Absolute Poker Players Still Active In The USA

On Black Friday, the federal government seized Absolute Poker’s domain name, who a few weeks later then agreed to ban US customers playing for real money on their site.
Unlike PokerStars and Full Tilt, however, the agreement didn’t allow for the return of Absolute Poker‘s domain name and instead any return of US player’s funds would consequently have to come via some third-party entity rather than directly from the site.
In Spite of the agreement with the Department of Justice it now appears US poker players are still continuing to play for real money at Absolute Poker.
This would seem to be confirmed by a Pokerscout report which indicates residents from such cities as Chicago, Bakersfield, Cincinnati, Colorado Springs and Minnetonka are playing for real money on the Cereus network, which serves both Absolute Poker and Ultimate Bet.
At the time of the agreement on May 4th, the poker room stated:
“Absolute Poker agrees that for the duration of the agreement, it will not allow for, facilitate, or provide the ability for players located in the United States to engage in playing poker for “real money” or any other thing of value.”
However, it now seems that US players who downloaded the site’s game software before April 15th have been able to bypass the seized website and access Absolute Poker’s Internet provider directly.
The Pokerscout report suggests then went on to highlight the precariousness of this situation and stated:
“Cereus would not only be in breach of contract, but would also potentially face fraud and other charges for signing a contract it had no intention of following.”
Nonetheless, the original agreement allowed for 45 days to ensure compliance and 10 days to correct any defects which occur in the meantime. Therefore, it is only a matter of time before US players bid a final farewell to the site.
After their final departure from the US, the fate of Absolute Poker is not at all clear. Post Black Friday, PokerStars suffered a 28% drop in traffic, and Full Tilt 24% but they still contine to thrive in the global market.
On the other hand, the Cereus Network has lost a massive 82% of its traffic since the US online clampdown and will find surviving a much bigger challenge.