September 13 2012, Brett Collson

Why is Full Tilt Poker emailing customers ahead of its upcoming relaunch? We tackle that story and more in this edition of the Nightly Turbo.

In Case You Missed It

The PokerNews Podcast crew is in Paris for the World Poker Tour Grand de Paris. This week, Rich and Kristy discuss the latest poker news and then speak with recent WCOOP High Roller champ Darren Elias about his big victory.

Bertrand “ElkY” Grospellier regained the top spot in the Global Poker Index this week. Mickey Doft takes a look at some of the other big movers in this week’s GPI recap.

Are you planning a trip to Malta for the upcoming World Poker Tour event? Chad Holloway tells you everything you need to know about the area in the latest PokerNews Jet Set.

Venetian Opens New Poker Room

The Venetian Las Vegas has officially launched the largest poker room on the Las Vegas Strip. The brand new Sands Poker Room at The Venetian boasts 59 tables across a plush 14,000 square feet of space, giving poker players one of the best atmospheres in all of Las Vegas to play their favorites games.

“The new Sands Poker Room at The Venetian is a player’s room in every way,” said Kathy Raymond, Venetian executive director of poker operations. “We have carefully integrated new poker room features and services – keeping poker player needs front-of-mind. We believe that the atmosphere and addition of innovative and value-centered promotions and tournaments will give players of all levels a poker experience like no other.”

As part of the grand opening, the Venetian is offering a number of new promotions. From 10 to 11 a.m. and from 5 to 6 p.m., every Sunday through Thursday, the Venetian Happy Hour program allows players to take advantage of rake-free play at the tables. And beginning Sept. 17, the poker room will infuse “Bad Beat” Jackpots into the daily schedule.

Additional promotions will be announced later this month, along with full details of the celebratory Grand Opening Event. See the Sand Poker Room website for more details.

You’ve Got Mail!

According to members of the online poker community, Full Tilt Poker has been sending emails to customers requesting ID verification ahead of the site’s upcoming relaunch.

Customers have been asked to send in photo identification and address verification in accordance with the “anticipated Isle of Man regulatory requirements.” According to the email, once Full Tilt Poker’s relaunch is complete and players have provided the necessary documents, they will have unrestricted access to their account, including all cashier functionality and poker games.

The emails are totally legit and have been confirmed by Shyam Markus, Poker Room Manager at Full Tilt Poker. So far, it seems that only a small percentage of Full Tilt Poker customers have been notified, but the wheels are certainly in motion in order for the site to open its doors by Nov. 6, 2012, as promised.

More info can be found at TwoPlusTwo.com.

Macau Poker Cup Championship

Day 1b of the 2012 PokerStars Macau Poker Cup Championship saw 181 players hit the felts at the Grand Waldo Entertainment Complex, bringing the total number of entrants for the event to 270. The HKD $20,000 buy-in tournament – which had 89 players in the first of two Day 1 flights – has a prize pool of more than $4,800,000 for the top 31 players.

“I’m very pleased with the final number.” said Danny McDonagh, PokerStars’ director of live operations for the Asia-Pacific. “The MPCC crosses over the same schedule as WCOOP which has more players than any other poker series in the world. Seeing some people playing both at the same time says a lot about the importance of MPCC in Asia.”

China’s Yanqin Huang ended Day 1b with 112,925 chips, edging out Germany’s Sebastian Benz (112,625) for the chip lead. They’ll be chasing Day 1a chip leader Edmund Lee and his 119,175 chips when play resumes on Friday. Here’s a look at the top 10 overall stacks heading into Day 2:

PlacePlayerChips

1	Edmund Lee	119,175
2	Yanqin Huang	112,925
3	Sebastian Benz	112,625
4	Lin Zhu	110,775
5	Sunny Jung	107,850
6	Kenny Wong	106,950
7	Aimin Zhang	101,500
8	Xijie Sun	96,225
9	Satrya Teja	96,025
10	Rui Chen	82,975

The 2012 Macau Poker Cup Championship winner will be crowned on Sunday and will receive a top prize of HKD $1,108,500, which includes an entry to the Asia Championship of Poker Main Event in November. For daily updates from the event, stay tuned to the PokerStars Blog.

Sam Trickett, Matchbook Part Ways

Sam Trickett’s deal as member of Team Matchbook Poker has come to an end. The two sides mutually agreed to end their poker sponsorship arrangement this week, according to a press release issued by Matchbook.

Trickett signed with Matchbook in May 2012 and represented the brand at poker tournaments around the world, including the World Series of Poker where he took second place at the Big One for One Drop. Trickett won more than $10 million in that event to become Europe’s all-time money winner in poker.

“We have long believed that Sam is one of the best poker players in the world, and his success over the last two years is well deserved,” Matchbook said in a statement. “We have been honored to have Sam as the face of the Matchbook Poker team in which his results were nothing short of phenomenal. Sam is a huge asset for any brand, and we fully expect him to secure a sponsorship deal with one of the biggest dedicated poker sites around.”

Said Trickett, “I’m extremely grateful to have been given the opportunity to compete in the biggest tournament in this history of poker and it was an experience that will live for me forever.”

