September 12 2012, Brett Collson

Seven months after its flashy opening in Las Vegas, the Jamie Gold Poker Room is closed for business. We’ll bring you that story, plus the latest ambassador for the ISPT, in this edition of the Nightly Turbo.

In Case You Missed It

Day 2 of the 2012 World Poker Tour Grand Prix de Paris wrapped up Wednesday evening. Philipp Gruissem leads the way, but the field is still stacked with well-known pros.

Kyle Cartwright recently tied Mark “Pegasus” Smith by winning his fifth WSOP Circuit ring. Cartwright spoke with PokerNews about his journey to the top of the record books.

How did Team PokerStars Online member Mickey Petersen get the nickname “mement_mori”? Find out that in more in the latest Q+A with hosts of the World Championship of Online Poker.

Did you miss ESPN’s coverage of the World Series of Poker on Tuesday night? Get caught up in our weekly recap.

Gold Room Closes

Less than seven months after its grand opening, Tropicana Las Vegas has pulled the plug on the poker room named after 2006 World Series of Poker Main Event champ Jamie Gold.

“As part of our continuing transformation of Tropicana Las Vegas, we have decided to close our poker room in order to move forward with our construction plans for that section of our property,” the casino said in a statement on Tuesday. “The hard work by our outstanding team members in the poker room has not gone unnoticed and we are currently seeking alternative opportunities for them at Tropicana Las Vegas.”

The Tropicana closed its poker room in 2008 but re-opened its doors in April 2011. Late last year, it hired Gold to be its poker spokesperson and ambassador and named the room after him. Gold made regular appearances at the room to play cash games and tournaments.

The casino hasn’t said what it plans to do with the space previously occupied by the poker room.

Read more at the Las Vegas Journal-Review.

ISPT Gets Stronger

The International Stadiums Poker Tour (ISPT) has added another superstar to its growing list of ambassadors, announcing this week that David Benyamine is endorsing the Europe-based tour. Benyamine joins Sam Trickett, Michael Mizrachi, Patrik Antonius and Liz Lieu as reps for the ISPT, which is set to kick off next May at Wembley Stadium in London.

Benyamine is known best as a cash-game specialist but has also enjoyed success in tournaments, cashing for more than $6.3 million around the world. He has wins at the World Series of Poker and the World Poker Tour, and is a European Poker Tour win shy of the Poker Triple Crown.

Benyamine, Antonius and Lieu were donning ISPT patches during the Partouche Poker Tour last week. The ISPT team was on hand to shoot a promo with its newest recruits.

For more info about the International Stadiums Poker Tour, visit ISPT.com.

Poker Hall of Fame Finalists

On Wednesday, the World Series of Poker announced the 10 finalists for the 2012 Poker Hall of Fame. The finalists were chosen via a public nomination process on WSOP.com, and it will now be up to the current Hall of Famers and a panel of media members to select new members for induction next month during the WSOP Main Event final table festivities.

Here’s a look at the finalists:

• Chris Bjorin
• David Chiu
• Eric Drache
• Thor Hansen
• George Hardie
• Jennifer Harman-Traniello
• John Juanda
• Tom McEvoy
• Scotty Nguyen
• Brian “Sailor” Roberts

Up to two of the aforementioned nominees will join an elite list of Hall of Famers like Johnny Moss, Puggy Pearson, Doyle Brunson, Jack Strauss, Benny Binion, David “Chip” Reese, Thomas Austin “Amarillo Slim” Preston, Stu Ungar, and Phil Hellmuth. Last year, Barry Greenstein and Linda Johnson were added to the prestigious club.

For more info on each nominee, read the story here at PokerNews.com.

Dan Smith Still Leads Global Poker Index Player of the Year Race

There were no changes atop the Global Poker Index Player of the Year standings this week, meaning Dan Smith maintained the top spot for the fourth consecutive week.

Smith, who has five major wins on the tournament circuit this year, added another nice score to his résumé last week when he finished seventh in the Partouche Poker Tour Main Event. Because that score hasn’t yet applied to his GPI POY total, he’ll likely extend his lead over Marvin Rettenmaier even further next week. Smith has more than $3.5 million in live tournament winnings in 2012 alone.

Among the big movers outside of the Top 10 this week was David Sands, who climbed 17 spots to No. 34 after a deep run at the WinStar World Casino River Poker Series Main Event. Joe Kuether also had a nice finish in that event and jumped 39 spots to No. 74 in the rankings this week. Kuether has flown under the radar despite winning four tournaments in the circuit this year.

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

The Global Poker Index Player of the Year, 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.

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

PokerStars Macau Poker Cup Championship

The 2012 Macau Poker Cup Championship Main Event kicked off Wednesday at the Grand Waldo Entertainment Complex. Eighty-nine players ponied up the HKD$20,000 entry fee on the first of two Day 1 flights, and after six levels only 40 managed to advance to Day 2.

Among the notables taking part in the event on Day 1a were 10-time WSOP bracelet winner Johnny Chan and David Steicke, who won a preliminary event at the Macau Poker Cup Championship earlier this week. Steicke’s shot at another title ended when we was all in with top pair against the flush draw and two over cards of Hoi Ting “Edmund” Lee. The river brought Lee his flush and sent Steicke packing. Chan was also eliminated on Day 1.

Lee ended the day as the leader with 119,175 in chips. Aimin Zhang was the only other player to hit the six-figure mark on Day 1a (101,500). Others taking nice stacks into Day 2 include Lei Zhang (76,350), Sparrow Cheung (73,925) and the 2011 Asia Player of the Year Hung-Sheng “Shaq” Lin (60,500).

Here’s a look at the leaders after Day 1a:

For live updates from the 2012 Macau Poker Cup Championship, visit the PokerStars Blog.

