Poker News

In the continuing battle against multi-accounting, the CEREUS Network has made a major clarification to its player policies that were originally changed earlier in the month. The announcement, which was released on Thursday to affiliates and a copy of which was obtained by Poker News Daily, changes what the CEREUS Network had enacted only ten days earlier.

Back on April 19th, an e-mail to affiliates effectively stated that new players to the CEREUS Network – Absolute Poker and UB.com – would only be able to play on one account that would earn affiliate revenue. The player’s first choice through the appropriate affiliate code would determine which site would house the account.

The CEREUS Network viewed the action as a method to crack down on multi-accounting, which has been part of online poker since its inception. Affiliates, however, were not happy with the move because both rooms are offered as freestanding sites. Instead, affiliates accused the network of attempting to cut down on affiliate revenues. The resulting uproar resulted in the CEREUS Network changing its course.

This week’s e-mail, which negates all of the changes that the CEREUS Network put in place back on April 19th, seems to have been in response to the anger over changes to its policy. The e-mail states, “Due to recent analysis and investigations with our security department, [we] have decided to revert back to allowing a single player to have one account on Absolute Poker and one account on UB, regardless of the affiliate association of the player accounts at either site.”

The e-mail continues, “Multi-accounting will be handled by our Security Department as it always has been… Any fraudulent player account activity or abuse related to affiliates will be managed independently as it always has been. Actions will be taken if evident abuse is detected.” The e-mail finishes with the view that the CEREUS Network is looking for solutions for the issue: “As we continue to address multi-accounting on the CEREUS Network, we will work with [affiliates] to develop a win-win situation for everyone.”

The CEREUS Network was created through the partnership of Absolute Poker and UB.com after major scandals plagued both online poker rooms. The now infamous “superuser” scandals over the last decade affected players on both sites and were conducted by those in a position of ownership or authority, such as former UB.com part owner and former world champion Russ Hamilton. Since a massive ownership change on both sites and their merger into the CEREUS Poker Network, the company has been diligent in making sure that the games are operated fairly. Their aggressive stance against multi-accounting is a part of that due diligence.

Multi-accounting, where a player has multiple operational accounts on one site, has been one of the toughest problems that the online poker industry has faced. Several top poker pros have been found to use more than one account on a site, saying it is done so they can enjoy the anonymity of the online game.

Some believe, however, that multi-accounting is done by well bankrolled players to enable them to enter tournaments more than once, have an unfair advantage at a cash games by having an additional hand, or mask their true identities.

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