May 07 2012, Brett Collson

On Monday morning, Lock Poker announced that it will be purchasing the assets of the Cake Poker Network, a move that will ultimately see Lock leave the Merge Gaming Network.

According to a press release sent to PokerNews, Lock Poker will re-brand the Cake Network and launch a new network called Revolution Gaming on June 1, 2012. The new network will be aimed at “driving technology, marketing, player rewards and implementing a richer tournament schedule.”

The LockPRO ELITE team, made up of poker pros like Annette Obrestad, Melanie Weisner and Chris Moorman, will work together to ensure that the specified changes are enforced to create a better environment for players.

Existing players at Lock Poker will have a smooth transition to the new network when it opens on June 1. The new software will become available on May 31, and players will find their real-money balances and VIP points right where they left them in the Lock Cashier.

“We are very excited at the prospect of driving the product, marketing and overall vision of the network. It is a dream come true,” said Lock Poker CEO Jennifer Larson. “Merge was a great stepping stone for us but we have outgrown them. We really need to forge our own path to continued success. The only way to do this is to stay true to our of core philosophy: partnering with our players.”

The loss of Lock will be a massive blow to the Merge Gaming Network which has increased its online traffic by more than 5 percent over this time last year, according to PokerScout.com. Lock Poker claims that it is the largest skin on the Merge Network, accounting for 40 percent of Merge’s traffic.

The two sides clashed last month when Merge canceled the LockOps tournament series available only to Lock Poker players. Merge had originally given Lock Poker the green light to run the 33-event schedule with $2 million in guarantees, but the network pulled the plug on April 23 without any clarification.

PokerNews will continue to follow this story as more information becomes available. Get all the latest PokerNews updates on your social media outlets. Follow us on Twitter and like us on Facebook now!

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April 26 2012, Donnie Peters

Day 1b of the PokerStars and Monte-Carlo® Casino European Poker Tour Grand Final Main Event is in the books after the second and last starting flight ran through the first eight levels of the tournament. There were 394 players in action on Thursday, bringing the total of this year’s field to 665. Nicolas Yunis ended the day with the most chips in the room – a stack of 191,700.

On Day 1a, Martin Kabrhel bagged up the most chips with 167,800. On Day 1b, Yunis along with Ivan Kudriavtcev and Andoni Larrabe Sánchez finished with more chips to put Kabrhel in fourth place overall heading into Day 2. Yunis was a steady climber throughout the day and there wasn’t a single stand-out pot that the Live Reporting Team saw from him that vaulted him into the lead. Rather, a gradual progression of hands earned him the No. 1 overall spot.

Plenty of notable players were in the mix on Day 1b including those representing Team PokerStars Pro. Ana Marquez, Fatima Moreira De Melo, Humberto Brenes, Pius Heinz, Marcel Luske and Jason Mercier all had successful days on the felt. Lex Veldhuis, Victoria Coren, Jonathan Duhamel and Eugene Katchalov however, were all eliminated on the day.

Other well-known faces were in the field and ended up bagging up decent stacks, including Tom Marchese, Stephen Chidwick, Erik Seidel, Annette Obrestad and Maria Ho.

End of Day 1b Chip Counts

Day 2 will commence at 1200 CET tomorrow and PokerNews will be back in action firing away the updates as the players fire in their chips. Be sure to join us then.

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