May 16 2012, Brett Collson

What do Alex Rodriguez, Matt Damon and Gabe Kaplan have in common? And where is the World Poker Tour headed next year? Find out the answers to those questions and more in this edition of the Nightly Turbo.

In Case You Missed It

Shaun Deeb won another PokerStars Spring Championship of Online Poker title on Tuesday. Get the details from his record fourth career SCOOP victory in our Day 10 recap.

The 2011-12 World Series of Poker Circuit is coming to a close. Which of the 17 stops were the best this season? Members of the PokerNews Live Reporting Team give their take.

Daniel Negreanu was back with his Weekly Rant on Wednesday. This week, Negreanu discusses the recent WSOP rule changes, the psychology of golf, and his true feelings for Jeffrey Pollack.

Hollywood Celebs Dodge Poker Court Battle

The Hollywood A-listers linked to the legal troubles of former poker buddy Bradley Ruderman can breathe a collective sigh of relief now that the case has been settled out of court.

Howard Ehrenberg, the bankruptcy trustee seeking to recoup as much as $5.2 million for investors that had been conned by Ruderman, told Celebuzz.com that all 22 defendants involved in Ruderman’s Hollywood poker game have settled for a total of $1.75 million. Among the celebs being sued by Ehrenberg were actor Tobey Maguire, film director Nick Cassavettes, and former High Stakes Poker host Gabe Kaplan.

Matt Damon, Ben Affleck, Leonardo DiCaprio and Alex Rodriguez were also rumored to be a part of the underground game but were not facing legal action. With all 22 settlements secured, details of the illegal high-stakes games will stay out of the court room.

Ruderman is serving a 10-year prison sentence for running a Ponzi scheme to pay off debts. Ruderman operated a wire-fraud and investment-adviser fraud scheme that lost investors $25 million, and then allegedly lost another $5.2 million in the high-stakes poker games trying to win the money back.

Celebuzz.com has more.

Get Ready for Season XI

The World Poker Tour unveiled the first portion of its Season XI schedule on Wednesday. In addition to nearly a dozen stops in the regular WPT slate so far, there will be at least 13 tournaments on the WPT Regional and National schedule around the globe.

Season XI kicks off in Cyprus on Aug. 4 for the WPT Merit Cyprus Classic. The tour will then make stops in Pennsylvania, California, Paris, Malta, and many other destinations in the U.S. and Europe. The 11 Main Events on the schedule thus far feature buy-ins ranging from $3,500 to $10,300.

Before Season XI kicks off, the World Poker Tour is gearing up for the WPT Championship at Bellagio this weekend. The season X finale features a $25,500 Main Event plus the $100,000 re-entry WPT Super High Roller, both of which will be televised by Fox Sports Net.

For more information on the Season XI schedule, read the article here at PokerNews.com.

Bwin.Party Poker Revenues Slump

Bwin.party’s poker revenue for the first quarter of 2012 was down 3 percent to “52.2 million from last year’s “54 million, according to a statement released by the company on Wednesday.

“The poker market remains challenging across Europe,” said co-CEOs Jim Ryan and Norbert Teufelberger. “While the number of unique players in our bingo business has started to grow again during the first quarter, this was not enough to reverse the impact of a drop in market share that took place in 2011.”

Average daily poker revenue increased by 1 percent over the previous quarter, but daily revenue fell by 4 percent from the prior year to “573,600. Average daily players dropped 15 percent year-on-year to 96,700, which the company blamed on “low value affiliates towards direct marketing”

Last week, bwin.party joined forces with an Indian Tribe to provide online poker services in California once the activity is legalized. The company has also applied for a Nevada gaming license with the Nevada Gaming Control Board following the state’s approval of online poker regulations.

“In the United States, we continue to ensure we are well-positioned should regulation take place at either a state or a federal level,” the company said in Wednesday’s statement. “In California, where we announced an agreement with United Auburn Indian Community last week, the debate over a bill to regulate intrastate online poker continues and we expect its first hearing later this month or early next.”

You can find the complete financial statement at bwinparty.com.

