Poker News Zone

Serinda Swan in her Absolute Poker outfit

Absolute Poker and the U.S. Department of Justice (DoJ) are still discussing the details of paying players who have unpaid account balances at the forlorn poker site.

“As previously stated, the distribution of funds to our U.S. players remains our highest priority. However, we are still in discussions with the DOJ in order to facilitate player payments and, consequently, can make no further comments at this time. We will provide an update at the appropriate time,” an AP spokesperson said in the statement. Whether or not an agreement can be reached in the near future is still anybody’s guess.

Prior to the recently issued statement, Absolute and Ultimatebet, who together form the CEREUS network, had been silent for the past five months, forcing former players at the sites to sit and wonder if they would ever see their bankrolls returned. In May, AP officials issued a press release stating that the site was “restructuring” and was preparing to “focus its remaining resources on consolidating its non-U.S., rest-of-the-world operation and software business. Unfortunately, this also means an immediate need to downsize and streamline operations significantly at both online poker rooms, with a view of becoming more efficient in the way the business is conducted.”

Until the recent statement, that was the last anybody heard from the at-one-time third largest poker network in the world. In recent weeks, the fraud and money laundering allegations against Full Tilt Poker have been in the forefront of online poker news, with AP/UB players’ funds seemingly forgotten in light of the Full Tilt scandal.

“We reached out to AP/UB via e-mail several months ago expressing our concerns about the non-payment of players,” Poker Players Alliance Executive Director John Pappas said. “They responded that it’s a top priority for them.”

The CEREUS network shut down play to U.S. players following the seizure of AP/UB domain names in April by the U.S. government. Since that time, the network has lost 99% of its ring game traffic, according to PokerScout, the website that calculates and estimates traffic of poker. Typical traffic at the network averages 23 real money players in a seven-day span and reaches a peak of 41 players in a 24-hour period, making it the 40th busiest site worldwide, PokerScout tabulations confirm. Paltry numbers for the once-thriving poker network.

Players located outside of U.S. borders have reportedly received sporadic cashouts from CEREUS since Black Friday, with no apparent rhyme or reason to who would get paid or whether players in one country were receiving preferential treatment in payment to players in other countries. Recent postings on various poker forums indicate that payouts may have stopped completely.

Players who opt to file a complaint online at the Kahnawake Gaming Commission (KGC) website are given the following warning:
“Please note: If you open a discussion concerning your complaint on any public forum, share information with the media or any other public forum, you may jeopardize our ability to assist you and we reserve our right to close the file concerning your complaint.”

Sounds as if you decide to file a complaint, your rights to free speech will taken away. In any event, the options of contacting the DOJ and Congressional lawmakers could actually make a difference. It is believed that the Justice Department and Congress are genuinely sensitive to the issue of players’ funds being seized and tied up for so long.

CEREUS is required to file its response to the DOJ seizures by October 31 in the Black Friday complaint that started the whole online poker U.S. shutdown fiasco.

Best part of it all is that we were able to present you a picture of Serinda Swan. Let’s hope she can keep her outfit.

Stick with safe poker sites like PKR Poker if you are not from the United States, and avoid poker rooms that accept US players.