The presents have been opened, champagne bottles have been emptied, and Antonio Esfandiari has survived two New Year’s Eve parties. Now, it’s time to get back to the daily grind here at PokerNews. In the first Nightly Turbo of 2013, we’re covering a proposed Texas bill that would ban online poker, the nominations for the European Poker Awards, and more.

In Case You Missed It:

The 2013 PokerStars Caribbean Adventure is set to kick off later this week. Chad Holloway takes an all-inclusive look at the first 10 years of the Main Event.

What can the poker world expect in 2013? Rich Ryan makes 10 bold predictions for the coming year.

Another year is in the books, and little progress was made in legalizing online poker in the U.S. Matthew Kredell examines in his 2012 Legislative Year in Review.

A number of 2012 Player of the Year awards are being handed out this week. Dan Sun received the honor from the Mid-States Poker Tour.

Texas Considers Online Poker Ban

The Texas Gaming Act of 2013 will be up for discussion once again when the state’s legislation reconvenes on Jan. 8, 2013.

Originally proposed in December 2012, the revised bill would regulate land-based poker rooms while banning online poker. The measure also prohibits electronic poker tables, which were supported in the earlier bill.

Sponsored by State Sen. Eddie Rodriguez (D-Austin), the Texas Lottery Commission would get a new poker division that would permit licenses to existing pari-mutuel facilities, bingo halls and tribes. Tribes and pari-mutuels could offer poker around the clock, while bingo halls would be limited to having poker games only during normal hours of operation.

In the proposed bill, tournaments would have a suggested $100 max buy-in that would eliminate any major series from passing through the state. Also included are provisions for bad-beat and promotional jackpots.

According to the bill, operators would be taxed a mere maximum of 18 percent of gross revenues with a portion going to the Texas Department of Housing and Community Affairs to aid homeless and low-income residents of the state.

Having similar proposals in the past, Texas remains conservative to gambling interests despite the state lending its name to poker’s most popular game.

CalvinAyre.com has more.

Mad Marvin Leads European Poker Awards Nominations

The nominations for the 2013 European Poker Awards have been announced and the list is loaded with talented poker pros.

Marvin Rettenmaier, who already won the honor of 2012 European Global Poker Index Player of the Year, tops the list with nominations for Best Tournament Performance and Poker Personality of the Year.

Also receiving nods for various awards are Chris Moorman, Viktor Blom, Gus Hansen, Bertrand Grospellier, and Tony G.

Hosted by Kara Scott, who is also up for Poker Personality of the Year, the ceremony will take place at the Elysee Biarritz in Paris on Jan. 22, 2013 as part of the Euro Finals of Poker Series in the French capital. The ceremony will be sponsored by the Global Poker Index, which partnered with the European Poker Awards in the latter half of 2012.

The winners will be selected by a panel chaired by Nic Szeremeta, creator of the event. The panel will also include Stephan Gollubits, Jérôme Schmidt, Barry Carter, Joe Beevers, Alexandre Dreyfus, Michael Michelin and Jesse May.

The full list of nominations is as follows:

Rookie of the Year – Gaëlle Baumann, Lucille Cailly, Aubin Cazals, Ole Schemion

Best Tournament Performance – Davidi Kitai, Rocco Palumbo, Marvin Rettenmaier, Ole Schemion, Sam Trickett

Europe’s Leading Lady – Gaëlle Baumann, Liv Boeree, Lucille Cailly, Elisabeth Hille

Internet Player of the Year – Viktor Blom, Jens Kyllönen, Chris Moorman, Ilari Sahamies

Poker Staff Person of the Year – Dave Brannan, Nicolas Fraioli, Neil Johnson, Simon Trumper

Rob Gardner Memorial Award for the Poker Personality of the Year -
Neil Channing, Bertrand “Elky” Grospellier, Tony Guoga, Gus Hansen, Marvin Rettenmaier, Kara Scott

Best European Event of the Year – EPT Barcelona, Irish Poker Open, Prague Poker Festival, WSOPE Cannes

Read more about the event at GlobalPokerIndex.com.

PokerStars Launches Zoom Poker Tournaments

Zoom Poker tournaments are the new craze at PokerStars after the world’s leading online poker room launched a beta test of the new format on New Year’s Day.

