September 15 2011, Elaine Chaivarlis

We’re at it again, just like we are every day of the week (well Monday through Friday, not counting holidays). We look for the news so you don’t have to. In this edition of the Nightly Turbo, we’re bringing you an update from the Partouche Poker Tour. Not only that, but we’ll tell you which German state has legalized online poker, and more.

In Case You Missed It

Thinking about relocating so that you can continue to play online poker? Having a problem figuring out where you want to go? In our latest edition of Packing Up to Play, we give you the scoop pubs, fish and chips, the Queen – or London, England.

If you want to better your pot-limit Omaha game, we suggest getting tips from the pros. Oh look! In the newest Strategy with Kristy podcast, Lex Veldhuis discusses pot-limit Omaha. It must be your lucky day.

The 2011 PokerStars World Championship of Online Poker is trucking right along and has officially reached the halfway point. On Day 11, three bracelets were handed out, but to find out to who, you’re going to have to read our daily WCOOP recap.

The Global Poker Index released its rankings for the week ending Sept. 12. It’s not the same old song and dance this week! There’s a new GPI No. 1.

In the Money

Every day we sift through the Partouche Poker Tour blog, it’s like a French lesson for us – except it’s not really. We just look for words that look like English words and cross our fingers.

On Day 3 of the Partouche Poker Tour, 100 players took their seats in the hopes of making the money (only 63 would), and positioning themselves for a run at the final table. By the end of the day, 47 players remained.

Freddy Deeb and Arnaud Mattern were eliminated in 62nd and 60th place respectively, and each earned “12,000.

Remaining in the field and heading on to Day 4 are Joe Cassidy, Juha Helppi, and Tristan Clemencon. Sam Trickett also made it to Day 4, bagging 535,500 in chips. That puts him in the 10th spot on the chip leaderboard. Ludovic Lacay bagged up the second biggest stack in the room, with 771,700, and sits just behind Juan Maceiras who is leading the Day 4 charge with 800,000.

PartouchePokerTour.com has more updates from the event.

German State Legalizes Online Poker

Germany has 16 states, or Länder. One of them, Schleswig-Holstein, recently passed legislation that will legalize and regulate online poker.

The new legislation allows for betting exchange, sports books, poker and all casino games except roulette, blackjack, and baccarat, according to eGaming Review. The law will go into effect Jan. 1, 2012, and licenses will be valid beginning March 1. The state will also impose a 20 percent tax on gross profits.

After the news, Befair released a statement saying, “Schleswig-Holstein’s new online gambling treaty is a welcome piece of legislation geared towards creating a genuinely open, transparent and responsible online gambling market in Germany. We are pleased that it has today passed through the state parliament and we look forward to applying for a license to operate there.”

“We are now hopeful that the other 15 German states will make the required amendments to their proposed State Treaty, in order to bring it into line with EU law and with the law passed in S-H today,” it continued. “Betfair is committed to participating in the online gambling market in Germany, ready and willing to pay taxes there and offer German consumers competitive, innovative and safe products.”

Read more at EGRMagazine.com.

Gut Für Bwin.Party

Speaking of Schleswig-Holstein’s new online poker legislation, it wasn’t just good for poker players in the Länder, it was good for bwin.party’s stock. According to the Wall Street Journal, after the announcement that Schleswig-Holstein approved online gambling legislation, bwin.party’s stock rose 12 percent.

Ivor Jones, an analyst at Numis, believes the “Schleswig Holstein move greatly reduces the regulatory risk to bwin.party, which generates 22 percent of its revenues in Germany.”

In a note to clients, Numis said, “At best this represents the opening up of Germany to online gaming, in due course, on reasonable commercial terms. At worst it will greatly delay the introduction of a more restrictive regime.”

If you want to read more, you can do so at Online.WSJ.com.

Former FBI Director Joins FairPlayUSA

FairPlayUSA announced Thursday that former FBI director Louis Freeh had joined its advisory board.

