Unibet’s French poker site is reportedly preparing to ditch the Ongame Network to join Playtech’s iPoker.fr network. While Unibet has yet to confirm or deny, PokerFuse reported the move would be made within the next two weeks. The addition of Unibet would further strengthen iPoker’s already strong position in the French market, having just finished absorbing Betclic Everest’s poker players earlier this month. Unibet’s departure would leave Bwin.fr as Ongame’s lone French skin, but since Bwin is in the process of merging its poker activities with its Bwin.party partner PartyPoker, it looks like endgame for Ongame, at least en français. Bwin.party sold Ongame to Canada’s Amaya Gaming Group a month ago.
Merge Gaming Network skin Black Chip Poker also appears to be on the move, although the destination is a matter of some conjecture. Last month, Black Chip publicly expressed its displeasure with Merge’s decision to ban P2P transfers, a move Black Chip said Merge had not bothered to disclose to its skins beforehand. Now a Black Chip rep has announced the company will not participate in Merge’s upcoming Poker Maximus III event “due to a number of reasons which will become clear within the next week. We are confident this decision is in the best interests of our players and partners.” Unconfirmed scuttlebutt has Black Chip ending up on the Winning Poker Network, home to Americas Cardroom, TruePoker and sportsbooks like BetCris and 5Dimes.
Finally, iPoker skin Titan Poker has become the first real-money online poker site to take advantage of Hall of Hands, that wacky social poker app that uses “real life actors with running commentary” to reenact your recent poker play on a video you can then circulate to all your online friends, who will in no way get tired of this like they eventually tired of your damn LOLcat jpegs. Hall of Hands Studio recently added options to let players choose the venue in which their video takes place, such as the back room of a bar, a city tower complete with breathtaking view or the ever-popular ‘empty warehouse’ for that Reservoir Dogs vibe. (‘Are you going to bark all day, little doggie, or are you going to bet?’) You can also choose one of 10 actors to represent your bad self, but before you get too excited, there’s no ‘George Clooney’ option.
