The GGNetwork, an online poker network licensed in Curacao and the Philippines, has struck a deal with internet gaming provider, the Tain Network. This is GGNetwork’s first “major” European partnership, as it is primarily Asia-facing.
The most interesting part of this is that it marks the return of online poker to the Tain Network. The youth of today likely know nothing about Tain, but many of us olds remember it as one of the minor online poker networks from the poker boom of more than a decade ago. Tain was low-trafficked – it didn’t stack up to Party Poker or, say, Paradise Poker at the time – but it had enough players to sustain games.
The most notable room on the Tain Network was probably Poker Share (which was originally operated by Excapsa and was essentially a skin of UltimateBet), which tried to make a name for itself in the internet poker world by giving players shares in the company via their play, kind of like rakeback, but using ownership of the company as the reward, rather than cash. That never happened.
PokerShare and Tain, though, will always hold a special place in my heart because of how soft the competition was. And when I think competition is soft, it is SOFT. It was the site and network on which I won my first multi-table tournament; my prize was only maybe $100-$150, but it was still a big moment in my poker history. The Tain Network stopped accepting U.S. customers after the UIGEA passed in late 2006 and soon stopped with poker altogether. PokerShare moved to the Microgaming Network but eventually went out of business.
So poker will be back on Tain with this deal. In a press release, Tain CEO Mathias Larsson said:
We are proud to be the first major European partner for GGNetwork. Poker used to represent a significant sector for Tain operators before its decline.
However, we do not believe that the downturn was due to people falling out of love with poker; it was because the poker networks simply were not good enough and allowed certain brands to take over the market.
Now, though, Tain will once again be able to offer world-class poker to its operators and I am sure it will be a massive success.
As mentioned, though it has offices in the British Virgin Islands, Dublin, and London, the GGNetwork is primarily Asia-facing. It has over 40 partnered brands, none of which would be recognized by virtually anyone that doesn’t play games in their target markets. Here, we’ll name some: Moon Poker, All New Bet, 88Fox-GG, and Asya Poker.
“This is a very exciting time for us and it is a big honour to be joining forces with such an experienced, outstanding, branded platform as Tain,” said Hilly Ehrlich, a GGNetwork spokesperson. “We look forward to re-activating and hosting all the poker followers on Tain Network with a style and flavour of poker that everyone will enjoy.”
