Lawmakers in California and New Jersey are hoping to making progress with online poker bills next week. We’re covering those stories and more in this edition of the Nightly Turbo.

In Case You Missed It

The Full Tilt Online Poker Series (FTOPS) continued on Wednesday. Find out which big-name players won events in our FTOPS XXI Day 11 recap.

It was a short Day 4 at the PokerStars.net European Poker Tour Prague Main Event. Only 21 players remain, with Ben Warrington leading the way.

High-roller extraordinaire Philipp Gruissem dropped out of the Global Poker Index top 10 this week. Mickey Doft takes a look at the biggest movers and shakers of the GPI.

New Jersey Bill Headed for Vote

An amended intrastate online gambling bill is scheduled to be heard by the full New Jersey Assembly on Monday, Dec. 17, potentially paving the way for Atlantic City casinos to offer online poker within state lines.

John Brennan of NorthJersey.com reported Thursday that Bill A-2578 is among the 28 bills on Monday’s agenda. If it moves through the Assembly, State Sen. Ray Lesniak expects a state Senate vote later in the week.

Lesniak previously predicted the legislature would pass the bill in March and then again in May, but the bill’s movement was delayed because it didn’t have enough votes to be addressed by the state Senate. He said that this time is different because the casino industry is fully behind the proposal.

“This time there is no one lobbying against it and the need for it is even greater,” Lesniak told PokerNews last week. “The Atlantic City casinos continue to suffer from reduced revenue, and this will be the big boost that they desperately need.”

One of those suffering casinos is the Atlantic Club, which is reportedly a target for PokerStars’ potential return to the U.S. The Wall Street Journal reported last week that PokerStars has shown interest in purchasing the casino; a licensed PokerStars could then use the Atlantic Club poker room as a platform to rebuild its online customer base in the U.S.

PokerStars’ interest in the property followed the removal of language in Bill A-2578 that would have prohibited companies that served customers in the U.S. after the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act (UIGEA) was passed in 2006. Lesniak added that PokerStars’ interest in New Jersey played a major part in the bill’s modification.

“When it was pointed out to us that the previous language would restrict PokerStars entry into New Jersey – and other companies that have rehabilitated themselves and would offer competition to give our casinos the best deals possible – when that was discussed with the assembly sponsor and supporters, it was clear to us that entry into the New Jersey marketplace for a company like PokerStars is something we desire and want,” Lesniak said.

For more, check out NorthJersey.com.

California to Revive Online Poker Bill

Sen. Roderick Wright of California is promising to reintroduce his SB1463 online poker bill to legislation in January.

As reported by PokerFuse on Thursday, Wright hopes to bring his poker-only bill back to the table as early as next week with a few key changes in the measure’s language. One of the changes is the removal of “a blanket waiver of tribal sovereign immunity” requested by The Tribal Alliance of Sovereign Indian Nations (TASIN), a group that represents nine federally recognized tribes in Southern California.

It is believed Wright will have an easier time this go-around because of the closure of the California Online Poker Association (COPA) in October. The organization, which represented 31 poker rooms and 29 Indian gaming tribes, pledged support of the bill only if changes were made to restrict horse racing associations from being eligible license applicants. COPA reportedly spent more than $1.2 million in lobbying efforts to legalize online poker, but the group folded after the efforts made little headway.

With nearly 38 million people living in California, the state represents the largest potential market for intrastate online poker. While state-by state liquidity is a concern for many, California is a compelling market for operators.

PokerUpdate has more.

Randy Lew Prepares for Doomsday

We each have our own views of how – and if – the world will end on Dec. 21. While most scoff at the idea, some are expecting a zombie invasion mimicking an episode of The Walking Dead.

Perhaps science will prevail and a massive asteroid will hit earth; until then, some believers are marking things off their bucket list. Ya know, just in case.

Team PokerStars Online’s Randy Lew, for instance, is determined to change his status from Supernova to Supernova Elite on PokerStars before doomsday. In his most recent video blog, Lew counted the days he has left to reach his goal, figuring he needs 9,138.3 VPPs a day to reach Supernova Elite status.

With a last minute trip to Vancouver booked, Lew needs to play 10 hours a day to make his quota before 12-21-12. Can he pull it off? Have a look:

PKR Goes Live

On Thursday, PKR.com released the dates for its next live tournament series. Supercasino Aspers Stratford will play host to PKR Live 2013 from Mar. 29 through 31; the three-day series will feature a $500 buy-in and expects to draw in more than 300 players for an estimated six-figure prize pool.

