February 04 2011, Martin Harris

Happy Friday, poker peoples. The Super Bowl is almost upon us, but the approach of the big game hasn’t slowed the poker world down much. Tonight’s Turbo brings you all the latest, including structure sheets for the 2011 WSOP events, the latest on the Bellagio chip thief, a poker convention to be hosted by a social network gaming giant, and more.

In Case You Missed It

They are down to the final table at the 2011 Borgata Winter Poker Open, where Ukrainian Vadm Shlez leads with ten players remaining. Donnie Peters recaps the action from Day 4.

Mickey Doft has been sorting through the 2011 WSOP schedule, in particular looking at some of the many non-hold’em events on offer. Check out Mickey’s “Guide to Omaha, Stud, and Mixed Events” at this year’s Series.

Meanwhile, Chad Holloway has been monitoring the latest high-stakes action online, including battles taking place between Viktor “Isildur1′ Blom and Brian “$tinger88” Hastings. See his latest “Online Railbird Report” for details.

PokerNews’ Kristy Arnett has also been busy of late. In the latest installment of “Las Vegas Life,” Kristy brings us up to date on her activities for the past month, her adventures having taken her on a round trip from Vegas to the Bahamas and back. See what Kristy has been up to here.

A new episode of the PokerNews Podcast has arrived, and on this one Adam Geyer and Randy “nanonoko” Lew stop by with some tips on multitabling. Tune in.

Finally, for those looking for tips for betting this weekend’s Super Bowl XLV — including how to handle all of those proposition bets — Rich Ryan has some ideas to share. See how Rich thinks the coin toss will go (and more) here.

Structures for 2011 WSOP events made available

In late December, dates for the 2011 World Series of Poker were announced. Then a little over a week ago came the full schedule which provided details of the record 58 bracelet events that will be comprising this year’s Series.

Today came structure sheets for all of those events, giving players plenty of time to study how each event will be managed before deciding to play.

As previously announced, for events with one-hour levels players will never be forced to play more than 10 levels in a single day. Also, for events with late afternoon (5 p.m.) Day 1 start times, dinner breaks will last only 30 minutes rather than a full hour.

All of the structure sheeets can be viewed on the WSOP site.

Further details emerge regarding Bellagio chip thief

More news today regarding this week’s arrest of Anthony Michael Carleo, the man accused of robbing the Bellago of $1.5 million worth of chips back in December.

As we reported in last night’s Turbo, Carleo was arrested after apparently trying to sell some of the stolen chips to undercover officers.

Today comes further word that Carleo had in fact attempted to sell stolen chips on the popular poker forum TwoPlusTwo via messages with other users. Reports today include other details of the thief’s recklessness, including his having left one $25,000 chip with a Salvation Army bell ringer and his having made bold statements about the robbery to a Bellagio dealer afterwards.

Read more about Carleo at Sports Interaction.com.

Zynga Poker to host “PokerCon” in March

On March 18th and 19th, the social network game developer Zynga will be hosting its first-ever PokerCon. The two-day convention will take place at the Palms Casino Resort in Las Vegas.

Among the events scheduled are a live poker tournament with a $100,000-plus prize pool, appearances by various celebrities and poker pros, a party, and meet-and-greet opportunities with Zynga Poker executives.

In addition to hugely popular games like Farmville and Mafia Wars, Zynga’s poker game — playable on Facebook, Yahoo!, MySpace, and smart phones — attracts over 37 million players every month.

Tickets for PokerCon are set to go on sale next Friday, February 11th, with the $125 fee covering all of the different activities.

Starting Monday, check with Zynga for further details regarding PokerCon.

Speaking of Facebook, you can find PokerNews there as well under pokernewsdotcom. And for up-to-the-minute news follow us on Twitter, too!

Right now not only can you get a free $50 bankroll from PartyPoker and PokerNews, you will also get a free month at PokerNews Strategy. Go to our PartyPoker Free $50 Page and follow the walk-through.

Tue, 02/15/2011 – 00:27 – PokerPages Staff

A Republican Congressman from California, Darrell Issa, invited business leaders recently to help him work out exactly what taxpayers and entrepreneurs need to secure the right to succeed and grow in the USA.  He may not have expected such forthright advice, but Michael Waxman – Executive Director and founder of the industry trade association “Safe and Secure Internet Gambling Association” – decided to take him at his word.  Issa’s quest, after all, is identical to that of the U.S. iGaming industry and casinos vis-à-vis online poker.

Mr. Waxman submitted a lucidly argued letter to Congressman Issa, arguing that the crude prohibitionism of the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act has done nothing to prevent internet gambling, with Americans now wagering around $100 billion online every year.  Thanks to measures like the UIGEA, however, they do so without any guaranteed mechanisms in place to shield them from identity thefy, fraud and even, on occasions, their own weaknesses.

Moderate and sane, the letter argues that government regulation of the online industry would deliver consumer protections, yield abundant tax revenues and create desperately needed jobs.  Commenting on his letter, Mr. Waxman announced that organizations such as Safe and Secure Internet Gambling “need to continuously stay in front of Congress” to ensure that the supporters of online gambling regulation – which of course includes online poker – have their voices heard.  There is an “opportunity to get this done,” Mr. Waxman said, and he clearly intends to assist Congress to move in the right direction.

The significance of Waxman’s public letter lies in the fact that Congressman Issa is Chairman of the House Oversight and Government reform Committee.  A previous avenue for prospective reform – the Financial Services Committee – has turned into a dead-end with the appointment of Alabama Republican Spencer Bachus to the Chair after the mid-term elections.  Once upon a time, when Barney Frank was at the helm, the committee was a key focus for online poker lobbying.  Bachus, however, is a hardline opponent of internet gambling and appears closed to persuasion.

Waxman believes that, whilst the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee cannot initiate legislative reform in itself, it could expand awareness of the issues amongst congressional lawmakers by holding hearings and exploring the reasons why UIGEA is so burdensome.  Congressman Issa is “in a great position” to champion the cause, even if his committee has no jurisdiction to introduce legislation.

Safe and Secure Internet Gambling has chosen to concentrate on pushing for legislative reform at the federal level, although Waxman insists that he is not opposed to state-level initiatives.  He regards movement on the state level as a “very positive sign” – the recent regulation of online poker in New Jersey and the likelihood of other states following suit will, he believes, show federal legislators that internet gambling can be and should be effectively regulated.  Every time a state opens up an online market, it not only bestows extra freedom on its citizens but boosts job creation and economic development, too.

The growth of online poker regulation on a state by state basis resembles the early days of the lottery; states could eventually allow their players to combine, just as the lottery did with the Powerball Lottery.  However, the Wire Act could jeopardize this – states will almost certainly need to challenge the Act in court or in Congress before such combinations can proceed.

Despite the Republican gains in the mid-terms, Waxman remains optimistic about the prospects for reform.  And he has a staunch ally in Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid – a stalwart friend of the online poker community – who continues to express great interest in the issue.