The Cereus Poker Network, which consists of UltimateBet and Absolute Poker, has announced the kick-off of a March rake Race worth $220,000. The promotion got underway March 1st, 2009.

Promising “bigger and better” things as the two online poker rooms merged onto the new network, CEREUS is certainly keeping good on its word thus far. Deemed the “UltimateBet Points Race” and “Absolute Poker Race Cards” promotions, players earn RAI$E Status Points (UB) or FAME Status Points (AP) to get ahead.

Player ranks will be revealed every Friday throughout March, informing players of their potential prizes according to current ranks. Players can also check the leaderboard at any time to see where things stand.

When the promotional period ends, the player with the most Status points across all eligible poker games – ring games, MTTs and SNGs – will be crowned the Rake Race winner.

The top 200 point accumulators on each site, UltimateBet and Absolute Poker, will share in a $200,000. The 1st place winner on each site will receive $15,000, 2nd place $14,000 and 3rd place $13,000. Top-30 finishers are guaranteed at least $1,000 a piece. As an added bonus, the top 1,000 Status points earners will receive exclusive invitations to a $20k GTD tournament.

TitanPoker, the juggernaut flagship of the iPoker Network, is welcoming a new addition to the family in the way of a sister site – Titan Casino.

Titan Poker has long been a favorite of online poker players, and now those same players can click over to the Titan Casino directly from the TitanPoker.com web site.

As a brand new online casino, Titan Casino is promoting a massive Welcome Bonus campaign that is unrivaled in the industry. New members who sign up an account with Titan Casino can earn up to €4,000 in free Deposit Bonuses.

The first deposit bonus awards a 100% matching bonus up to €200. Players can then receive 100% bonuses up to €200 each month for the first six months. To top it off, Titan Casino will pay out 100% up to €100 bonuses every week for the first 26 weeks. All in all, that’s €4,000 worth of bonuses to new depositing members.

To earn even more in deposit bonuses, members of Titan Casino can use one of the many alternative payment methods on offer to receive an extra bonus of up to 15% on all deposits. These bonuses are paid on top of any other eligible bonus offers.

Operated by Imperial E-Club Limited, Titan Casino is powered by leading online casino software developer PlayTech, with a gaming license from the island nations of Antigua and Barbuda. More than 100 online casino games are available, guaranteed for fairness and unpredictability by Technical Systems Testing North America Inc (TST).

Titan Casino offers all of your favorite casino games like online blackjack, craps, slots and roulette wheel.

Here we are, not even three weeks into 2009, and already Patrik Antonius has racked up more than $2.8 million in online poker winnings on the year at FullTilt Poker. With 11-1/2 months to go, ups and downs are sure to come, but right now, Antonius’ stellar performance is outstanding.

The high-stakes nosebleed tables at FullTilt.com have been bustling with action in 2009, offering extremely profitable tables for several online poker players, but none more so than Patrik Antonius and fellow Full Tilt Pro Phil Ivey. Antonius currently holds the largest overall winnings in 2009, at about $2.83 million, while Phil Ivey has conquered the year’s largest single pot of $400,000.

A good portion of Antonius’ earnings came from a single session against Tom “durrrr” Dwan. Another $800k came in an exceptional three hands against Dwan, “Mafew” and Phil “OMGClayAiken” Galfond respectively. The Finnish pro took in $300k from Dwan, followed by a $252,978 pot from Mafew, then another $207,361 against Galfond.

Phil Ivey is starting the year off with interestingly, having undertaken a pinching steak of losses since December that followed him into the new year. Ivey was down $600k in early January, but over the past week, his profits have begun to climb. Assisting greatly in the turnaround was a single hand between Ivey and young Finnish poker pro Sanu “LarsLuzak” Kelopuro.

The pot had already reached $40,000 Pre-Flop. When the Flop came down 6d-9s-3s, LarsLuzak responded to Ivey’s $44k bet by pushing all-in for $128k. Ivey called without hesitation. LarsLuzak revealed Ks-10s, while Ivey flipped pocket Aces. A Kc on the Turn proved hopeful for the Finn, but the 6h on the River sealed the deal. Ivey was awarded Full Tilt Poker’s biggest pot of 2009 thus far, $406,814.

On the opposite end of the spectrum, Tom “durrrr” Dwan is already down about $2.5 million on the year. One may begin to wonder if he’s regretting his 3-to-1 stakes challenge, taken up by both Phil Ivey and Patrik Antoius – whose current play is proving remarkably profitable – along with Sami Keolpuro and ex-FullTilt.net Pro David Benyamine.