March 28 2012, Brett Collson

If you’re looking for the day’s biggest poker news, you’ve come to the right place. In this edition of the Nightly Turbo, we’re bringing you the NFL’s sudden shift concerning its gambling ad policy, PokerStars signing a new pro from Italy, and more.

In Case You Missed It

Day 1b of the PokerStars.it European Poker Tour Campione Main Event came to a close on Tuesday. Former EPT Grand Final champion Nicolas Chouity was the chip leader, but many notables survived.

Once the European Poker Tour wraps up in Campione this week, the tour will head to Berlin, Germany. Lynn Gilmartin takes a look at some of the past experiences at EPT Berlin through the PokerNews Video Vault.

Many of poker’s best online players never get a chance to shine in the spotlight. We’re here to change that. In the inaugural edition of Online Chat, Thiago “@TheDecano” Nishijima talks about his large sum of money stuck on UB, and more.

Daniel Negreanu was back with his Weekly Rant on Wednesday. To hear him discuss his TwoPlusTwo ban and other topics, head over to The Muck.

While visiting The Muck, you can check out on the Final Four of the PokerNews Fan Bracket. Negreanu, Olivier Busquet, Phil Hellmuth and Jason Mercier have emerged from the original field of 64. Don’t forget to vote!

No Fun League?

It seems the National Football League has finally opened up to the idea of cashing in on advertising from brick-and-mortar casinos. The Sports Business Journal reported Tuesday that owners could vote as early as this week on allowing casinos to advertise in NFL stadiums, team publications and on club radio broadcasts.

The NFL has long been one of the biggest antagonists of gambling even though sports betting and fantasy football have played a major role in the league’s television ratings and revenue boosts over the years.

The league’s opposition to gambling also applied to poker. Last February, around 30 NFL players attended a charity poker tournament at the Golden Nugget Casino in Las Vegas, but the NFL got wind of the tournament and forced the players to sit back and watch.

Even if the owners vote to approve casino advertising, there will be restrictions. It’s highly unlikely that companies will be able to use NFL logos, and all casinos with sports books will be prohibited from advertising.

“It’s an interesting situation, because that’s a great segment in which to develop relationships anyway,” New York Jets owner Woody Johnson told the New York Post. “But it’s also a delicate situation because you’d want to be sensitive to the league’s existing policy on gambling.”

Read more at the Post.

PokerStars’ New Loose Cannon

If you’re a fan of the PokerStars.net Big Game, you’ll probably recognize the newest member of Team PokerStars Pro. Massimiliano Martinez, who finished as the biggest winner among the “Loose Cannons” in the shows second season, has signed on to represent PokerStars at tournaments around the globe and online.

Most Loose Cannons entered the PokerStars Big Game with little experience playing against top competition, but Martinez already had a pair of impressive wins under his belt, including a victory in a side event at PokerStars EPT San Remo last May. His total winnings on the live circuit exceed $300,000.

Martinez ran over his table during the PokerStars Big Game, and even owned the great Phil Hellmuth on a number of occasions.

On Wednesday, PokerNews’ Sarah Grant caught up with Martinez in Campione, Italy, to talk about his new deal:

Duhamel Leads Global Poker Index Player of the Year

Team PokerStars Pro Jonathan Duhamel continued to occupy the top spot in the Global Poker Index Player of the Year standings this 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.

The top five in the rankings stayed the same this week, with Duhamel holding a sizable lead over Erik Cajelais, Bruno Lopes, Noah Schwartz and Faraz Jaka, respectively. The only change in the top 10 was 2012 Aussie Millions Main Event champ Oliver Speidel, who jumped four spots to No. 7. Speidel recently finished seventh in the ANZPT Sydney Main Event for $41,262.

Here’s a look at the rest of 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.

Poker on a Boat

In the past two years, the World Poker Tour has expanded with numerous events in European countries. Now, it’s hitting international waters on a boat (cue T-Pain).

On Wednesday, the WPT announced a partnership with Cruise Authority and Royal Caribbean International to present the WPT Cruise. The first voyage runs from Sept. 30 through Oct. 7, 2012, and features port stops in popular Caribbean destinations including Mexico, Jamaica, Grand Cayman, and Royal Caribbean’s private beach in Haiti.