Duhamel Still Leading Global Poker Index Player of the Year

There were no changes in the top 10 of the Global Poker Index Player of the Year standings this week, meaning Team PokerStars Pro Jonathan Duhamel maintained the top spot for the 12th consecutive week. The award, which is presented by PokerNews, honors the player who has the strongest performance in live tournaments during the calendar year, according to the USA Today Global Poker Index point system.

Duhamel kept his lead over the rest of the world with 595.68 points, 61 points more than American pro Dan Smith, who climbed to No. 2 last week after a productive trip to Monaco for the 2012 PokerStars and Monte-Carlo® Casino EPT Grand Final. Andrew Badecker, Samuel Chartier and Bertrand Grospellier rounded out the top five in the rankings, respectively.

Faraz Jaka fell just shy of a return to the top 10. Jaka moved up 18 spots to No. 11 this week after a pair of cashes at Pokerstars IPT San Remo. Borge Dypvik (up 68 spots to No. 29), Scott Baumstein (up 51 spots to No. 35) and Igor Kurganov (up 48 spots to No. 43) were among the other big movers this week.

Here’s a look at the Top 10 of the Global Poker Index Player of the Year standings:

GPI Player of the Year Top 10

For the full GPI Player of the Year standings, head on over to EpicPoker.com.

Celebrating Greatness

Which female poker players have the credentials to join an elite group with the likes of Linda Johnson, Jen Harman, Cyndy Violette and Kathy Liebert? Well, it’s up to you to decide!

The 2012 Women in Poker Hall of Fame (WIPHOF) nominations have begun, and you can cast your selections online at the WIPHOF website. Candidates must be at least 35 years of age and an active industry leader for a minimum of 10 years. Last year’s inductees were Kristy Gazes, Margie Heintz and Phyllis Caro.

After the nomination process is finished, the induction ceremony will take place on Friday, August 31 at the Golden Nugget Casino Grand Ballroom in Las Vegas.

To make your nominations, visit womenspokerhalloffame.com.

Online Poker Traffic Report

Online poker traffic plunged by 8.2 percent last week, according to tracking site PokerScout.com. The decline was mostly because of the end of PokerStars’ 80 Billionth Hand promotion, which attracted as many as 80,000 real-money cash game players at a single time.

Not surprisingly, PokerStars took a 15 percent hit last week, but the world’s leading poker site continued its stranglehold on the competition. PokerStars has seen an 18 percent traffic increase since this time last year, an impressive feat in the wake of Black Friday. While PokerStars has thrived, No. 2 iPokerNetwork (down 6 percent) and No. 3 PartyPoker (down 20 percent) have seen falloffs since last May.

As for the year-over-year numbers worldwide, online poker traffic has declined by 18 percent over the past year. After the virtual extinction of Full Tilt Poker and the CEREUS Network, sites like 888poker (up 42 percent) and Winamax.fr (up 28 percent) have taken advantage by scooping up some of the available business.

Read the full report at PokerScout.com.

Durrrr Speak

This makes two days in a row with a Tom Dwan interview in The Nightly Turbo. But when “durrrr” speaks, the world listens. And his latest interview with the PartyPoker Blog is particularly amusing.

During the PartyPoker Premier League V in Vienna, Dwan chatted about the talents (or lack thereof) of several of his competitors, including Tony G, Erik Seidel, Bertrand Grospellier, Patrik Antonius and Luke Schwartz. We’re still anxiously awaiting a Dwan versus Schwartz heads-up-for-rolls match.

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May 11 2012, Brett Collson

Buddhist monks busted playing high-stakes poker? Yes, that actually happened this week. We’ve got that story, plus more action taken by PokerStars against third-party tracking sites, in this edition of the Nightly Turbo.

In Case You Missed It

Viktor “Isildur1″ Blom was eyeing a third SCOOP title on Thursday. Was he able to lock it up? Find out in the Day 5 SCOOP recap.

How was the high-stakes action at the PokerStars tables this week? Read the Online Railbird Report to find out the week’s biggest winners and losers.

Daniel Negreanu released his Weekly Rant on Friday. This week, Kid Poker discussed SCOOP, the World Series of Poker conference call, and more.

