Unibet Poker has welcomed the Finnish online poker site Pokerihuone into the fold, effectively becoming a poker network two years after leaving one.
Over two years ago, fed up with life on the Microgaming Poker Network (MPN), the sassy Swede’s at Unibet decided to jump ship and go it alone. Speaking at the time of the defection, Daniel Eskola, Head of Gaming at Unibet, told PokerNews that, ‘being part of a poker network is not sustainable for Unibet in the long term.’
It appears that strategy has changed after Unibet announced plans to add the player base at the Finnish online poker site Pokerihuone to their standalone site. Pokerihuone is a skin on the MPN. The plan is for the skin to operate as its own entity, but the poker experience for the players will be identical to that of Unibet’s, including a merger of the player pools.
Relax Gaming, an international B2B software provider, prominent within the gambling industry, designed and created Unibet’s standalone software. The company was founded in 2010, and has built online poker rooms, casinos, and bingo halls.
Unibet’s Head of Poker, Andrew West, told PokerNews that the migration wasn’t easy, stating, ‘it’s a lot of work to have another skin operating on the same software.’
The move makes sense from a business perspective. Pokerihuone was the last bastion of an online poker threesome that constituted iGame Malta. An outfit that moved from the Entraction/International Game Technology network to join the MPN in 2012, and was acquired by Unibet for a reported €59m+ in August.
iGame Malta wasn’t Unibet’s only strategic acquisition around that time. The Swede’s also bought the online operation of Stan James, and they too have an online poker room based on the MPN. How long before Stan James does a Pokerihuone deepening liquidity even further.
Although Unibet was clear that they didn’t like being part of a poker network, it’s very likely, that owning one lends a very different experience to the ever growing gambling outfit.
Stefan Genchev Wins the MPN Poker Tour Sofia Main Event
Talking about the MPN.
This week, Stefan Genchev, became the latest winner of the MPN Poker Tour (MPNPT) Main Event, when he topped a field of 302 entrants to capture the first prize of €35,000 in the €550 buy-in.
The event, held at the Casino Sofia, created a prize pool of €146,470, making it the second-largest live poker tournament ever to take place on Bulgarian soil.
The next MPNPT stop will be Tallinn, Estonia 11-14 August, where the MPN will guarantee a prize pool of €150,000.
Final Table Results
1. Stefan Genchev – €35,000
2. Nedelcho Karakolev – €21,000
3. Milen Vasilev – €16,000
4. Stefan Penkov – €12,370
5. Stoyan Obreshkov – €8,400
6. Valeri Savov – €6,400
7. Matey Sidik – €4,800
8. Peter Varga – €3,200
9. Edmond Mkhitaryan – €2,700
