Reminded via a Tiffany Michelle MySpace status update — \”Excited about the Cereus launch this week!\”:
The player pools, tables, tourneys, etc. from Absolute Poker and Ultimate Bet magically merge today.
Trying to keep an open mind … because theoretically it is possible that the combination of two sites caught in the biggest cheating scandals in the nascent history of the online poker industry — having learned painful lessons firsthand — could become a paragon of integrity and security, a model for fully legal American online poker in the future.
But I just can\’t help to think back to the Dallas underground … when a saturated market had rooms and games beginning to merge, two shady operators joining forces seldom led to anything good (save for some pretty juicy opening-weekend tourneys).
That\’s my bias, I suppose … but with that in the back of my mind, I can\’t help but think of how one of these sites seemed rotten at the core (with the exception of Mark Seif, I\’ve yet to hear any former employee say anything good about Absolute), and the other … well, sure, they\’ve changed management and have plenty of good peeps working for them (Annie Duke, Phil Hellmuth, Mean Gene, et al.) … but the top of the pyramid hasn\’t really changed as far as we can tell. And with all due respect to those who are just trying to throw good poker times … the mysterious, closely-guarded nature of Tokwiro+Kahnawake+UB+Chief Joe operating on the protected lands of the Mohawk Nation (with offices in Costa Rica) … that\’s the definition of shady! Sorry, it just is.
Still, with $22 million in refunds, the action\’s gotta be good.