Similar to Full Tilt Poker’s Rush Poker tables, Zoom Poker is a fast-paced poker format that allows players to play hundreds of hands per hour and (potentially) increase profits. The game plays exactly the same way as any other online cash game except for one huge difference – as soon as you fold, you are removed from the table you were seated at and placed at a new table with different players. You can fold at any point when you are facing a bet, or click “Fast Fold” to fold even when it is not your turn to act.

While Zoom tournaments are still in the developmental stage, the events offered since New Year’s Day proved to be a hit among players. As many as 12 real-money Zoom Poker tournaments are on the daily schedule throughout this week. All of them can be found in the Micro stakes tab in the PokerStars lobby.

Zoom Poker has been very popular since it launched last spring. Said Team PokerStars Pro Daniel Negreanu: “Zoom Poker offers people a different way to play poker. Recreational players, who want more constant action, will be able to fold instantly and wait for better hands, while pro grinders will be able to get in hundreds of more hands an hour and win more. On top of all that, it’s just so much fun to play!”

More Records in Macau

Macau’s casinos set more records in 2012, raking in $38 billion in gambling revenue – a 13.5 percent increase over 2011 ($33 million).

The number was boosted by a monthly revenue growth of 19.6 percent in December, a new record for the Chinese gambling mecca. According to the Macau government, the $3.43 million generated in December was the highest ever.

The Las Vegas Review-Journal reports that the $38 billion yearly figure is higher than the $35.64 billion collected by the entire U.S. commercial casino industry in 2011. Last year, Macau pulled in about 5.5 times the gaming revenue of Las Vegas.

Macau has been the home to many of poker’s biggest cash games and tournaments over the past two years. Top pros like Tom Dwan, Patrik Antonius, Gus Hansen and Sam Trickett have been regulars at the Poker King Club, playing cash games as high as HKD $30,000/$60,000 (USD $3,850/$7,700). In August 2012, Stanley Choi won the biggest-ever buy-in tournament in Asia, the $260,000 buy-in Macau High Stakes Challenge, for $6.5 million.

The Las Vegas Review-Journal has more.

PPC at Aruba

In May, the DeepStacks Poker Tour will make its first trip outside the U.S. for the 2013 DeepStacks Poker Tour Players Poker Championship at Aruba. The $2,500 Main Event will run from May 6 through 9 and boasts a $200,000 guarantee.

On Wednesday, the PPC unveiled a promo for the event:

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Check out the original source here! Originally from PokerNews.com

This time last year, PokerNews‘ No. 1 story of 2011 was Black Friday. The events of that day – April 15, 2011 – forever changed online poker; the U.S. Department of Justice unsealed a complaint against the founders of Full Tilt Poker, PokerStars, and Absolute Poker, alleging bank fraud, money laundering, and illegal gambling.

Restraining orders were issued against more than 75 bank accounts used by the online poker companies and their payment processors, while five Internet domain names used by the companies to host poker games were seized. Eleven men were indicted on charges centered around poker companies using fraudulent methods to trick U.S. banks into processing payments after the passage of Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act of 2006.

The events triggered utter chaos within the poker community. Players were locked out of their accounts. Sites were no longer available in the U.S. The future of the game was left hanging in the balance.

It’s only fitting that PokerNews’ No. 1 story of 2012 highlights major news surrounding two of the three sites involved in the Black Friday events.

Entering April 2012, it appeared that a French investment firm called Groupe Bernard Tapie (GBT) was in line to acquire the assets of the defunct Full Tilt Poker, which was no longer operating after having its license revoked by the Alderney Gaming Commission. GBT signed an acquisition agreement with FTP in September 2011, and two months later the firm reached a preliminary agreement with the U.S. Department of Justice to acquire Full Tilt Poker’s assets for $80 million.

The world waited anxiously while the complicated transaction dragged on for five months. Then, on April 24, 2012, GBT Managing Director Laurent Tapie revealed in a statement that negotiations to purchase Full Tilt Poker’s assets from the DOJ had officially ended. According to Tapie, the purchase price, along with the substantial amount of cash needed to re-launch FTP, were “too substantial to overcome.”

A deal that would have allowed for the repayment of players was dead. However, on that same day, rumors began circling that PokerStars, the world’s leading online poker room, was in discussions with the DOJ about Full Tilt Poker’s lingering assets. The rumors were confirmed later in the day by Head of Corporate Communications for PokerStars, Eric Hollreiser.