Calling the Clock on Theo Jorgensen

Team PokerStars Pro Theo Jorgensen is working toward winning his second title at the World Poker Tour Grand Prix de Paris Main Event. But during a break on Day 2, Kristy Arnett put him on the spot by asking him rapid-fire questions for another edition of Calling the Clock.

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

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August 31 2012, Brett Collson

We’ve officially made it to the weekend. And for us, it’s a three day weekend! But before we take off until Tuesday, we’re bringing you the day’s biggest news stories in the Nightly Turbo. What’s Daniel Negreanu’s latest beef with TwoPlusTwo? Find out below!

In Case You Missed It

The WinStar World Casino’s 2012 River Poker Series Main Event kicked off Thursday. Take a look at the action from Day 1a in our recap from Thatcherville, Okla.

En route to his deep finish in the World Series of Poker Main Event, David Randall had to face off against the talented Ben Lamb under the bright lights of the feature table. Randall discussed one memorable hand he played against Lamb for the latest Strategy with Kristy podcast.

Day 1b of the PokerStars.net Asia Pacific Poker Tour Melbourne Main Event concluded on Friday. Find out which pros bowed out early in our daily APPT recap.

Earlier this week, the Republican Party called for a prohibition of online gambling in the U.S. Matthew Kredell takes a look inside the 2012 GOP platform.

The NFL regular season is right around the corner. Rich Ryan looks ahead at Week 1 and pick some future bets in the latest Pigskin Diaries.

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

“Stop Being Nits”

Daniel Negreanu has certainly had issues with the powers that be at TwoPlusTwo.com. A few months after receiving a one-day ban from the site for “spamming,” Negreanu has taken a shot at the forum again, this time involving a deleted thread regarding a charity benefitting the 22Q Foundation.

For a long time, TwoPlusTwo has had a policy to not support charities. Reasons for that haven’t been made public, but the site has had issues with scammers taking advantage of fake charities in the past. This particular charity is being supported by several poker players who will be participating in a 50-hour poker podcast show beginning on Sept. 3 to raise money for children who suffer from 22Q.11 deletion syndrome.

Shortly after a thread about the benefit was created at TwoPlusTwo, it was shut down. Once Negreanu found out, he posted his thoughts in a thread at Full Contact Poker.

“Have a heart. It’s for charity. Stop being such nits,” Negreanu wrote. “I get along fine with David Sklansky and feel like he really isn’t too involved with all this crap, but Mason Malmuth and that kook moderator are greasy, slimy, nerdy, nutcases and they make me sick.”

The “kook” Negreanu is referring to is the same TwoPlusTwo moderator that banned him in March when Daniel was trying to post his Weekly Rant in the News, Views and Gossip forum. Negreanu was warned about spamming because the video included an ad for iSeriesLive, and he was subsequently banned when he tried to post the video a second time.

The Examiner has more.

PartyPoker’s Transformation

On Friday, online betting firm Bwin.Party Digital Entertainment PLC reported a significant decline in poker revenue during the first half of 2012. The company’s primary poker offering, PartyPoker, has struggled to keep pace with industry leader PokerStars of late, dropping 43 percent in real-money cash game traffic since this time last year, according to PokerScout.com.

Nevertheless, Bwin.Party co-CEOs Norbert Teufelberger and Jim Ryan say they are determined to make PartyPoker the world’s favorite poker room all over again.

“Poker is a key area of focus and we are determined to return it to growth through execution of a detailed plan that includes pooling our poker liquidity as well as repositioning our flagship PartyPoker brand,” the co-CEOs said in a joint statement. “We expect both initiatives to have a positive impact on our performance, along with our recently launched FastForward Poker product.”

As part of its resurgence plan, Bwin.Party plans to relaunch PartyPoker with new software early next year. Said the company in a press release, “Having last relaunched PartyPoker in 2009, we have been working on the next generation version that will be rolled out during the first quarter of 2013. Comprising many new features and a new look and feel, our objective is to once again make PartyPoker the world’s favorite poker room and return poker to growth.”

Bwin.Party is also preparing for a launch in the U.S., where it has partnered with MGM Resorts International and Boyd Gaming in an “anticipatory” move for legalized online gambling in Nevada. Bwin.Party is expected to be one of the key players in the U.S. market, but its share of the market could slide if PokerStars returns, as expected.

The full press release can be found at BwinParty.com.

The Multi-talented Matros

Lately, Matt Matros might best be recognized for his play at the poker table. Matros has won three World Series of Poker bracelets in the past three years, and in 2013 he’ll attempt to equal the record held by Doyle Brunson and Bill Boyd with bracelets in four consecutive years.

But Matros is also a respected writer and author, and to the delight of many, Matros recently offered his thoughts about last week’s federal ruling that poker is a game of skill.

“I’ve made my living over the past nine years by having an edge on my opponents,” Matros wrote in a piece at the Washington Post. “I didn’t somehow get lucky over hundreds of thousands of hands, and I’ve yet to meet a person who thinks I did. Poker is a strategy game, requiring logic, mathematics, psychology and intuition to play well. This statement is hardly debatable – but it was still nice to hear a federal judge agree with it.”

“Having a court decide whether poker is a game of skill is bizarre to most professionals,” he continued. “Are judges asked whether investment bankers’ jobs are legitimate? Of course not, nor should they be. And neither should players rejoice at a very small piece of bureaucratic validation.”

We highly recommend you check out the rest of the piece. You can find it was WashingtonPost.com.

Welcome to WinStar!

The PokerNews Live Reporting Team is in Oklahoma for the WinStar World Casino’s 2012 River Poker Series Main Event. As Sarah Grant found out, the WinStar has everything your heart desires – from golf, to clubs, to cowboys.

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