Heartland Poker Tour Heads to Iowa

The Heartland Poker Tour is gearing up for $1,500 buy-in Main Event at Prairie Meadows Racetrack Casino Hotel in Altoona, Iowa. The tournament will take place from Oct. 19 through Oct. 22, 2012, and will later be featured in two episodes on nationally-syndicated television across the country.

The Main Event begins with Day 1 flights on Oct. 19 and Oct. 20. Day 2 takes place on Oct. 21 and will conclude when the final table of six is reached. The remaining six players will return for television production on Oct. 22nd, while thirteen high-definition cameras capture all of the action until a champion is crowned.

“We are happy to have Prairie Meadows as our partner in Iowa,” said HPT Executive Producer Fred Bevill. “The property is in line with all of the top casinos on our tour.”

Among the notables taking part in the event will be 2004 World Series of Poker Main Event Champion Greg Raymer, and Lon McEachern, the commentator for ESPN’s coverage of the WSOP. Earlier this year, Raymer won his first HPT title at the Route 66 Championship in New Mexico, and he has been making regular stops seeking title No. 2.

There are a handful of tournaments and Main Event qualifiers leading up to the flagship event at Prairie Meadows. For the full schedule, visit the Heartland Poker Tour website.

50 Shades of Ladurée

During the World Poker Tout Grand Prix de Paris, Kristy Arnett took the Royal Flush Girls to the world famous pastry shop Ladurée to play a game inspired by the novel, 50 Shades of Grey.

Follow PokerNews on Twitter for up-to-the-minute news.

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September 13 2012, Mickey Doft

Each week, the Global Poker Index releases a list of the top 300 tournament poker players in the world using a formula that takes a player’s results over six half-year periods. For a look at the entire list of 300, visit the official GPI website.

The Top 10 as of September 10, 2012

to reclaim the top spot.

Welcome to the GPI

Nine players are new to this week’s GPI, led by Jacob Bazeley following a fifth-place finish for $25,460 in a $5,000 no-limit hold’em side event at the 2012 WinStar River Poker Series.

New Additions

PlayerTotal GPI ScoreGPI Rank

Jacob Bazeley	1,300.86	190th
Kunal Patel	1,130.83	258th
Carla Solinas	1,098.62	284th
Viktor Blom	1,073.74	295th
Mike Sexton	1,073.60	296th
Rob Akery	1,072.64	297th
Maxi Lehmanski	1,070.89	298th
Eric Baldwin	1,070.64	299th
Moreten Mortensen	1,069.24	300th

Falling from the GPI this week were Hugo Lemaire, James Mitchell, Joe Cassidy, Mike Leah, Nam Le, Ryan Eriquezzo, Stephane Benadiba, Taylor von Kriegenbergh, and Vinny Pahuja.

Ups and Downs

The biggest rise of the week belonged to Ismael Bojang. His Period 2 had only one score before his eighth-place finish in a $3,000 No-Limit Hold’em event at the 2012 Merit Spring Open aged into Period 2. In addition to gaining that second score in his Period 2, it wasn’t previously counting as part of his Period 1 slate, so he lost no points there.

Biggest Gains

RankPlayerTotal ScoreChange in Rank From Last Week

35th	Scott Baumstein	1,987.44	+22
117th	Sergio Castelluccio	1,557.88	+34
152nd	Roland Israelashvili	1,434.87	+15
167th	Aubin Cazals	1,375.79	+25
202nd	Rupert Elder	1,263.43	+40
204th	Ismael Bojang	1,252.25	+41
216th	Massimo Mosele	1,232.28	+15
246th	Paul Volpe	1,144.20	+16
251st	Max Silver	1,140.50	+34
279th	Bryce Yockey	1,104.99	+17

Slipping the most this week were Tim West and Matt Waxman. For West, it was his 11th-place finish in the second Epic Poker League event (worth $46,020) that aged into Period 3. Waxman’s win in the 2011 WPT Grand Prix de Paris Main Event worth “500,000 also aged into Period 3.

Biggest Drops

RankPlayerTotal ScoreChange in Rank From Last Week

62nd	Fabrice Soulier	1,850.14	-32
68th	Martin Jacobson	1,796.27	-26
89th	Matt Waxman	1,684.51	-40
94th	Isaac Baron	1,625.42	25-
153rd	Alex Kravchenko	1,429.19	-38
154th	Guillaume Darcourt	1,425.38	-22
217th	Mario Puccini	1,231.49	-29
242nd	John Andress	1,153.63	-32
260th	Allen Cunningham	1,128.32	-27
280th	Tim West	1,102.42	-67

What’s In Store?

The 2012 Partouche Poker Tour Main Event results will be reflected in next week’s standings, helping out fourth-place finisher Dan O’Brien (currently No. 231) and Dan Smith. Even though Smith’s seventh-place score for “178,496 most likely won’t crack his current top-four Period 1 scores, it will pay huge dividends when his scores begin to age into Period 2 next month. Smith is on the fast track to No. 1 on the GPI.

To look at the entire list of 300, visit the official GPI website. While you’re at it, follow the GPI on Twitter and its Facebook page.

To stay on top of the GPI and other happenings in the poker world, follow us on Twitter and like us on Facebook.

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