“Current federal laws fail to provide U.S. law enforcement vital tools to address illegal internet gambling, enabling a ‘wild-west’ atmosphere,” Freeh said. “I am joining FairPlayUSA to improve this environment by clarifying these laws, better empowering law enforcement agencies to crack down on violators and using licensing and regulation to ensure safe and legal online poker.”

Freeh joins professional poker players Mike Sexton and Greg Raymer, Internet safety expert Parry Aftab, and former Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge on the advisory board.

FairPlayUSA is a grassroots coalition that has set out to educate the public and policymakers about online poker.

“States and tribes have rights that must be protected by authorizing them to decide for themselves whether to accept or prohibit online poker and make use of sophisticated technologies already in use in other industries to enforce those decisions,” said Tom Ridge.

Read the press release for more.

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

Follow Elaine Chaivarlis on Twitter – @LaneyLV

September 13 2011, Elaine Chaivarlis

If you’ve made your way here, you were in search of the top poker news stories of the day. And what do you know, you found them! Reports are surfacing about a Las Vegas casino opening an online poker site. We’ll give you the skinny on that, tell you who is the newest member of Team PokerStars Online, and more.

In Case You Missed It

Last week, Congress returned to session after a month off. During the recess, members of the Poker Players Alliance reached out to its representatives to discuss online poker legislation.

Joel Adam “2FLY2TILT” Gordon is having a pretty good WCOOP. On Day 9 of the PokerStars World Championship of Online Poker, Gordon final-tabled yet another event, bringing his total final tables throughout the series to three.

In this week’s edition of Five Thoughts, Rich Ryan took a look back at his 2011 predictions. He pretty much failed miserably, except for his thoughts on Michael “Timex” McDonald.

With two regular season Epic Poker League Main Events in the books, and two left, you’re probably wondering who has positioned himself for a run at the $1 million freeroll at the end of the year. Here’s a look at the EPL’s top 27 money earners through the first two events.

Before you know it, November will be here and you’ll be railing the PokerNews Live Reporting page trying to figure out which 2011 November Niner outlasted the rest. Leading up to November, we’ll be talking to the members of the 2011 November Nine to find out how they’re preparing and what’s on their schedules – up first is Sam Holden.

South Point Going Online

According to GamingToday.com, South Point Casino owner Michael Gaughan is launching an online poker site in the “next couple of weeks.” The site will be a free-play poker site on the ZEN Entertainment network.

“This is an experiment for me,” Gaughan told GamingToday. “I’m just getting my feet wet but I expect that down the line I am going to be applying for an intrastate license.”

Las Vegas-based ZEN Entertainment has also partnered with Jamie Gold for his new online poker site, the UFC’s online poker site. If you recall, the UFC is owned by Lorenzo and Frank Fertitta, who also own Station Casinos. See the connection?

Will these free-for-play online poker sites be popping up more frequently? With land-based casinos attached to them? Only time will tell.

Read more at GamingToday.com.

Sporting the Red Spade

Even though the Team PokerStars Pro roster may be getting lighter, the Team PokerStars Online roster just added a heavy hitter. Mickey “mement_mori” Petersen is the newest member of Team PokerStars Online.

Petersen, much like David Williams and Justin Bonomo, got into poker after playing Magic: The Gathering. Can someone get us one of those decks? Maybe we’ll get better at poker if we start playing MTG.

“I see signing with world’s biggest online site as the next logical step in my career and hopefully I’ll be able to build on my resume live as well as online and promote both PokerStars and the game in a positive light,” said Petersen.

It didn’t take long to add to his resume. The newly minted member of Team PokerStars Online final tabled WCOOP Event #24 on Monday night, and finished in third place, good for $10,868.25.

The PokerStars Blog has more.

