June 21 2012, Brett Collson

Tennis champion Rafael Nadal became the newest online poker ambassador on Thursday. How often will we see Rafa at the tables? We’ll cover that story, plus big changes coming at the iPoker Network, in this edition of the Nightly Turbo.

In Case You Missed It

Was Phil Ivey finally able to win his ninth World Series of Poker bracelet on Wednesday? Find out in the Day 25 WSOP recap.

If he wins a WSOP bracelet on Thursday, Roberto Romanello would complete the Poker Triple Crown. We take a look at that story and more in Thursday’s WSOP What to Watch For.

Shawn Buchanan climbed into the top three of the Global Poker Index this week. Which superstar dropped in the rankings as a result? Mickey Doft breaks down the biggest changes in the GPI.

Looking for a fun, behind-the-scenes perspective of life at the WSOP? The Muck has daily stories from inside the Rio, so check it out!

iPoker Splitting

The iPoker Network has announced a new policy that will see the network divided into two tiers beginning in September.

iPoker is the world’s largest online poker network with more than 40 skins, each sharing the same player pool. However, under the new policy, iPoker skins which fail to meet a certain set of criteria will be downgraded to a sub-network, limiting them to a secondary liquidity pool. Beginning July 1, skins will be required to maintain a base of at least 6,000 active players, as well as 850 new real-money players per month. According to Playtech, which operates the iPoker Network, “failing to meet any of these standards will cause a separation of the card room from the network main liquidity pool.”

PokerScout.com’s online poker traffic rankings have iPoker ranked second worldwide, trailing only PokerStars. William Hill, Titan Poker, Paddy Power Poker and Bet365 are among the bigger skins residing on the network, but only time will tell whether they land in the upper tier come September.

Read more at Pokerfuse.

Poker’s New Ambassador

Spanish tennis icon Rafael Nadal is the newest member of Team PokerStars.

The seven-time French Open winner and 2008 Olympic Gold Medalist has joined Boris Becker, Fatima Moreira de Melo and Marcus Hellner on Team SportStars. Nadal will devote time to playing online at PokerStars once his tennis season slows down later this year.

“It’s no secret that I love to compete and try my very best in everything, whether that’s tennis, golf or video games,” Nadal said. “When I discovered the game of poker, I chose to join PokerStars because they understand what it takes to be the best and associate themselves with the qualities of champions. I’m very happy to be working with them.”

Nadal will no doubt serve as the front man for PokerStars’ marketing campaign in Spain. Poker was legalized in Spain earlier this month, and online poker rooms are battling for a share of the burgeoning market. Before signing Nadal, the Team PokerStars Spain roster was made up of Ana Marquez, Juan Manuel Pastor and Poli Rincon. As of Thursday, however, Nadal was listed as a United Kingdom Pro in the PokerStars lobby.

For more, read the story at PokerNews.com.

Lock Signs Felipe Ramos

Lock Poker expanded its Pro Elite team this week by adding Felipe “Mojave” Ramos, a popular poker pro from Brazil.

Ramos began playing professionally in 2008 and has since compiled more than $2.5 million in tournament cashes online and around the world at live events. Some of his highlights include a fourth place finish at the 2010 English Poker Open Main Event for more than $83,000, and a 10th place finish at the 2011 World Series of Poker $10,000 Seven Card Stud Hi/Lo Championship for more than $43,000.

Ramos joins an impressive roster of Lock Elite pros, including Annette Obrestad, Chris Moorman, Melanie Weisner, Paul Volpe, Leo Margets, Matt Stout and Eric Lynch.

“I am incredibly happy to be part of the Lock Poker family and join such a great team with the best players in the world,” said Ramos. “I started playing poker trying to follow their steps and now I have the privilege to be on their side.

Check out the Lock Pro Elite team at LockPoker.eu.

Kid Poker’s Video Blog

Daniel Negreanu’s 2012 World Series of Poker hasn’t been going well. He’s stressed out. He’s eating comfort food.

And is he losing hair?

He discusses that and more in his latest check-in from Las Vegas.

Bet on the WSOP Big One at Matchbook

Matchbook.com has launched a new media content hub where poker enthusiasts can follow their favorite players.

During the World Series of Poker and beyond, Matchbook Media will provide blogs and updates from the Matchbook pros, including Sam Trickett, Roberto Romanello, James Akenhead, Martins Adeniya and JP Kelly. The site will also provide regular columns and articles from respected poker writers “Dr.” Pauly McGuire and Jesse May, as well as many others.

To celebrate the launch of the site, Matchbook Media has introduced its first pool centered around the World Series of Poker. A special WSOP One Drop Pool will give away $5,000 to the best handicapper of the $1 million buy-in Big One for One Drop event in Las Vegas beginning July 1. The pool will consist of 12 matchups in a last-longer format, and entrants who pick the winner of each duel will have a shot at the grand prize.

Visit Matchbook Media for more details.

The Straddle

Need a short break from the long grind of the WSOP? Kristy Arnett takes a look at the lighter side of things in her third episode of The Straddle.

