September 09 2011, Elaine Chaivarlis

Even though it was a short week for us, we couldn’t be more happy that it’s the weekend. And even though it’s Friday, there’s no shortage of news to talk about. It seems there’s another class-action lawsuit brewing for Full Tilt Poker. We’ll tell you about that, what you can expect from the World Series of Poker Europe Caesars Cup, and more.

In Case You Missed It

If you can’t wait for the Weekly Turbo, or hearing is more your speed than reading, then Sarah Grant has you covered. She covers the new EPT stop, the Epic Poker League and more in the latest edition of the PokerNews Weekly.

The World Poker Tour Grand Prix de Paris began with 61 players on Thursday, but by day’s end, the field was left with 18. Matthew Waxman led the field into Day 4 as one of two players who crossed the 1 million-chip mark.

After Thursday’s day of action at the Palms Casino in Las Vegas, the Epic Poker League Main Event was down to its final eight. Erik Seidel made his way to the final table, marking his second EPL final, but leading the way into play was David Steicke.

More bracelets were handed out on Day 5 of the PokerStars World Championship of Online Poker. Read our daily WCOOP recap to find out who added more bling to their wrists.

The high-stakes cash games on PokerStars have really been heating up the last few weeks. In this week’s edition of the Online Railbird Report, we’ll tell you which player claimed the largest pot ever recorded on PokerStars.

The first game of the 2011-2012 NFL regular season kicked off Thursday. Rich Ryan gave you his pick on that game earlier this week, but what about Sunday’s games? The Pigskin Diaries breaks it all down for you.

*Photo courtesy of WSOP.com

They’ve Been Served

Yes, we’re watching the US Open while we work on this, but unfortunately we’re not talking tennis serves. Full Tilt Poker has another class-action lawsuit on its hands. Canada’s Consumer Law Group filed a national class-action lawsuit against the online poker site on Sept. 8 in the Superior Court of Quebec. The suit was filed “on behalf of individuals who have funds being held in their Full Tilt Poker player accounts.”

According to the Montreal Gazette, CLG’s Jeff Orenstein said that “Canadian patrons could have lost anywhere from $5 to $10 million when Full Tilt shut down its online site to all players on June 29.”

Mitchell Schnurbach is the lead plaintiff in the class action suit. The Montreal Gazette is reporting that Schnurbach had between $1 to $5 in his player account. Yes, you read that right, and yes, we’re scratching our heads too.

Orenstein has been contacted by other players regarding the suit and says that one player had $250,000 in his account, while another had $10,000.

The suit needs to be approved by a Quebec judge before moving forward, and if it is, Orenstein plans to go after Full Tilt’s U.S. and Canadian assets.

If you want to contact CLG, you can do so at CLG.org, and if you want to read more, check out MontrealGazette.com.

Brat v. Bling

Over the last few days, Phil Hellmuth tweeted about his captain status in the 2011 Caesars Cup. The last Caesars Cup was held at the 2009 World Series of Poker Europe, where Annette Obrestad’s Team Europe defeated Team Americas, which was captained by Daniel Negreanu.

This time around, Hellmuth is captaining Team Americas and Bertrand “ElkY” Grospellier will be leading the charge for Team Europe. The event will take place Oct. 19 in Cannes, France, during the 2011 World Series of Poker Europe.

“Team Americas has a score to settle after what most considered a colossal upset in London,” said WSOP Executive Director Ty Stewart. “You see a real rivalry developing as European players continue to win more tournaments around the world.”

Two teams of five will battle in the no-limit hold’em tournament that will feature partner and heads-up formats. Points will be awarded for different elements and the first team to three points wins.

As for who will be on the teams, that hasn’t been decided yet. Hellmuth has tossed out some of his picks though, tweeting:

WSOP.com has more information about the Caesars Cup.

