September 27 2011, Elaine Chaivarlis

It wouldn’t be a typical day around here if there wasn’t a story on Full Tilt Poker to report - even if it is just a rumor. We’ve got the latest buzz surrounding the company, and we’ll tell you what the Nevada Gaming Control Board has to say about Internet poker in the state, and more.

In Case You Missed It

On Monday, a champion was crowned at the PokerStars Australia New Zealand Poker Tour Melbourne. Lee Nelson emerged victorious, confirming his nickname – “Final Table.”

After 23 days and 62 events, the 2011 PokerStars World Championship of Online Poker is officially over. If you missed any of the live coverage of the Main Event, or want the short and sweet version, check out our WCOOP recap.

Last week, the poker world was inundated with Full Tilt Poker news. In our latest Five Thoughts piece, we take a look everything related to Full Tilt Poker from last week.

Since the inception of the World Series of Poker November Nine, the success of the players during their “off months” is tracked closely. Does winning a major title in the off months correlate to a better run in November?

The days until the 2011 November Nine are dwindling and we’re always curious to find out how the members of the prestigious Final Table are spending their time. We recently talked to Martin Staszko to find out how he’s preparing for poker’s biggest stage.

The Rumor Mill Churns

Tuesday morning while perusing the Internet for the top poker news stories of the day, we stumbled upon a piece on HighStakesDB that made us stop – “Full Tilt Poker Has Been Sold?”

According to HighStakesDB, TwoPlusTwo Pokercast host Adam Schwartz tweeted earlier on Tuesday that the sale of Full Tilt Poker was allegedly complete.

Shortly thereafter, Schwartz posted in the FTP Discussion Thread on TwoPlusTwo.

“I was told by what I feel <and most of you would too btw> is a very reputable source. This person doesn’t want me to say their name. Obviously I wouldn’t have said it if someone sitting next to me in the $1/2 game told me. If some of you are unhappy that i tweeted it, what can I say, I felt it was worthy of some confidence.”

Schwartz is backing this story though, saying he heard from a trusted source, and replying to a tweet asking if he thought it was true, by saying, “I would be very surprised if it wasn’t. Someone very close to the negotiations would have had to lie to him.”

Is it true? We don’t know. We reached out to Full Tilt Poker and have heard nothing back (not that we were really holding our breath). As always, if we hear anything, you all will be the first to know.

HighStakesDB.com has more.

Gaming Control Board at Ease

On Monday, the Gaming Control Board in Nevada listened to public input regarding proposed gambling regulations – which also includes Internet poker. According to the Las Vegas Review-Journal, discussions were “peaceful.” Maybe it was the feng shui in the room, or Internet poker isn’t that touchy of a subject.

“I think we have a solid foundation for regulations,” said control board chairman Mark Lipparelli.

Anthony Cabot, a gaming attorney, suggested “the regulations carry some type of language that they could not be used for intrastate wagering until a federal ban on Internet gambling is lifted or there is a clarification from the U.S. Department of Justice.”

Cabot also asked that “gaming customer would have the ‘seamless ability’ to transfer gaming funds between a casino account and an interactive gaming account, if they were operated by the same company.”

Read more at LVRJ.com.

Added to the Schedule

PokerStars has added a deepstack event to the European Poker Tour Prague schedule. According to the PokerStars Blog, the “300 + “30 buy-in, “30,000 guarantee event that was added to the schedule will double as the Eureka Poker Tour Grand Final.

If you thought that Season 1 of the Eureka Poker Tour was looking to add another stop, Romania, you would have been correct, but tax issues stopped those plans.

Last season’s EPT Prague attracted 563 entrants, and in the end, Roberto Romanello emerged victorious and pocketed “640,000.

Read more on at PokerStarsBlog.com.

For the Sports Fans

On Tuesday, DraftDay.com was launched. DraftDay, a daily fantasy sports website, is the brainchild of poker pros Taylor Caby and Andrew Wiggins.

“Taylor and I started tossing around the idea of a fantasy sports website years ago, but the timing was never right,” said Wiggins. “After I won my MLB league last season, I took it as a sign that we needed to push the idea toward reality. DraftDay is a unique fantasy sports experience that you won’t find anywhere else. There’s no season long commitment and there’s always a draft available.”