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

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August 10 2011, Elaine Chaivarlis

We’re here to bring you the top poker news stories of the day. Not the news about the “poker” game Bill Belichick and Rex Ryan are playing. Yes, we have football on the brain. Back to why you’re here. PokerScout has posted the online poker traffic numbers from last week and there’s been a shake up in the top three. On top of that, Haseeb Qureshi has written a blog about his involvement with Jose “Girah” Macedo. If you want to find out more, you have to keep reading.

In Case You Missed It

The Epic Poker League kicked of its first Main Event on Tuesday and the PokerNews Live Reporting Team was there to bring you all the action. The $20,000 buy-in event attracted 137 players and by the end of the day, only 63 remained.

Sometimes you’re too busy to watch TV. We understand. That’s why we watch it and bring you the recaps. ESPN continued its 2011 World Series of Poker coverage Tuesday night with the final table of the $50,000 Poker Player’s Championship.

Kristy Arnett caught up with Joe Hachem Tuesday night at the Epic Poker League Main Event to talk strategy. Hachem recounted a hand he played that day where he played the player and won the hand.

Shakin’ Up the Top Three

Last week, we told you that online poker traffic had fallen. It seems that online poker traffic is like a yo-yo, because this week, PokerScout is reporting a 1.7 percent rise in traffic for the first week of August.

PokerStars is yet again the site to beat. The site has seen a 30 percent increase in traffic since the Full Tilt Poker shutdown in June, and the online poker giant now holds over 50 percent of the worldwide online poker market. PokerStars may have a strong hold on the top spot, but the second and third spots have switched places. PartyPoker lost ground last week, allowing the iPoker Network to inch ahead and take over second place.

Five of the top ten sites saw decreases in traffic. Everest Poker also saw a decrease in traffic, falling three spots to 16th. Some sites that are moving on up include IPN, which moved up one spot to 13th and Bodog, which moved from 16th to 14th. PartyPoker.fr joined the party again and found itself in the top 20 again, in 19th place.

In the last year, PokerScout’s ACES indicator has determined that online poker traffic has decreased by 22 percent.

If you’re into numbers, there’s plenty more data where that came from over on PokerScout.com.

Qureshi Responds

We’ve told you about the Jose “Girah” Macedo dramabomb, so you know that Daniel “jungleman12″ Cates and Haseeb “INTERNETPOKERS” Qureshi were also implicated.

After the drama, CardRunners parted ways with Qureshi and released a statement saying, “Effective immediately, CardRunners has decided to part ways with Haseeb Qureshi. While Haseeb is a talented instructor, he has shown poor judgement in using a stakee’s poker account for his own play. We’ve informed Haseeb of this decision and it is final.”

Qureshi took to his blog to tell his side of the story. Yes, we know it’s TL;DR, but we read the whole thing to give you the CliffsNotes version. Qureshi admitted to playing under Macedo’s account, which resulted in Macedo’s disqualification from the BLUFF Challenge. He then goes on to detail how Macedo’s scam unfolded and what he did to break the news to the people who were scammed.

“When Jose’s Lock account got locked once we reached Gibraltar and I spoke with Jungle in person, we agreed that we should pay via bank wire to ensure that everyone involved received their funds immediately without worry. We wanted to be as amenable as we could to those who got scammed, recognizing that we were in a position of authority, and spent most of that night cursing Jose for being so f***ing stupid and working out the details with the group,” he wrote.

Read Qureshi’s entire blog at CardRunners.com.

Australian Poker Hall of Fame

The Australian Poker Hall of Fame recently announced two members of the 2011 Hall of Fame class. Leo Boxell, who just won APPT Melbourne, has over $1.1 million in winnings and is a familiar face in poker rooms around Australia.

The second member of the 2011 class of the Australian Poker Hall of Fame is tournament director Danny McDonagh. He is the first non-player to be inducted into the Australian Poker Hall of Fame. McDonagh is currently PokerStars’ director of live operations in the Asia-Pacific region.

“I’m honored to be the first administrator in the Aussie Hall of Fame alongside such select company like Joe Hachem and Jeff Lisandro. When I began my poker career as a tournament director at Crown Casino, the team was running a $1,000 event that eventually became the Aussie Millions. I mean, who would have known that it would become the international icon that it is today,” said McDonagh in a press release.

The Australian Poker Hall of Fame committee is still deciding on the rest of the 2011 HoF class. Jason Gray, Sam Khouiss, Keith Sloan, and Tino Lechich are among those being considered.

PokerNetwork.com has more on the Australian Poker Hall of Fame.

ESPN Inside Deal

ESPN’s Inside Deal is back this week with a new episode. Jon Anik, Bernard Lee, and Andrew Feldman were all together again in the Bristol studio. The three discussed the Epic Poker League, the 2011-2012 World Series of Poker Circuit, and Full Tilt Poker.

We would have embedded the video for you, but we’re not huge fans of the auto-play function. You can check out the latest Inside Deal at ESPN.com.

Are You Livin De Life?

We’d like to give a shoutout to TwoPlusTwo for this gem you’re about to watch.

According to the YouTube page, A. Samuels “is a 55-year-old casino executive with a passion for hip-hop music.”

Phil Ivey makes a cameo in the video and lyrics at around the 3:15 mark. “MJ, Ivey, Shaq, and AI, the bosses looked at me and said damn you fly.”

This not only gave us a laugh today, but also made us scratch our heads. Did this guy lose a prop bet or is he actually serious?

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