World Poker Tour Live Stream

The World Poker Tour debuted its live streaming final tables with the WPT Legends of Poker last month. On Saturday, the WPT will be live streaming again – this time from Paris. The final table of the Grand Prix de Paris will begin streaming at 1000 EDT (1500 BST) from the Aviation Club de France. Tony Dunst will host the live stream along with Roy “The Boy” Brindley.

The remaining six players will compete not only for the $701,573 first-place prize, but for a seat to the Season X WPT World Championship, entry into the WPT Champions Club, a Champion’s Cup, and Tiffany card protector.

You can catch the live stream at WorldPokerTour.com.

Internet Poker in Massachusetts?

According to MetroWestDailyNews.com, Massachusetts State Rep. Dan Winslow will “file an amendment to the Massachusetts gaming legislation to allow for Internet poker.”

The state would become the first in the U.S. to regulate Internet poker if the gaming legislation is approved. “This one, I think, is a great opportunity for Massachusetts to take the lead. No state in the country has yet enacted legislation to authorize and regulate Internet poker,” said Winslow.

Wilson pointed out that if the state regulated Internet poker, players “would have confidence that it is a fair game.”

He believes that adding Internet poker “would maximize total revenue while also expanding job creation into areas untouched by the addition of casinos and slots in the state.”

MetroWestDailyNews.com has more.

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

Follow Elaine Chaivarlis on Twitter – @LaneyLV

August 21 2011, Elaine Chaivarlis

If you’re looking for the best place to find the week’s top poker news stories, then you’ve come to the right place. Find out more about the reintroduction of NJ state senator Lesniak’s intrastate online poker bill, a new Full Tilt Poker class action lawsuit, and more.

Try Again

“If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again.”

That’s what New Jersey state Sen. Raymond Lesniak is doing. Rather than giving up after New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie vetoed his bill for intrastate online gaming, Lesniak is planning on reintroducing it.

“Both industries are dying a slow death and they need the additional revenues that online gaming will provide for them,” Lesniak said of Atlantic City casinos and horse racing.

The state senator says that online gaming would create 1,900 new jobs and tens of millions of dollars in tax revenue. According to reports, one reason Gov. Christie vetoed the bill was because he was worried that Internet cafes would pop up around the state and exploit it.

In the new version of the bill Lesniak said, “They will be strictly prohibited from doing that.”

According to NJ1015.com, the bill will be reintroduced on August 25.

Read more on Lesniak’s reintroduction on NJ1015.com.

Another Lawsuit

According to EGRMagazine.com Full Tilt Poker has another class-action lawsuit on its hands. EGRMagazine is reporting that two Canadian players, Zayn Jetha and Donald Whelan, are responsible for the suit. The two have named Ray Bitar, Nelson Burtnick and Howard Lederer, as well as Full Tilt Poker Ltd and a few other companies associated with Full Tilt Poker. Tiltware was on that list.

This lawsuit comes one month after professional poker player Todd Terry and three other plaintiffs filed a class-action lawsuit on behalf on “a nation-wide class of Full Tilt account holders residing in the United States.” That suit named both Bitar and Burtnick, but also 13 members of Team Full Tilt.

You can read more at EGRMagazine.com.

Cates Multi-Accounting

Last week, Daniel Cates was interviewed by Noah Stephens-Davidowitz and Vanessa Selbst for Subject:Poker. In the first interview with the two, Cates told Stephens-Davidowitz and Selbst that he witnessed Haseeb Qureshi playing under Jose Macedo’s account.

“No, I basically witnessed it happen. Like, I just assumed it wouldn’t really matter. In my opinion, the way multi-accounting is unethical is if there’s some sort of information that leads the…It’s difficult to explain, but basically if there’s some sort of deception involved. Deception involved where, like, some read someone has on a player but if the player is not who they are, the read will be misused. Deception like that. But if that doesn’t really happen then multi-accounting, in theory, is harmless. If that makes sense.”