Former winners of the tournament series include UK pros Karl Fenton and Rob Angood, and Bluff Europe editor Philip Conneller. EPT champion Toby Lewis and WPT title holder Adrien Allain have also made deep runs at previous events.

“I’ve always loved the fact that PKR offers something different to any other online poker company and I’ve been a massive fan since they launched,” said Aspers’ poker manager John Scanlon in a press release. “It was obvious from the first conversation that we were on the same page; the ethos and brands match up nicely as we both strive to push the boundaries in our respective markets.”

Simon Prodger, PKR’s marketing director commented: “Every year, our players are spoilt by the outstanding quality of Vegas casinos during our WSOP Experience and now they rightly expect nothing less from our events. Aspers offers that level of quality, expertise, style and glitz. Add to that the amazing attitude our players bring to the table, and we expect PKR Live 2013 to be the best yet.”

Beginning Dec. 18, weekly satellites at PKR.com will offer $500 seat-only prizes and $800 packages to include $300 for expenses. You can also directly buy in to the series through PKR’s online tournament lobby.

For more information, visit PKR.com.

Sands Bethlehem DeepStack Extravaganza

The Sands Bethlehem DeepStack Extravaganza $2,500 Main Event kicks off Friday in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. The tournament, which runs from Dec. 14 through 17, boasts a massive $500,000 guaranteed prize pool and is expected to draw many of the East Coast’s top talents, including Matt Glantz, Chris Klodnicki and Vinny Pahuja.

PokerNews will be on site all weekend to bring you hand updates, chip counts and photos. Be sure to stay locked into the PokerNews Live Reporting page as we bring you all the action until a winner is crowned on Sunday!

For everything you need to know about the event, read the article by Donnie Peters.

What’s In A Name?

Some of the players’ names at EPT Prague aren’t easy to articulate. PokerNews’ Sarah Grant tested the pros on the pronunciation of their opponents’ names and got some hilarious results.

Get all the latest PokerNews updates on your social media outlets. Follow us on Twitter and like us on Facebook today!

Check out the original source here! Originally from PokerNews.com

Tom ” durrrr” Dwan and Viktor “Isildur1″ Blom haven’t had any epic battles at Full Tilt Poker since 2010, but that’s about to change this weekend. We’re bringing you that story, plus the return of the NBC National Heads-Up Poker Championship, in this edition of the Nightly Turbo.

In Case You Missed It

Zynga is making a move to enter the real-money gaming market in Nevada. Get the full story here at PokerNews.com.

The 2012 World Poker Tour Doyle Brunson Five Diamond World Poker Classic resumed Wednesday in Las Vegas. Michael Mizrachi finished Day 2 as the leader, but several notables were right on his heels.

The Full Tilt Online Poker Series (FTOPS) resumed on Wednesday. Who took down the biggest score? Find out in our FTOPS XXI Day 4 recap.

Phil Hellmuth is moving up the Global Poker Index after his impressive run at the World Series of Poker this year. Did he do enough to crack the top five in this week’s rankings? Mickey Doft breaks down the biggest movers and shakers of the GPI.

Day 1c of the 2012 World Poker Tour Prague Main Event took place on Tuesday. Yannick Bonnet was the leader with 197,200 chips, just 7,000 more than Kevin MacPhee.

Clash Of The Professionals

Online railbirds will have good reason to log into Full Tilt Poker on Sunday. At 15:00 ET, Tom “durrrr” Dwan and Viktor “Isildur1″ Blom will face off at the site for the first time in nearly two years, each putting up $100,000 across four tables for a winner-take-all heads-up match.

Blom announced the terms of the match via Twitter on Thursday:

Dwan and Blom make up two-thirds of The Professionals, Full Tilt Poker’s pro team (Gus Hansen is the other member). But the two cash-game specialists have battled for millions of dollars in the past, playing some of the biggest pots in online poker history. Blom has gotten the best of Dwan for the most part, taking more than $4.5 million from his nemesis during their previous encounters at Full Tilt Poker, according to Poker Table Ratings.

During a four-day stretch in 2009, Dwan lost more than $3 million to the Swede. At that time, Blom’s real identity was unknown; it wasn’t until the 2011 PokerStars Caribbean Adventure that Blom was revealed as the mysterious Isildur1.

