December 19 2011, Brett Collson

On Monday, PokerStars announced the creation of a new tournament series that will leave online grinders drooling all over their keyboard next month. The Turbo Championship of Online Poker (TCOOP) will kick off on Jan. 19, 2012, and will feature 50 events with a variety of different games in a fast-paced turbo blind structure. The series will conclude on Sunday, Jan. 29, with a $700 buy-in Main Event followed by a $215 Hyper-Turbo “Wrap Party” event.

Buy-ins for the inaugural TCOOP range from $5 all the way to the $2,100 High Roller, which will also take place on Sunday, Jan. 29. Players can find at least four tournaments each day until the series’ completion.

Here’s a look at the full schedule of the Turbo Championship of Online Poker:

Thursday, Jan. 19, 2012
Event 1: $22 NL Hold’em [6-Max]
Event 2: $33 NL Omaha Hi/Lo
Event 3: $134 NL Hold’em [Knockout]
Event 4: $33 NL Hold’em

Friday, Jan. 20, 2012
Event 5: $22 PL Draw
Event 6: $55 NL Hold’em [6-Max, Shootout]
Event 7: $22 NL Hold’em [Rebuys]
Event 8: $55 NL Hold’em [Big Antes, 2x Chance]

Saturday, Jan. 21, 2012
Event 9: $55 PL Omaha [Knockout]
Event 10: $21 NL Hold’em [Rebuys, 3x-Turbo]
Event 11: $109 NL Hold’em [Heads-Up]
Event 12: $33 Triple Stud
Event 13: $33 TCOOP Special – Saturday Speedway

Sunday, Jan. 22, 2012
Event 14: $55 NL Omaha Hi/Lo [6-Max, 2R1A]
Event 15: $55 NL Hold’em [6-Max, Hyper-Turbo]
Event 16: $55 NL Hold’em [Knockout]
Event 17: $109 NL Hold’em [1R1A]
Event 18: $22 PL Omaha [6-Max, Rebuys, 2x Turbo]
Event 19: $215 TCOOP Special – Sunday Supersonic [Hyper-Turbo]

Monday, Jan. 23, 2012
Event 20: $55 PL Omaha [6-Max, 1R1A]
Event 21: $44 NL Hold’em [4-Max]
Event 22: $82 FL Omaha Hi/Lo
Event 23: $153 NL Hold’em [6-Max, Hyper-Turbo]

Tuesday, Jan. 24, 2012
Event 24: $109 PL Omaha Hi/Lo [6-Max]
Event 25: $215 NL Hold’em
Event 26: $22 Stud
Event 27: $22 NL Hold’em [Rebuys, 2x-Turbo]

Wednesday, Jan. 25, 2012
Event 28: $82 NL Hold’em [2x Chance]
Event 29: $109 NL Hold’em [Shootout]
Event 30: $11 PL Omaha [6-Max, Rebuys, 3x Turbo]
Event 31: $22 Stud Hi/Lo

Thursday, Jan. 26, 2012
Event 32: $33 NL Hold’em
Event 33: $55 NL Hold’em [Rebuys, 2x-Turbo]
Event 34: $22 Stud
Event 35: $215 NL Hold’em [2x Chance]

Friday, Jan. 27, 2012
Event 36: $82 NL Hold’em [6-Max]
Event 37: $55 PL Omaha [6-Max, 2R1A]
Event 38: $55 NL Hold’em [Ante Up!]
Event 39: $109 FL Hold’em [6-Max]

Saturday, Jan. 28, 2012
Event 40: $109 HORSE
Event 41: $109 PL Omaha [Heads-Up]
Event 42: $33 NL Hold’em [Rebuys, 2x Turbo]
Event 43: $109 NL Omaha Hi/Lo [6-Max, Hyper-Turbo]
Event 44: $33 TCOOP Special – Saturday Speedway

Sunday, Jan. 29, 2012
Event 45: $109 NL Hold’em
Event 46: $215 NL Hold’em
Event 47: $2,100 NL Hold’em [High Roller]
Event 48: $320 8-Game
Event 49: $700 NL Hold’em Main Event
Event 50: $215 TCOOP Wrap Party [Hyper-Turbo]

For full information, including a schedule of satellites to each event, visit the Turbo Championship of Online Poker web site.

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December 07 2011, Brett Collson

The end of an era is upon us. The Game Show Network has released its lineup of shows for the 2012 season, and High Stakes Poker is nowhere to be found. Good news, though, GSN will begin syndicating Dancing With the Stars beginning next year. Fist pump!

