Wednesday, Oct. 22, 2008

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Viva poker! bwin launches Italian version

Italian players like Daniele Mazzia now have access to an Italian bwin site.

By Arthur Crowson

Italy seems to be the final frontier as far as poker is concerned, and popular online room bwin has jumped on board by providing an Italian version of its popular software.

www.bwin.it launched on Oct. 19 and with it came the new P5 Poker Engine, which was developed by Ongame Network. It's a bold move that comes less than a week after PokerStars.com announced its Italian-language site and little more than two weeks after the launch of bwin's Bulgarian site.

The move was made possible by a recent change in Italian laws that permits the introduction of online poker on a site like www.bwin.it. bwin Co-CEO Manfred Bodner is confident that customers in Italy will flock to his company's new offering.

""No other product offers customers the performance, reliability and speed - coupled with such great graphics and usability," he said. "Our customers in Italy will be the first ones to benefit from the brand new game clients that offer a very sleek and intuitive gaming experience."

Perhaps even more important than the launch of the Italian-language site is the introduction of the P5 Poker Engine. The engine is the core system that drives the poker platform, and executives are saying it will dramatically improve the performance and change the way the game is played, experienced and perceived. It also significantly increases the Ongame Network's capacity, being able to accommodate up to 200,000 users.

"P5 represents a substantial investment and was developed in-house at the B2B company Ongame Network," said Bodner. "We decided to go right to the very heart of our game engine and rethink every line of code - and re-write it if necessary. P5 represents a shift in mentality as much as it represents a shift in technology."

bwin Poker is one of the busiest sites on the Ongame network, and features a unique combination of intense graphics and upper-echelon speed. The software is available in both a download or non-download format for players with Apple or Linux computers.

To read a complete review of bwin poker, check out our room review section or go right to the source and see our latest promotions.

Related Articles:

• bwin begins Bulgarian invasion
• bwin Poker begins Aussie Millions qualifiers
• Pussycat Dolls to visit bwin'sPokerIsland
• bwin Poker introduces PokerIsland

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