Although this doesn’t quite have the feel of some of their previous battles, we still expect some eye-popping action at Full Tilt Poker on Sunday. Be sure to check out PokerNews on Monday for the results.

NBC Brings Back National Heads-Up Poker Championship

After a one-year hiatus, the popular NBC National Heads-Up Poker Championship will return in 2013, according to a Twitter post by POKER PROductions on Thursday.

The $20,000 buy-in event will run from Jan. 24 through 26 at Caesars Palace, the same venue where the event was held from 2005 through 2011. POKER PROductions announced Thursday that episodes will arrive in March and run for six consecutive weeks. Each episode will air for two hours.

The event posted a respectable 1.5 rating during its seven years on NBC, but the network pulled the plug after PokerStars and Full Tilt Poker, two of the show’s biggest advertisers, were removed from the U.S. market.

The National Heads-Up Poker Championship is mostly an invitation-only event featuring 64 of the world’s top poker players and celebrities. Phil Hellmuth won the inaugural event in 2005, and he was followed into winner’s circle by several heavy hitters, including Chris Ferguson, Ted Forrest, Annie Duke, and reigning champ Erik Seidel.

The show is produced by Poker PROductions, the same company that produces the World Series of Poker for ESPN, as well as Poker After Dark. In an interview with PokerNews in February, producer Mori Eskandani said there was a “90 percent chance” that the event would return to TV in 2013.

“That’s a very fun event and I know it’s going to be sorely missed this year, but it’s coming back,” Eskandani told Chad Holloway. “All these shows are coming back, it’s just that things got murky out there, and like I said, all of a sudden there were dark clouds up there. I know it’s still there and all of us are hoping it’ll go away. I’m confident, I have a lot of faith in our justice system, and I think things will get worked out.”

Aria Introduces Multi Action Poker

The Aria poker room might be on the brink of something big. On Wednesday, the room launched a new poker format dubbed Multi Action Poker, a new format intended to increase the action of live poker – similar to the multi-table options you’d find online.

Photo c/o John Kim

The table may look odd and unique, but the concept is simple: each player is dealt two hands, each of which will be placed over a red spot and a blue spot separated by a wooden plank to distinguish hole cards and chip stacks from each player. The table will remain a nine-handed game with two dealers facing each other in the middle of the table with two decks in play. There will also be different colored chip stacks, but for the time being, Aria has not implemented this technique.

Aria officials explain that the games will start off as limit hold’em but are open to the players wants if there’s interest. “For speed, it’s definitely better suited for limit games,” Timothy Frazin, creator of the game, told PokerFuse. “But it’s not called multi speed poker; it’s called Multi Action Poker. If you want action, it’s built for action.”

Many players have tweeted photos and posted mixed reactions on the TwoPlusTwo forums. Frazin initially thought of the idea in 2007 but didn’t act on it until recently. Using trial runs, he has already worked out the quirks to run a smooth game.

“I love the action,” said Frazin. “And if you’re a casual player, this could draw you in.”

PokerFuse has more.

Celebs, Poker Pros Go All-In for CP

On Saturday, Dec. 8, the Fifth Annual All-In for CP charity poker tournament will be held at the Venetian in Las Vegas. The event, co-hosted by actress Cheryl Hines and poker pro Karina Jett, aims to raise funds toward easing the lives of those with cerebral palsy.

The charity tournament kicks off at 2 p.m. PST and features a $500+$40 buy-in with $200 rebuys for the first 90 minutes. Among the celebrities and poker pros scheduled to attend are Donnie Wahlberg, Sam Simon, Jennifer Tilly, Joe Jonas, Rick Tocchet, Mekhi Phifer, Scotty Nguyen, Mike Sexton, Mike Matusow, Antonio Esfandiari, Patrik Antonius, Andy Bloch, and Phil Laak.

Players who reach the final table will receive a share of more than $25,000 in cash and prizes. There will also be on-site raffles with rare and collectible memorabilia.

The One Step Closer Foundation has raised more than $460,000 in the first four All-In for CP charity poker tournaments, including $290,000 in 2011 alone. The event is the brainchild of Jacob Zalewski, who copes with cerebral palsy and serves as president and CEO of the One Step Closer Foundation. Over the years, Zalewski has made friends with many of poker’s biggest stars, many of whom support his foundation by playing in the event.

Here’s a look at some of the highlights from last year:

Get more information about the great event at the One Step Closer Foundation website.

Check out the original source here! Originally from PokerNews.com