We’ll bring you more on that story, as well as the latest stance taken by Las Vegas Sands CEO Sheldon Adelson, in this edition of the Nightly Turbo.

In Case You Missed It

What does it feel like to win your first World Series of Poker bracelet. Tristan Wade explains his experience in the latest edition of My First.

Anas Tadini won the “1,200 Main Event at PokerStars France Poker Series Sunfest Mazagan in Morocco. Get all the details in our tournament recap.

The World Poker Tour is celebrating its 10th Anniversary this week at the Five Diamond World Poker Classic. Defending champ Antonio Esfandiari got out of the gate quickly, and Vanessa Selbst led the way after Day 1.

Poker players (and writers) spend a lot of time staring at their computer screens. Lynn Gilmartin takes a look at the ways you can avoid Computer Vision Syndrome in the latest Stay Stacked series.

Sands CEO Opposes Online Poker

According to Jon Ralston of the Las Vegas Sun, Las Vegas Sands CEO Sheldon Adelson is opposed to legalizing online poker, putting him in the vast minority of Nevada casino operators who believe Congress should license and regulate poker on the Internet.

Adelson told the American Gaming Association that he is “morally opposed” to web gaming. A source told Ralston that Adelson believes the technology to prevent minors from logging on to an online poker site is untested, and the issue will be an “unnecessary distraction” in 2012.

Adelson’s sudden stance differs greatly from his views of online poker earlier this year. An August article in the New York Post stated that Adelson was in full support of online poker at the federal level, telling a source that he saw the move as a “window of opportunity to grow sales.”

The Las Vegas Sands Corporation owns and operates properties such as The Venetian and The Palazzo on the Las Vegas Strip.

For more, read Ralston’s blog at the Las Vegas Sun.

GSN Removes High Stakes Poker from 2012 Schedule

It appears GSN’s High Stakes Poker is the latest victim of Black Friday. The popular cash game will not return for an eighth season according to a report by BuzzerBlog.com, which revealed that High Stakes Poker is not included in the network’s 2012 schedule.

High Stakes Poker initially survived Black Friday in April 2011 as it continued airing on GSN for its seventh season. However, ratings plummeted with new host Norm MacDonald and a diluted lineup of players and businessmen, and a large amount of advertising was lost from PokerStars and Full Tilt, which pulled their presenting sponsorships brand integrations from the program.

HSP now joins the likes of Fox’s PokerStars Big Game and NBC’s National Heads-Up Poker Championship and Poker After Dark as Black Friday casualties. It will be replaced by Catch 21 and Lingo in the 3 a.m. Saturday slot on GSN, in case you’re interested.

For nostalgia’s sake, here’s one of our all-time favorite hands from High Stakes Poker:

Read more at BuzzerBlog.com.

AGCC Launches Independent Review of Full Tilt Poker Debacle

The Alderney Gaming Control Commission has announced it will be launching an independent external review of its processes leading up to the suspension and eventual revocation of licenses owned by Full Tilt Poker. The upcoming review will be conducted by former Chairman of the British Gambling Commission Peter Dean, who will focus on the “appropriateness, timeliness and fairness of the actions undertaken” by the AGCC.

The AGCC says the decision has been taken to provide full transparency of the actions taken against Full Tilt Poker, which had its license revoked on Sept. 29, 2011, and still owes as much as $330 million to customers.

“As soon as we became aware that there were possible irregularities in relation to FTP’s operational integrity AGCC acted to discharge fully our statutory obligations,” said André Wilsenach, AGCC’s executive director. “We believe we acted appropriately and fairly at all times but, following our own internal assessment and the inevitable questions that have been raised by third parties, the Commission decided that it is in the best interests of players, license holders and AGCC itself to commission an independent review and to make the outcome public.”

Get more on the story at PokerNews.com.

Online Poker Traffic Report

The online poker traffic numbers from last week have been released. PokerScout.com reported a worldwide increase of 1.3 percent as all of the top 10 sites saw traffic growth over the previous week.

PokerStars has been the place to be in December with the celebration of its 10th Anniversary. The site broke its own Guinness World Record on Sunday by drawing 200,000 players for a single tournament, and has several promotions planned for the next couple weeks. Sunday’s traffic rise was evident as PokerStars hit a peak of nearly 54,000 cash-game players, which was 25 percent higher than the previous Sunday.

Bodog had climbed all the way to No. 11 in last week’s rankings, but the site released a software update last week that resulted in a few lost days of traffic data. The update features Bodog’s new anonymous poker tables, and PokerScout’s early indications are that traffic has been largely unaffected since the poker room introduced the update.