Subject:Poker was then contacted by Cates’ publicist, who said Cates lied about who actually multi-accounted and that it was actually Cates. He was then interviewed again by Subject:Poker where he clarified the situation.

Listen to the interview at SubjectPoker.com.

Could Bwin Be Wynning?

On Tuesday, numerous reports were circulating that Wynn Resorts had its eye on Bwin.party. The reports were enough to shoot Bwin.party’s share prices up. Rumors are saying a possible bid could reach as high as 170p per share, according to Independent.co.uk. The rumors surrounding Bwin.party and Wynn Resorts come on the heels of speculation that buyers could come from companies closer to home, like William Hill.

This isn’t the first time Wynn Resorts has been linked to an online poker site. In March, PokerStars and Wynn Resorts announced a strategic alliance. The alliance was set to seek a license to jointly operate a U.S. online poker site, but disbanded after Black Friday.

Find out more at Independent.co.uk.

Online Poker TV Ads

With only one business-month left for the California legislature, the push is on to get Sen. Lou Correa’s Senate Bill 40 passed. The California Online Poker Association has released a series of radio and television ads asking the legislature to pass the bill that would make online poker legal and taxed in California.

With ominous music in the background, the ad says, “California is facing a real emergency. A $4 billion budget shortfall that will result in cuts to police and fire departments, health care and state schools among other. Online poker will provide California with billions of dollars including $250 million immediately, create thousands of jobs and will ensure that the state’s online poker market, the largest in the nation, won’t be taken over by Nevada and its casinos.”

The bill is opposed by other gaming tribes and they issued a letter urging the legislature not to take action.

“Even though there have been hearings on the matter of intrastate internet poker, many fiscal, legal, technical and policy related questions must be resolved before adoption of any intrastate internet gaming legislation. There are numerous stakeholders who stand to be irreparably harmed should legislation be ‘ram-rodded’ through this legislative year and this surely would be a disservice to ALL Californians, Tribal and Non-Tribal, alike,” says the letter from Robert H. Smith, Chairman of the California Tribal Business Alliance.

The Sacramento Bee has more.

Bonomo on the Move

We tried to come up with a funny Magic the Gathering anecdote about Justin Bonomo moving to Malta to continue playing online poker, but we know nothing about MTG. However, this is the perfect story to link to our favorite video about Malta.

Back to the story at hand. According to his Facebook page, Justin Bonomo is moving to Malta. He’s hoping to be settled in time to check out the World Poker Tour stop in Malta on Sept. 20.

Bonomo is one of quite a few professional poker players who have decided to move from the U.S. to continue playing online poker. Phil Galfond, Vanessa Selbst, Jon Aguiar, and Supernova Elite Mike “MeleaB” Brooks are among those who have made the move.

EPT President Appointed

Global Poker Tours Limited, the poker tour production company behind the PokerStars European Poker Tour, on Thursday announced that the PokerStars EPT appointed Edgar Stuchly president.

According to the press release, Stuchly will “act as an official spokesperson of the EPT, helping refine the vision for the tour, working to further improve the customer experience for the many thousands of players from around the world who participate in the events, and growing the brand across more countries in Europe.”

“The EPT is the richest and most prestigious poker tour in Europe, and I’m delighted to be joining a much-loved and well-run live tour,” said Stuchly. “The goal now is to take the EPT to another level, in terms of improving the experience for players and expanding the tour into burgeoning poker markets in Europe. It’s a big challenge but one that I’m relishing.”

Stuchly is the former head of poker for Casinos Austria. During his four-year tenure there, he managed poker rooms at 12 casinos, founded the Casinos Austria Poker Tour, and managed the European Poker Championships.

“Edgar’s extensive live poker experience and vision for the EPT eased his appointment significantly. I’m sure that players, fans and anyone connected to the EPT will feel the benefits of his leadership over the coming months and years,” EPT chairman John Duthie said.

Find out more at PokerStarsBlog.com.

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