Absolute Poker and UltimateBet Combine to Form Cereus

On Thursday, Absolute Poker and UltimateBet management announced the launch of CEREUS, a new gaming site, offering the best of both poker rooms. The merger makes CEREUS the third-largest online poker site.

CEREUS was put together after more than a year of development. AP and UB will share players, allowing for more tournaments, promotions and a few other new features.

Paul Leggett, Chief Operations Officer of Absolute Poker and UltimateBet, had the following to say about the merger in Thursday's press release:

"I am so excited to announce the launch of our new poker network CEREUS. This is a huge landmark for our company and online poker. I'm confident that Absolute Poker and UltimateBet customers will be thrilled by the new platform and we look forward to welcoming many new players from around the world."

"CEREUS not only delivers the best online poker experience; it enables our company to improve our operations and deliver significantly better value and service to our customers.

"Our company's goal is to provide poker players with the ultimate online experience. The launch of CEREUS is a major step for us in achieving our goal and we look forward to making many more exciting announcements very soon."

Absolute Poker and UltimateBet are sister sites, licensed by the Kahnawake Gaming Commission. Both sites have been in the headlines for unsavory reasons over the past year. Absolute Poker saw millions in losses and fines after the "POTRIPPER" scandal showed open use of a "super-user" account. Months later, it was UltimateBet under investigation after user "NioNio" appeared to have access to opponent's hole cards.

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