“We’ve had a lot of inquiries and there’s lots of speculation on the forums, so I wanted to address the PokerStars chatter,” Hollreiser said in a statement. “As you know, PokerStars is in settlement discussions with the U.S. Department of Justice. As such settlement discussions are always confidential, we are unable to comment on rumors. As soon as we have information to share publicly we will do so.”

On July 31, 2012, after months of negotiations, PokerStars completed a deal with the U.S. Department of Justice which allowed for the repayment of all Full Tilt Poker customers. As part of the agreement, PokerStars forfeited $547 million to the U.S. government while admitting no wrongdoing in the U.S. The company also acquired the assets of its beleaguered former rival, Full Tilt Poker, and agreed to pay the outstanding balances to all non-U.S. FTP customers – an amount totaling $184 million – within 90 days.

PokerStars also announced that the agreement allowed the company to operate real-money online poker in the U.S. under both PokerStars and Full Tilt Poker brands once the activity is legalized at a state or federal level and PokerStars receives the proper licenses.

“We are delighted we have been able to put this matter behind us, and also secured our ability to operate in the United States of America whenever the regulations allow,” said Mark Scheinberg, Chairman of the Board of PokerStars. “This outcome demonstrates our continuing global leadership of the online poker industry, and our commitment to working with governments and regulators to ensure the highest standards of protection for players.”

PokerStars had saved the day. And the response from the community was overwhelming.

“I am really excited a deal is finally done to get the players paid first and foremost, and thankful that the guys at PokerStars did the right thing and stepped up to make this happen,” Tony G told PokerNews after the deal was finalized. “It’s great to put this terrible chapter to rest.”

“It’s a great day for the game,” said poker pro Terrence Chan. “For me, I had a good amount of money tied up in (Full Tilt Poker), but not a life-changing amount. I know others did have amounts they desperately needed, though. It’s great news all around and I would expect a small renaissance in the quality of online poker games and hopefully increased turnouts in some of the major live events too once money is refunded.”

One of those players with life-changing money tied up on the site was Kansas City-based poker pro Blair Hinkle. Two months before Black Friday, Hinkle chopped the Full Tilt Poker Online Poker Series (FTOPS) XIX Main Event for $1,162,950. But despite his best efforts, he was unable to withdraw a single penny from his account before the U.S. Department of Justice seized Full Tilt Poker on April 15, 2011. More than seven figures were frozen in his account without any indication he would ever see it again.

After more than a year of waiting, Hinkle and the rest of the poker world learned the good news that all Full Tilt Poker players would be repaid.

“I just wanted to give a big thanks to PokerStars for saving all of us who had money stuck on Full Tilt,” Hinkle told PokerNews. “I tried my best not to let the rumors affect me one way or another. I did keep up with the news, but I didn’t want it to take over my life. There were a few times where I thought I wouldn’t see much, if any, of the money.”

Hinkle still has yet to see any of his money, but the repayment of around $159 million to U.S. players is expected to begin this month. The process will be handled by a third-party Claims Administrator which will be hired to obtain and evaluate information from claimants, and analyze information contained in user account records at Full Tilt Poker, before authorizing the repayment of U.S. players.

While customers in the U.S. continue to wait for their funds, PokerStars has been busy rebuilding the reputation and player pool of its new sister site. Full Tilt Poker relaunched on Nov. 6, 2012, at which point most of the world regained access to their funds. Full Tilt introduced a flashy new team of pros that includes Gus Hansen, Tom Dwan and Viktor Blom, and the site restored the popular Full Tilt Online Poker Series and a number of exciting promotions. Within hours of its relaunch, Full Tilt Poker was once again the No. 2 real-money online poker room in the world.

Online poker has gone through the mill during the past 20 months. While the industry was darkened by discouraging news in 2011, conditions seem to be improving now that money is finding its way back into the hands of players. But this story is far from finished, and pick up right where it left off in the new year.

PokerNews Top 10 Stories of 2012:
#2, Phil Hellmuth Wins Two Bracelets, Including WSOPE Main Event
#3, Howard Lederer Breaks Year-Long Silence in The Lederer Files
#4, The Big One for One Drop
#5a, Greg Merson Wins the WSOP Main Event and POY Award
#5b, Dan Smith Dominates
#7, Greg Raymer Wins Four Heartland Poker Tour Titles
#8, Marvin Rettenmaier Wins Back-To-Back WPTs and Much More
#9, Baumann and Hille Bubble WSOP Main Event Final Table
#10, Phil Ivey Returns in a Big Way

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Check out the original source here! Originally from PokerNews.com