Unlike Poker Stars and Full Tilt; both Ultimate Bet and Absolute Poker have not gone back online in the US again to allow members to remove funds from their frozen online poker accounts. Obviously thousands of players are very concerned about their funds, and just last week these members became even more concerned as a notice to shareholders of both of the sites announced they would be filing for bankruptcy protection in Norway. This comes as a direct result of the U.S. Department of Justice’s seizure of their domain names. The poker sites’ parent company is Blanca Games Inc, where shareholders are represented by Madeira Fjord of Norway.

According to the email thread on TwoPlusTwo; the company has "no cash on hand and no prospects for any cash flow for the foreseeable future.” It also stated that these developments have seen the company accumulating current debt in surfeit of $250,000 which is believed will increase by $100,000 plus per month; primarily with regards to professional and legal fees in Norway. It is for this reason, and the fact that no cash flow is expected by the company in the foreseeable future – that they are required by Norwegian law to enter into the bankruptcy process. A receiver was to be appointed and the Board of Directors has been relieved of its duties. 95% of all staff in their Costa Rican headquarters has already been laid off. This equates to a total of 300 marketing and customer support staff.

While Poker Stars and Full Tilt came to an arrangement with the US DOJ to get back online and return access to members for the specific purpose of processing refunds for US members. The same offers were made to UB and Absolute Poker, but this has not come about. Despite a statement made by the CEREUS Poker Network maintaining it was top priority to return player funds. The outlook is gloomy for the current US members of the site, US operations have been stopped and the company is currently restructuring. However there is no indication that a Bankruptcy Filing will actually take place.

In April, the District of Columbia became the first place in the U.S. where online poker was allowed locally. The necessary regulation was passed and players within the District can now enjoy the game that is still so problematic at the federation level. Players who used to play and make money on portals of PokerStars or Full Tilt have now the option to move to the District since it is impossible for them to play elsewhere within the States. Thus a Council member Michael A. Brow said that the Black Friday which has affected the online poker industry so heavily might eventually come out beneficial for the Columbian District.

The accolades never seem to end for Microgaming; they have dynamically become the biggest global provider of online gambling software and excel in every direction. Their slots are the best, their casino games are the best and now it appears that their poker network is also the best. I always believed this accolade would go to the Playtech iPoker network brand, but this year I was wrong and Microgaming collected the EGR B2B award for poker network as well as innovation in slots provision.

All online casino gaming companies who offer a B2B service (Business to Business) are in line to be nominated for the EGR B2B Awards; which recognize the very best operators and service providers in the online gambling industry. This is only the second year that these awards have been run, and they were presented along-side the eGaming Review conference and exhibition. They call it EGR Live and it was held on Tuesday the 3rd of May, 2011 at the Chelsea Football Club - London.

Microgaming was actually shortlisted to receive 5 awards, which included: RNG Casino Supplier of the Year; Poker Network of the Year; Innovation in Slot Provision; Poker Software of the Year and Slot Provider of the Year. Despite the fact that they were up against tough competition, they aced the two awards and CEO at Microgaming - Roger Raatgever, commented: “We are delighted to receive two awards"!

Madison seems to be an area that is producing more miraculous poker players than any other. Phil Hellmuth, who holds a record in WSOP bracelets count, is right from here. Now, another Madisonian, Eddie Blumenthal, is making the headlines with his two top five finishes in the Rio in Las Vegas. Although he has not made it to the first place, he is obviously very satisfied with his achievements to date. Seven years ago, the now 25-year old professional poker player was nowhere near the poker felt - he was a professional wrestler who made a state championship record of 54-0. That he would succeed in something, some day, was crystal clear, but no one probably expected it would be with cards in his hand. The 42nd year of the WSOP started on June 1 and will end on July 7.

That many professional online poker players would find themselves out of work after the Black Friday was quite crystal clear. How many, however, they are? The Head of the Poker Players Alliance John Pappas estimates their ranks to about 50,000. All of these players will now have to seek income elsewhere, either by turning to live tournaments or changing profession altogether. Worse than that, Full Tilt and Absolute Poker still have not found any way to pay back their former U.S. clients and some players have significant amounts of money stuck on the frozen account of the seized websites. Several renowned poker pros even declined participation in this year's WSOP to make their statement of how unfair it would be to players who can't take part because they don't have their money at hand.

Betting on poker is not limited by the actual table area. With this year’s WSOP approaching, you do not need to sit in one of the tournaments in order to place a bet – betting sites started offering bets on this year’s developments in the biggest poker event of the year and you can choose from a whole range of bets. Over/under totals have been set for example on the turnout in the Main Even (last year counted 7,000 entries) since there are speculations about Black Friday impacting badly on the number of players to enter the competition this year – there will be less online qualifiers and many players may have their funds stuck at one of the seized websites. Further, you can place a bet on WSOP’s first open event, the $25,000 Heads Up Championship. Will someone win 3 bracelets, will a woman take the Player of the Year award? These plus many more present a plenty of opportunities for bookies.