. A blog that followed the events as they were occurring paints a much graver picture than the explanation given by the Blanca press release.

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Online Poker Traffic: 3 Weeks Since Black Friday and Merge Remains the Big Winner, While Cereus Continues to Lose

PokerScout has new stats up looking at average traffic in the two weeks prior to Black Friday, and compared those to the weeks since.

• Merge Network traffic is up 77% since Black Friday. Between the addition of the Sportsbook.com brands, plus Black Friday, Merge traffic is up 157% over last year.
• Bodog and the Cake Network both are up 28% since Black Friday. Cake Network despite their gains since Black Friday, are down 45% from last year.
• Between the addition of DoylesRoom, plus Black Friday, Yatahay Network is up 207% from last year.
• PartyPoker remains the only European operator up double-digits, which is likely due to the return of the Gladiator promo.
• 888poker has the largest growth of European operators at 69%.
• Online poker traffic increased by 1% last week, but the worldwide poker market (excluding Italy) has decresed by 13% in the last year.

Morgan Stanley Research and PokerScout also created some graphs of how liquidity of the Top 5 poker sites has changed since Black Friday.

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UB/AP Downsize To Focus On Non-US Operations, Increase Non-US Max Payouts

Excerpts from a May 5th statement:

As previously stated, Absolute Poker and UB ceased their U.S.-facing operations due to recent legal developments in the United States. The company is currently restructuring and is focusing its resources on consolidating its non-U.S., rest-of-the-world operation and software business.

The workforce has been liquidated, and the process of rehiring approximately 20% of staff in key positions has commenced.

For non-U.S. players, Absolute Poker and UB have increased their maximum withdrawal limits to $1000 for Visa withdrawals and $500 for all other methods. The number of transactions being processed per day has been significantly increased as well. Players are still restricted to one transaction per week, but we are working to return non-U.S. withdrawals to normal service levels as quickly as possible.

As confirmed earlier this week, the company's legal counsel is in continuing discussions this week with the U.S. Attorney's office to formalize an agreement that would facilitate the return of funds to U.S. players.

Blanca Gaming, the owner of Absolute and UB, previously informed bondholder Madeira Fjord that they would stop making payments on $250 million of debt. This caused Madeira Fjord to file for bankruptcy. As detailed in a St. Petersburg Times article, Madeira Fjord was the entity though which Absolute Poker's original shareholders held their interest in the company. Now it appears that the founders, such as Scott Tom, have sole control of what remains of the company.

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Full Tilt Payout Info Delayed: Update Expected By May 15

UPDATED: When will I be able to withdraw my account balance?
Full Tilt Poker is diligently working on facilitating the withdrawal of funds for US Players - this is our top priority. We are sorry for the delay and will update you with any progress made by Sunday, May 15th.

Source: US Player FAQ.

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Merge Network Will No Longer Allow Rakeback for New Players After June 1st

As of June 1st, 2011 the Merge Gaming Network will no longer allow rakeback for new customers. There will be a new VIP Rewards program, based on volume of play, instead. Any player that creates an account on a Merge site prior to June 1st will be eligible for rakeback and will have it grandfathered indefinitely. Players will only have to create a rakeback account, not actually deposit, before June 1st.

Sign up for Merge rakeback now at Carbon, Gr88, Nordica, or Black Chip, or for a VIP offer.

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Online Poker Traffic: Merge Takes Over US Market and Cereus Falls Off the Map

The chart below, from PokerScout's latest traffic report, compares the weekends after Black Friday with the one prior.

• Merge has skyrocked to the #1 network in the US market, increasing traffic by 69%. They now rank as the 10th largest network in the world, up from 18th at the beginning of April
• Bodog and Cake have increased their traffic by about one quarter.
• Cereus has fallen from the 6th largest network (3rd in the US) to 26th, having lost 3/4 of its traffic and and continuing its slide.
• Full Tilt had a big recovery after a disastrous Black Friday weekend. It and PokerStars have stabilized more recently.
• The top 4 non-US networks have about the same traffic as they did before Black Friday.
• The worldwide online poker market shrunk by 18% in the second half of April compared to the first half.

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Poker Newsbites: No New US Players For Sportsbook.com, PAD Cancelled, Absolute Founders Still Running Ship...

This week's newsbites:

• As of May 1st the enormous Jazette group, including Sportsbook.com and PlayersOnly, stopped allowing new signups from American players. Players with existing accounts are still able to play, deposit, and cashout. It's believed to be a temporary move until they can build payment-processing capacity up enough to cope with post-Black Friday demand. Because of their size it's still a significant development, however: after Jazette moved from the Cake Network to Merge in April, 2010 Cake eventually shrunk by 65% while Merge grew by over 300%.
• "Full Tilt Poker is diligently working on facilitating the withdrawal of funds for US Players. We'll have a further update in the week commencing Monday, May 9th." Source: May 3rd email to a Full Tilt Black Card member. 
• Absolute Poker's founders still control the company according to an amazing article in the St. Petersburg Times detailing Absolute's entire history.
• New episodes have disappeared from the Poker After Dark schedule and High Stakes Poker has moved to 11 PM (TV schedule).
• The Atlantis Internet Group, which plans an online poker network spanning the nation's Indian casinos using Cake software, was accepted as a member of the National Indian Gaming Association.
• BetRaiser, a small, rake-free independent site, has stopped allowing play from the US as a result of Black Friday.

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