As for year-over-year numbers, PokerScout’s ACES indicator reports that online poker traffic (with the exception of Italy) has decreased by29 percent over last year. Aside from the disappearance of Full Tilt Poker and the CEREUS Network, the Entraction Network (down 45%) and the International Poker Network (down 38%) have also seen significant drops since November 2010. The biggest climbers in the past year are 888poker (up 77%), Bodog (up 76%), and the Merge Gaming Network (up 71%).

Get the full report at PokerScout.com.

Day 2 Ends at EPT Prague

The largest-ever poker tournament in the Czech Republic is being held right now at the PokerStars.com European Poker Tour Prague Main Event. Between the two Day 1 flights, 722 players took to the felt but only 136 survived Day 2 on Wednesday. The winner will take home “775,000 when the tournament comes to a close on Saturday, Dec. 10.

Garri Tevosov was the overall leader after Day 2, and poker pros Mads Wissing, Rupert Elder, Chris Moorman, Ari Engel and Jude Ainsworth were among the leaders when players bagged their chips.

Day 3 will resume at 1200 CET (0300 PST). Here’s a look at the top 10 stacks heading into the day:

European Poker Tour Prague Top 10 Chip Counts

The PokerNews Live Reporting Team is providing up-to-the-minute updates for all of the action in Prague.

Qualify for the Aussie Millions

The 2012 Aussie Millions is a little more than a month away, and there are still several ways to qualify for one of the biggest events of the year. The Main Event runs from Jan. 22 to Jan. 28, 2012, leaving lots of time to win a tournament package worth as much as $16,000.

Crown Poker, which hosts the Aussie Millions each year, is offering a handful of different avenues to the Main Event: a direct entry event, a “Fast Track Satellite, a $550 Deepstack qualifier, or a Phase 3 Supershot Satellite. With the Phase 3 qualifiers, players can parlay a $65 Phase 1 buy-in into a Main Event seat by advancing through each of the steps.

Online players can also win Main Event seats at PokerStars, PartyPoker, 888poker, Titan Poker, Mansion Poker, Winner Poker, and Poker770. Satellites are running for as little as $2, and some sites are even offering the chance to win a package via freeroll!

Learn more about the satellites to the 2012 Aussie Millions at PokerNews.com.

You Know What They Say About Opinions?

PokerNews’ Kristy Arnett caught up with Lex Veldhuis to get his take on the fighting skills of Bertrand “ElkY” Grospellier, taking shots at the bar, and more.

Are you following PokerNews on Twitter? Like us on Facebook while you’re at it, and sign up for the newsletter. You know you want to.

Follow Brett Collson on Twitter – @brettcollson

December 01 2011, Brett Collson

The high-stakes action in Macau has been the talk of the poker world this week, but rumors of a $100 million tournament in Macau were killed by a reputable source on Thursday. Meanwhile, a study on Internet poker was issued in Iowa, and ESPN released its latest edition of The Nuts. Read about those stories and more in the Nightly Turbo.

In Case You Missed It

On Dec. 17, Phil Hellmuth will host the 2nd Annual Hellmuth’s Hold’em with Agrace HospiceCare. Here’s a look at what the charity tournament is all about.

In a span of two months, poker pro Kane “Nascar_1949″ Kalas went from playing $.50/$1 cash games to becoming a regular at $25/$50. Kristy Arnett spoke with the “Poker Phenom” about about playing small pocket pairs in six-max no-limit hold’em cash games in the latest Strategy with Kristy Podcast.

The Global Poker Index released its rankings as of Nov. 28. The top 10 remained unchanged, but Bertrand “ElkY” Grospellier is closing in on the top spot.

Iowa Study Could Open Door for Intrastate Online Poker

On Thursday, a study issued by the Iowa Racing and Gaming Commission (IRGC) outlined several ways the state could set up and regulate the online poker in the state. The report was requested by the Iowa legislature last session to determine the practicality and potential income Internet poker could generate for the state.

The objective of the report was to give the legislature information to work with if it ultimately decided to set up an online poker infrastructure in the next session. For example, based on the projections of the IRGC, approximately $13 million to $60 million in rake was paid annually by Iowa online poker players before Black Friday. Assuming a tax rate of 22 percent, the projections indicate approximately $3 million to $13 million in potential tax revenue for the state annually, according to the IRGC.

The commission also examined the different systems that could be put in place to offer an intrastate platform. The IRGC consulted with several experts to discuss measures and controls for online poker, including age verification, geo-location and money laundering. It also spoke with Iowa Lottery officials to get a perspective from lottery interests of internet poker regulation.

