From 00:00 ET on Saturday, May 8th to 23:59 ET on Sunday, May 9th, players on the popular CEREUS Network sites UB.com and Absolute Poker can earn twice as many Ultimate Points and Absolute Points in sit and gos.
All sit and go tables on the USA-friendly CEREUS Network are eligible. The pair of online poker sites recently launched a revamped sit and go lobby, making double points weekend a celebration of sorts. In addition to the double points, players will also shell out smaller tournament fees for Turbo and Ultra Turbo sit and gos.
If you’ve never heard of a sit and go before, a press release distributed by CEREUS Network officials on Friday reads in part, “Sit and go poker tournaments are all about spontaneity and no delay. They are designated single-table or multi-table poker tournaments where players can join in the action without registering in advance. The sit and go format makes them an easy way for players to get a quick fix of their favorite online poker game at their chosen buy-in level without committing hours on end to play.”
Single-table sit and gos are similar to many poker home games and begin as soon as every seat is filled. Full Tilt Poker pro Annette “Annette_15” Obrestad took down a 180-man multi-table sit and go while only peeking at her hole cards once.
In late April, UB.com and Absolute Poker officials released an update that included synchronized breaks occurring even if a tournament was still in late registration. In addition, players moved to a new table while sitting out would remain sitting out until they select “I’m Back.” Finally, network developers capped the number of heads-up tables that players could wait at for any stake at one. For example, if a player were seated at a $1/$2 table waiting for an opponent, they would be unable to sit at another $1/$2 table until an opponent has joined them at the first one.
Recently, UB.com has been in the news because of an encryption issue pointed out by PokerTableRatings.com. In response, Tokwiro COO Paul Leggett fired back, commenting in a blog posted on UB.com that a new version of the software had been released on Friday morning to correct the issue: “I would like to state that in order for someone to have exploited this vulnerability, someone would have to have the technical capabilities to crack the encryption/cypher method that we used prior to today and they would have also had to hack into your local network in order to gain access to sensitive data.”
Leggett did not believe that anyone had actually cracked the system, but Tokwiro officials were investigating several players in response to community reaction. Leggett added, “We fixed this issue by implementing a more advanced multi-layer encryption and we have also implemented logic that will prevent any manipulation of this encryption.”
According to PokerTableRatings.com, hackers would have been able to see other players’ hole cards in real-time, bringing back troubling memories of the Russ Hamilton-led scandal that rocked the online poker site from 2004 to 2008. PokerTableRatings.com claimed that the CEREUS Network used a custom encryption rather than SSL that could be hacked through Windows; CEREUS’ encryption was XOR-based. Leggett revealed that CEREUS was working on an SSL encryption, which should be rolled out within a week.
UB.com regularly runs Power Hour from 1:00am to 4:00am and then again from 1:00pm to 4:00pm daily. In addition, the windows are expanded to 1:00am to 5:00am and 1:00pm to 5:00pm on Sundays. Visit UB.com and Absolute Poker for more information on double points all weekend in sit and gos.