Saab Gets Booked

In January, we told you that David Saab was busted in Australia for attempting to import 21 kilograms (~46 pounds) of cocaine. Saab, along with Francis Hughes and Robert Reemus tried to smuggle the cocaine in a shipment of steel machine parts that were boated in from Vancouver.

On Tuesday, it was reported that the three men were given a combined 30-year jail sentence after pleading guilty. Reemus and Hughes were given eight-year jail sentences with a minimum of five years. Judge Liz Gaynor sentenced Saab to a 10-year minimum sentence and pointed him out as the “chief organizer of the operation,” noting that he stood to gain $110,000 for the shipment.

According to the Herald Sun, Gaynor told Saab “the ‘illusory world you have constructed for yourself’ had been shattered by his arrest, as had his ‘delusions of wealth.’”

Find out more about the sentencing at HeraldSun.com.au.

Partouche Poker Tour Day 1b

Day 1b of the Partouche Poker Tour kicked off on Tuesday with 333 players. Combined with the 244 from Day 1a, the total field topped out at 577, meaning 63 players will be paid out with first place pocketing “1 million.

Joe Cassidy, Arnaud Mattern, Vanessa Selbst, Alex Kravchenko, Ludovic Lacay, and Max Lykov all made it through Day 1a and will be playing on Wednesday’s Day 2.

As for Day 1b notables, the field was stacked. Phil Hellmuth, Jason Mercier, Chino Rheem, Phil Collins, Joseph Cheong, Leo Margets, Jennifer Tilly, David Williams, Freddy Deeb, Phil Laak, Michael Mizrachi, Antonio Esfandiari, and Michael Tureniec were all in the field.

We would like to bring you more updates from the event, but we took Spanish in high school and struggled to bring you the above. (Luckily, the names were easily identifiable.)

We’ll leave you with this interview with David Williams.

If you want to check out the updates, you can do so at PartouchePokerTour.com.

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

Follow Elaine Chaivarlis on Twitter – @LaneyLV

September 07 2011, Elaine Chaivarlis

Nick Diaz was slated to fight Georges St. Pierre in October but after not appearing at the press conference held in Las Vegas on Wednesday, he might just suffer the same fate that three PokerStars sponsored players did. We’ve learned that the Team PokerStars Pro roster has gotten a little lighter. We’ll tell you who’s no longer wearing the red spade, what the online poker traffic numbers are looking like, and more in this edition of the Nightly Turbo.

In Case You Missed It

On Tuesday, the Epic Poker League Main Event #2 concluded with 51 players remaining of the 96 who entered. Jamie Kaplan received his seat in the EPL Main Event through a twist of fate and rode that luck to the top of the chip counts on Day 1.

The World Poker Tour Grand Prix de Paris held Day 1b of the “7,500 buy-in Main Event on Tuesday. Topping the field on Day 1b was Guillame Darcourt.

In the latest PokerNews Podcast, Rich Ryan, Donnie Peters and Elaine Chaivarlis discuss the top poker headlines of the week. Tony Dunst then joins the program to discuss the World Poker Tour and more.

On Day 3 of the PokerStars World Championship of Online Poker, two champions were crowned. Who walked away with WCOOP glory and which players are on to Day 2 of Event #9? Find out in our daily WCOOP recap.

Did you miss ESPN’s coverage of the World Series of Poker and your DVR was full of Real Housewives episodes so it didn’t record? Bummer. Lucky for you, that didn’t happen to us and we can bring you this recap of the action.

The Culinary Union has a beef with the UFC. We’ll tell you what’s up with that, which casino in downtown Las Vegas reopened and more in the latest edition of Inside Gaming.

We know how taxing the grind of the live tournament circuit can be. In our most recent Stay Stacked series, we spoke with Jesse McKenzie to find out how he stays focused and healthy on the road.

Not on the Team

We don’t check the Team PokerStars Pro roster every day, and we’re sure you don’t either, but a quick look today will show you that a few players are missing.