DraftDay allows sports fans to test their fantasy sports skills and offers daily games for fantasy football, baseball, basketball, and hockey. Buy-ins range from freerolls to $500.

“There is a social aspect to fantasy sports that you also find in poker. It’s competitive, stats driven and an adrenaline rush. It’s also a great way to make a hobby into something really profitable,” said Wiggins.

“There’s nothing better than sweating out a ballgame knowing one or two key plays can earn you money and bragging rights,” Caby said.

Read the press release for more.

PSA: Watch the WSOP

ESPN’s coverage of the 2011 World Series of Poker Main Event continues this week with Day-6 action. It all kicks off at 10 p.m. EDT with the final 142 players in the race for the final table. There’s also a feature on doppelgangers this week where pros like Jean-Robert Bellande, Daniel Negreanu, and Jason Mercier will tell you who they’ve been told they look like.

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

Follow Elaine Chaivarlis on Twitter – @LaneyLV

August 28 2011, Elaine Chaivarlis

If you’re looking to get caught up on the week’s top poker news stories, then look no further.We’ll tell you about the Nevada online poker proposals, what Phil Hellmuth thinks about iGaming, and more.

Proposals Released

On Wednesday, the Nevada Gaming Control Board released drafts of regulatory proposals that would allow the state to establish Internet poker in accordance with Assembly Bill 258, which was passed in the 2011 Nevada legislature.

The Las Vegas Review-Journal spoke with Gaming Control Board Chairman Mark Lipparelli regarding the proposals. “”Internet poker has become a multibillion dollar business around the world. The technology supporting it, while not perfect, has improved dramatically since its introduction. Similar to our land-based requirements, Nevada will establish high standards giving players as much confidence as possible in the entities and technologies that might eventually gain approval,” Lipparelli said.

The proposals, which include rules for customer enrollment and technology approvals, among other things, will be put through a public regulatory workshop. The workshop will provide for amendments and revisions to the proposals and the first one is scheduled for Sept. 26.

“We can’t predict what may happen with any national legislation and we have attempted to frame these regulations in a manner that will provide appropriate flexibility. This will be a rigorous process and these regulations will, no doubt, undergo a good deal of revision,” Lipparelli told the Las Vegas Review-Journal regarding the state being ready for federal legislation.

Want to know more? Check out the article on LVRJ.com and you can read the proposals at Gaming.nv.gov.

Hellmuth Talks iGaming

According to the Washington Post, Phil Hellmuth doesn’t think Washington, D.C.’s foray into Internet poker doesn’t have “much to offer the professional gambler.”

“I still think that people are looking for a place to play poker and it wouldn’t be surprising if you had a lot more players than you think start playing,” he said. “It’s a nice test, sure, but I think there’s so few people [in D.C.], 600,000, that you might not achieve critical mass for players on the site under those conditions,” Hellmuth told the Washington Post.

Hellmuth doesn’t believe that the low-stakes games would be worth it for a professional player, but D.C. Lottery director Buddy Roogow was quoted earlier this year saying that wasn’t the main concern. “We believe there’s a much larger component of social, recreational and casual players who will be interested in a lower-stakes platform,” Roogow told the Associated Press.

Hellmuth thinks for the government to make money, it should allow the private poker market to flourish. “The states have to ask themselves, how are they going to make money? Are they going to invest millions in software, hire a bunch of people and end up in a situation where they don’t recoup their money for three or four years?” he said. “Or do they just start taxing it right away, and make decamillions from the start?”

Want more? WashingtonPost.com has it.

LAPT on its way to Colombia

Thanks to a press release we received this morning, we can tell you where the PokerStars Latin American Poker Tour is headed next. From Oct. 12 through 16, the LAPT will be in Medellin, Colombia.

“The poker communities in Latin America are extraordinary. They are growing quickly and are extremely enthusiastic and passionate about playing in the tournaments. I hope that players from all over the world come to Medellin to compete and that they also take time to enjoy the scenery, culture and food of this fantastic destination,” LAPT president David Carrion said.

The event will take place at Allegre Casino, which is operated by Legendary Gaming, and the COL$1,980,000 buy-in Main Event is being dubbed “the National Poker Championship.”

“During the fourth season of the LAPT we have introduced Sao Paulo as a new destination, and now it is Medellin’s turn for a debut event. This decision was made so that we could have a National Championship in many different countries, and in turn find the best poker player in the region through the Player of the Year Award. These changes have been made because of the extensive feedback received last season and we are proud to deliver what players want,” Carrion said.

