Poker Articles

If you’re a regular user on UltimateBet and Absolute Poker or were just an interested poker player who got a little curious, then you know that the CEREUS poker network made its debut Tuesday morning. Combining the player bases of the two popular online poker sites, CEREUS was downloaded onto the computers of tens of thousands of poker players during the day on Tuesday. Among the new features that players will find on CEREUS are final table deal-making, easier to review hand histories, filtering of tables in the ring game and tournament lobbies, and the use of avatars. Some of these features have been available on Absolute Poker already. Let’s take a look at the new features as they pertain to the entire CEREUS network.

In the Hold’em ring game and Scheduled Tournament lobbies, you’re now able to filter the tables that are displayed. In the Hold’em cash game lobby, you can filter by the maximum number of players (one on one, six players, or nine players), the table speed (Turbo or Normal), and the table stakes (High, Medium, or Low). Placing a check mark next to any box will filter the table list accordingly. In the Scheduled Tournament lobby, filtering options include game type (Hold’em, Omaha, Stud, Razz, or HORSE), Limit (Limit, No Limit, or Pot Limit), and buy-in amount.

The lobby has tables of the same stakes grouped and shaded alike, which makes finding your level of game pretty simple. Ultimate Icons and Ultimate Legends are now able to create Private Tournament Groups and join up to four in total. Table skins can now also be downloaded. On UltimateBet, these consist of the regular black background, a Las Vegas background, and the Aruba wallpaper. On Absolute Poker, players have the option of downloading skins beyond the default table look.

The instant hand replayer has also become a favorite tool of Ultimate Bet and Absolute Poker players. From a table, just clicking on “Replay” will open a new window. In it will be the most recent hands played as well as easy to follow DVD controls to play them out. You can flip back and forth between hands in order to review your play. The hole cards of players who went to showdown are shown face up in the replayer, with the losing hands crossed out in red. Community cards that were not dealt are also shown as part of a rabbit cam, meaning you’re able to see what the next street would have been. These are signified in the replayer by a caricature of a rabbit holding the community card.

Hand histories are now able to be saved directly to your computer or e-mailed to you. To review them while at the table, just click on “History” in the lower right corner. You can sort hand histories by the hand number, the name of the table, your hole cards (if you played the hand), the hand’s winner, and pot size. If you won a hand, the hole cards will appear in red. The ability to e-mail and save hand histories is done from the same screen by clicking on the “Options” menu. Hand histories in this window are collected from each table that you’ve played.

Another new feature involves the chat, which is now done in a more conversational manner. Players who enter anything in the chat have text placed over their chair in a bubble. The text appears for a few seconds before disappearing. It also is placed in the chat box, as was the case before the development of the CEREUS network. The chat box can be “docked” and “undocked” based on your preferences. If you undock it, a box will appear to the right of your table with the chat and other table information displayed in it. You can move this box around your screen as you see fit.

Final table deal making was another feature added to CEREUS, as was a time bank displayed right above the chat box that shows you how much longer you have left to act in a hand. This clock is shown over a player’s chair when it’s their turn to act. Avatars are also now a part of the UltimateBet and Absolute Poker software, although when uploading one, the program notes that you cannot change your avatar once you’ve uploaded it, so choose wisely.

There are just over 26,000 players seated at 4,000 tables on the CEREUS network as of 6:00pm ET. The number about six hours ago was 17,000. In a press release distributed by Tokwiro, the parent company of UltimateBet and Absolute Poker, on Tuesday, Paul Leggett, the company’s COO, stated, “With the proud launch of the unified network CEREUS, our company is well-placed to provide significantly better value and superior service to customers of both brands.”

Visit UltimateBet and Absolute Poker to learn more about CEREUS.

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