It seems that Dennis Phillips, Tom McEvoy, and Bill Chen are no longer on the Team PokerStars Pro roster – or there’s a pretty big computer glitch going on.

We’re not going to speculate on who’s decision it was, or why the three players are no longer on the roster. This was just an observation, and now we’re passing along the information.

There has been no comment has been made (that we’re aware of) from either of the players – or PokerStars.

Numbers, Numbers, Numbers

Another week has gone by, so we’re bringing you a look at the latest online poker traffic numbers from PokerScout. The number wizards at PokerScout reported that overall traffic saw a 0.6 percent decrease for the week of Aug. 29.

PokerStars may have a stranglehold on the top spot of the traffic report, but the site saw a decrease in traffic for the same week last year. Traffic for the online poker giant fell 2.4 percent, after a gain of 1.8 percent in the same week last year, according to PokerScout.

The Merge Gaming Network has been knocked out of the top 10 with a 5 percent traffic decrease. PokerScout reports that with Merge being out of the top 10, this is only the second time in online poker history that the list of top 10 sites has not included a U.S.-facing site.

Merge may be out of the top 10 in the latest reports, but year-over-year the site has seen a 62 percent increase in traffic. Bodog (up 55 percent), 888poker (up 124 percent) and the iPoker Network (up 22 percent) have all seen increases in their year-over-year traffic. As a whole however, online poker traffic has decreased 26 percent year-over-year.

PokerScout.com has the recent online traffic numbers, as well as an updated look at current numbers.

BPA Results

The British Poker Awards were held over the weekend, and we’re sure you were wondering which one of your favorites walked away with awards. Jake Cody won both awards he was nominated for and was the only multiple-award winner. And even though these were the British Poker Awards, Jason Mercier managed to walk away with a win, as well. #whenwillitend

Best International Player: Jason Mercier
Best Tournament Player: Jake Cody
Best Cash Player: Sam Trickett
Best Mixed Game Player: Richard Ashby
Best Pot-Limit Omaha Player: JP Kelly
Best Online Player: Chris Moorman
Best Poker Forum: TwoPlusTwo
Best Blogger: Neil Channing’s Blackbelt Poker Blog
Best Social Media User: Vicky Coren
Best Poker League: Champions Poker League
Poker Personality of the Year: Kara Scott
Outstanding Contribution to Poker: John Duthie
Best Breakout Player: Matt Perrins
Lifetime Achievement Award: Roy Houghton
Player of the Year: Jake Cody

Read more at UK.PokerNews.com.

Third Annual Queen City Shootout

If you’re in Charlotte, North Carolina, in October, you may not want to miss this charity poker event. The Third Annual Queen City Shootout will be held at Whisky River on Oct. 12. Wondering what Whisky River is? We were too. It’s a bar owned by NASCAR driver Dale Earnhardt Jr. that mixes “two ounces of rock and roll, an ounce of country, and a splash of southern hospitality.”

The Queen City Shootout charity poker tournament will benefit the Juvenile Diabetes Research Fund. On top of the charity poker tournament, a live auction will be held to benefit the Alexander Youth Network, an organization that “provides quality professional treatment to children with serious emotional behavioral challenges.”

For those who wish to attend, individual and spectator tickets go on sale Sept. 12. This could be your shot to not only help children in need, but to rub elbows with NFL players and NASCAR drivers and win a seat to the 2012 World Series of Poker Main Event.

To find out more, check out QueenCityShootout.com.

The Future of Moneybookers

We know EPT London isn’t until the end of the month, but we don’t like to wait until the last minute to make plans and we don’t want you to either. Last month we told you that Skrill, the new name of Moneybookers, became an official sponsor of the PokerStars European Poker Tour. While in Barcelona, Kristy Arnett caught up with Skrill’s spokespersons shown here to get the scoop on the company, the last-longer bets, and what to expect from Skrill at EPT London.

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

Follow Elaine Chaivarlis on Twitter – @LaneyLV