Players can win entry online or through supersatellites at Allegre Casino.

Find out more at LAPT.com.

In 140 Characters

Some days we read tweets and think, “Our readers would probably like to know that,” but the news bite is only 140 characters long. Instead of separating them into their own sections, we’ve compiled them all right here.

• On Thursday, poker agent Brian Balsbaugh tweeted, “Just heard “The Banker” is playing poker @BellagioLV. No sightings of “The Professor” or “The Suicide King.”

Looks like Andy Beal is back in town, and it didn’t take very long for at least one of the sharks to sniff him out.

• Doyle Brunson replied to Balsbaugh’s tweet saying, “Nope, but Dolly was there. He then went on, “Played with “The Banker” for a few hours. Had a fun time, probably because I made a decent win. #needmorelikehim”

We’re not sure if The Professor or the Suicide King will make appearances in this game, but we’ll keep our ears open.

• Early Friday morning, Dan Bilzerian tweeted, “Just had my third heart attack. Feeling better now, about to leave the hospital. Waiting on lab results.
• He went on, “I checked myself outta the hospital. Doc said I should stay because I could die in my sleep if I go home. I’ve been gambling all week. I bet I’ll live.

Luckily, it seems as though Bilzerian is OK. Andrew Robl tweeted, “Just an FYI to everyone I went to the hospital with @DanBilzerian last night and it appears nothing major happened and that he is a-okay.”

Another One Bites the Dust

In a press release issued Thursday, Poker Pros Network announced it recently moved its URL to PPNpoker.eu to comply with U.S. legislation. It also said it would be leaving the Cake Network and moving to a proprietary network in the near future. Also, on Aug. 31, PPNpoker.eu will no longer accept new registrations from players in the U.S. Players who registered for accounts prior to the separation will be granted an exemption.

“We here at PPN are dedicated to improving our software, creating a safe environment for players to compete, and encouraging our pros to be available to customers at all stake levels,” said PPN Poker owner Chuck Kidd. “It’s been a lot of work, but what we’re introducing later this year should turn the online poker industry on its head.”

According to the press release, PPN Poker plans on releasing “unique proprietary software” with new features including live dealers and dealers’ choice games in the fall.

Read the press release at MarketWire.com for more.

WCOOP Kicks Off Soon

The 2011 PokerStars World Championship of Online Poker is just around the corner and PokerStars wants to celebrate. Kicking off on Aug. 29, PokerStars will launch the Mega Satellites Week promotion. Two Mega Satellites will be held each day and 2,075 seats are up for grabs into 13 different events. That’s $502,275 in value if you were counting. Here’s a look at the Mega Satellite Week schedule:

Speaking of PokerStars, the online poker giant recently announced it will take on the role as lead sponsor for next week’s Poker in the Park in London at Hanover Square.

“We’re thrilled that PokerStars has come on board,” said festival organizer Michael Caselli. “Having the most popular poker room in the world on board is not only great for Poker in the Park, but shows how committed PokerStars is to the entire sport of poker.”

Read more at UK.PokerNews.com

Short Stacks

The Nightly Turbo is known for its brevity. But what do we do when there are too many news stories to tell you about in one day? We shorten things a bit. Here’s a quick look at some other news stories going on in the poker world.

• On Monday, we told you about the WPT Regional Seminole Hard Rock Summer Splash and the notables who remained at the final table. Well, Brian Hastings came out on top of that one. He tweeted, “I won!!!! $213k plus TWO trophies, thanks for all the support everyone! #wpt #runninglikemercier #trophyhunting”
• We also told you about the Parx Open Poker Classic in Monday’s Nightly Turbo. That event also had a notable player finish on top — McLean Karr. He defeated Dan Smith in heads-up play and took home $74,406. This is Karr’s second win this month. His first coming in a high-roller event in Macau.
• Remember OceanSpray25? On Tuesday he was sentenced to at least three years in prison for robbing the Bellagio of $1.5 million.
• According to SportsInteraction.com, Hollywood director Nick Cassavetes is attempting to get the Hollywood poker lawsuit dismissed. Cassavetes along with Tobey Maguire, Leonardo DiCaprio, and more are being sued by a group of trustees who were whamboozled in a Ponzi scheme.

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