@AsianSpa was back with his latest blog on Friday. This week he talks about the new Palms poker room, the Iceman’s absence from the Aria cash games, and more.

To honor the return of celebrations at this summer’s WSOP, Rich Ryan listed the 10 greatest celebrations ever filmed at the WSOP. Visit The Muck to see the list.

Did you miss anything from the past week? Don’t worry, we’ve got you covered. Kristy Arnett and Sarah Grant break down all the big stories in the PokerNews Weekly.

Don’t Mess with PokerStars

PokerStars’ crackdown on third-party poker tracking websites continued this week when Sharkscope and Official Poker Rankings (OPR) complied with requests to operate only as an opt-in service for customers.

PokerFuse reports that Sharkscope and OPR have already implemented the new policy after making announcements on their websites. Both popular services have tracked online tournament results for years across a multitude of online poker rooms. PokerStars, however, has determined that the ability for players to extract information about new opponents ultimately creates an unpleasant environment, especially for the novice player. SharkScope and OPR had been using the opt-in method on a trial basis since 2009.

Earlier this year, PokerStars issued a cease and desist notice to data mining site Poker Table Ratings, which removed the profiles and statistics of all players on the site. Poker-Edge, another tracking site, followed suit a short time later.

PokerFuse has more.

European Sites Added to Belgian Blacklist

Internet service providers in Belgium have been ordered to block more online gambling providers from offering services to residents in the country.

The Belgian Gaming Commission has blacklisted Bwin, Betsson, Betfair and William Hill, along with several other operators that offer online poker and other forms of online gambling. Those providers join the likes of 888, TitanPoker, EverestPoker and ChiliPoker in being blocked in Belgium.

Under the new Belgian Gambling Act, players are only allowed to play on licensed sites, and the nation’s four largest Internet service providers are in the process of barring unauthorized domains. PartyPoker.com and iPoker, two of the biggest online poker sites in the world, have called the Gambling Act “unenforceable” because it leaves issues of taxation unresolved.

Three sites were granted licenses in February: PokerStars.be, Partouche.be and Casino777.be. PokerStars secured a license after developing a partnership with online casino operator Circus Groupe, allowing the world’s leading poker site to operate under the regulation of the Belgian Gaming Commission.

Read more at eGaming Review.

Buddhist Degens

Six monks have resigned from South Korea’s largest Buddhist sect after they were discovered drinking, smoking and playing illegal high-stakes poker in a luxury hotel last month.

The incident allegedly happened after a gathering for a fellow monk’s memorial service. Video footage of the game found its way to television stations after a fellow Jogye monk named Seongho released it to the media. Seongho told Reuters that the gambling monks played for 13 hours and wagered more than $875,000 during the poker game.

Gambling is illegal in South Korea outside of licensed casinos and racetracks. The activity is especially frowned on by religious leaders.

To our delight, The Micros shined some humor on the scandal:

Reuters has more on the story.

Eyewear for the WSOP

The World Series of Poker has extended its deal with Blue Shark Optics through 2015. The partnership allows Blue Shark to resume its role as the “Official Poker Eyewear of the WSOP.”

“We are extremely pleased to be able to extend our current sponsorship agreement with the WSOP” said Blue Shark Optics executive director Kerry Karoutsos. “Being able to extend our relationship with the WSOP is a development that our company views as a significant affirmation that we provide a quality product to the poker community.”

The Florida company manufactures eyewear designed specifically for poker and even designs sunglasses specifically for poker players. Chris Moneymaker, Hoyt Corkins, Jonathan Little and Humberto Brenes are among the players who endorse the company and its products.

For more information, visit the Blue Shark Optics website.

Isildur’s Double Duty

Viktor “Isildur1″ Blom’s second SCOOP win was uploaded to PokerStars.tv on Friday. Blom collected $160,000 after besting a tough final table that included Clark “snake8484″ Hamagami, Iulian-Georgian “Ruxandescu” Ruxandescu and Alexandre “BiatchPeople” Luneau. Here’s the recap of the action:

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