HeadsUp Entertainment Goes Head First Into US Market

In an effort to capitalize on the void left by PokerStars and Full Tilt exiting the US poker market, one Calgary-based firm has offered up grandiose plans to rake in the cash.

HeadsUp Entertainment, currently operating as the Canadian Poker Tour, said on Tuesday it had entered into an agreement with World Poker Showdown, an American firm. 

HeadsUp owns Canadian Poker Player magazine and the Canadian Poker Player television network.  It said in a released statement that the company will "aggressively pursue opportunities recently created from the new landscape in online and tournament poker."

HeadsUp said the plan is to build on its relaunch of the Canadian Poker Tour tournament and television broadcast model.

"The partnership between WPS is also positioning itself for the impending legalization of online poker in the U.S. and we have been developing relationships with land-based casinos throughout North America for this scenario," Kelly B. Kellner, CEO of HeadsUp Entertainment International Inc., said in a news release Tuesday.

Full Tilt Poker and PokerStars were forced out of the US market after indictments were handed down by US authorities on April 15 charging the two online poker rooms with money laundering and bank fraud.  Many of the company sponsored poker programs were scratched as a result. 

- Ace King, Gambling911.com