In March, a state Senate committee approved a bill designed to make online poker legal in Iowa. However, lawmakers weren’t in complete agreement over the bill and requested the IRGC produce a report for the bill to be amended.

The full IRGC study can be found at Iowa.gov.

ESPN’s The Nuts

The latest edition of ESPN’s The Nuts was released Wednesday. The monthly blog post ranks the best poker players in the world at the moment. The 10-person panel includes PokerNews’ Editor in Chief Elaine Chaivarlis, PokerNews’ Tournament Reporting Manager Don Peters, ESPN’s Andrew Feldman, Gary Wise, and Bernard Lee, among others.

Team PokerStars Pro Jason Mercier held the No. 1 spot for the sixth straight month as he was given six of the 10 first-place votes from the panel. Erik Seidel, who went all of November without cashing in a tournament, landed at No. 2 having earned three first-place votes. Eugene Katchalov and Ben Lamb were ranked third and fourth, respectively. Lamb gained no ground on the top three despite finishing third in the World Series of Poker Main Event.

The biggest mover in the top 10 was Sam Trickett, who shifted five spots to No. 5 after a win at the Partouche Poker Tour for $1.3 million. Trickett now has more than $4.2 million in winnings in 2011 and recently passed David “Devilfish” Ulliott as Britain’s all-time money earner in live poker tournaments.

Trickett’s friend and fellow UK pro Chris Moorman picked up the final first-place vote and was seventh on the list, up two spots from last week. Moorman recently became the first player ever to surpass $7.5 million in online tournament earnings and added some more big scores to his total in November.

If you want to find out what the rest of the list looks, check it out at ESPN.com.

World’s Richest Poker Tournament = Publicity Grab

In Wednesday’s Nightly Turbo, we brought you a story about a rumored $100 million poker tournament in the works in Macau. We were skeptical right off the bat. Are 500 people going to put up $200,000 each to play a tournament when the Super High Roller events at the PCA and Aussie Millions barely reached 30 entrants?

Our doubts were confirmed on Thursday when Tom Hall, CEO of Asia Logic (which owns and operates the Asia Poker Tour), posted his thoughts on TwoPlusTwo.com:

“This to me seems to be utter garbage. Nobody sensible I know in Macau knows anything about it. None of the casinos, poker room managers, big game players, junket room operators or media guys has heard anything credible. You also have to get any poker event approved by the DICJ (Macau regulator) in conjunction with the hosting casino. Also, as gambling on TV is highly restricted in China and promotion of gaming generally frowned upon, why would Chinese institutions support it. Publicity grab.”

There you have it. It doesn’t appear this will ever get off the ground. It’s a shame, too, because we were looking forward to hearing Daniel Negreanu’s thoughts on the winner of the event taking over first place on poker’s all-time money list.

Check out the entire thread at TwoPlusTwo.

Estrellas Poker Tour Returns for Season 3

Concerns about the future of the Estrellas Poker Tour were eased this week as PokerStars announced the return of the popular Spanish tour for a third season. There were worries that the tour would be cut because of the adoption of new online gambling regulations in Spain, but all doubts were dispelled with the release of the 2012 schedule on Tuesday.

Season 3 will feature five stops across Spain, kicking off in Madrid in January and culminating with the Grand Final in Barcelona in August. Each venue will host a “1,000 + “100 Main Event and a full schedule of side events.

Said Team PokerStars Spain Pro Ana Marquez: “I’ve only played a few Estrellas, because so far my career has focused on the U.S. Tour, but whenever I’ve taken part I’ve enjoyed playing against good players. So I look forward to the beginning of the third season, which will be the first whole season I play, and I’m hoping for some good results!”

Players can qualify for the Estrellas Poker Tour events in online satellites at PokerStars.com. Learn more by reading the PokerStars blog.

PokerStars 10th Anniversary e-Magazine

In celebration of its 10th anniversary, PokerStars has released an e-magazine looking back at the past 10 years of the world’s largest poker site. The e-magazine is available in six languages and is packed with stories, interviews from players and people who have worked at PokerStars through the years.

We were especially impressed by the look and feel of the online mag, and the stories are a must-read for anyone who’s played at PokerStars in the past decade. One story in particular that made us chuckle involved one-time poker room manager Lee Jones ordering pizzas to be delivered to players at a PokerStars high-stakes limit hold’em game because he was afraid they weren’t leaving their seats to get food.

You can download the PokerStars e-magazine at the PokerStars Blog.

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