There won’t be a WPT tournament taking place on the 160,000-ton ship, but passengers will be able to compete in cash games, sit-and-go tournaments, ladies-only events and freeroll tournaments. All WPT Cruise passengers will receive a special welcome package containing WPT apparel and merchandise, poker lessons and a free three-month subscription to ClubWPT.com.

Guests will also have the chance meet WPT announcers Mike Sexton and Vince Van Patten, as well as the Royal Flush Girls.

Read more at PokerNews.com.

Push ‘em In

A new poker variant is making its debut on Betfair this week. Push ‘em is a game designed to create action at the cash-game tables as players are required to buy in for exactly five big blinds. The format doesn’t leave a lot of room for creativity, but action junkies will certainly get their fix.

All Push ‘em games are six-handed with limits running from $0.05/$0.10 up to $1/$2. If a player loses an all-in confrontation, he or she will be required to post five big blinds to stay at the table. For example, at a $1/2 game, the starting buy-in is $10. Players can’t buy in for anything more or less than five big blinds.

If you’re interested in playing Push ‘em, Martin Harris has written a great strategy guide over at betfair.com. Be sure to check it out.

How Do You Like Your Eggs Cooked?

Easter is coming up, so Laura Cornelius asked the poker pros in Campione how they like their eggs prepared.

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

Follow Brett Collson on

Comments

February 14 2012, Brett Collson

The World Poker Tour has seen consistent growth in several areas since poker was flipped upside down on Black Friday. In addition to the tour’s expansion into Europe with several new stops in Season X, the television ratings on Fox Sports Net climbed by 30 percent, and the online poker traffic at ClubWPT has increased considerably.

World Poker Tour CEO Steve Heller sat down with PokerNews recently to discuss the changes made to the WPT business model and how it could potentially change if online poker is legalized in the U.S.

Many poker players flocked to ClubWPT.com after Black Friday. How has business changed at the site since April?

ClubWPT was already doing very well [before Black Friday]. It certainly did add an additional layer of players who wanted somewhere to come and play competitive poker online. It’s helped the business, but it was a very healthy business beforehand. The integration and sponsorship of the show have exposed the brand and the model to a lot of people, which has really been the key factor.

We still see several real-money online poker rooms operating in the U.S. today. What does ClubWPT offer players that they can’t find at these other sites?

There are a series of things you’ll find at a legal operation as opposed to one that is, quoting the government, violating the law. We run a very professional operation as a subsidiary of bwin.party with a lot of people in the company who have operated in large online poker operations. I think the poker experience is outstanding.

And very importantly, regardless of the service itself, being WPT branded brings with it all of the WPT attributes. Not only do you have the ability to win seats to WPT events, but then you have what we call the ClubWPT VIP experience where you meet the cast, get invited to the parties, you get interviewed, and put on television.

Right now, ClubWPT is a subscription site. Could we see a change in the business model if online poker is legalized in the states?

I think you’ll always see a subscription offering. I think there’s a market for subscription that fits a lot of people’s lifestyles quite well. However, if there are other forms of poker that are legalized and of interest to the poker playing community, then of course we would look to offer that service using the WPT brand and applying the WPT assets. I’d say it would add to [the subscription site] rather than replace it.

Would bwin.party have any influence on that?

Well, bwin.party is the parent company, but we very much run an independent entity here. We have relationships with a variety of online sites in Europe and a variety of casinos. We would make decisions that would be best for the WPT brand and the WPT business.

What do you think will happen in the next year in regards to online poker legislation in the U.S.?

I’m not sure I’m the person to be predicting what the government is going to do, or any one of 51 or 52 governments is going to do in the United States. But we certainly have some optimism that you will see regulated online poker in some form somewhere during 2012. It think it feels to most of the industry like there’s a lot of momentum toward the government understanding that regulated online poker is the best solution for online poker.

What we’re really focused on is getting quality legislation and encouraging the government to interact with the industry and make sure that the legislation integrates all of the knowledge in the industry on how to best serve players, protect players, and satisfy the consumer interest.

Switching to the live circuit, what has attendance been like at WPT events since Black Friday?

The attendance has been excellent since Black Friday. It is very difficult, frankly, to assess the year-to-year numbers in general, but there are a variety of influences on live event attendance. It’s difficult to isolate one influence, and we even believe Black Friday has had conflicting influences. In other words, there have been some positive influences and some negative influences on tour attendance.

For example, you have the pros in the U.S. who will be interested in showing up for an event in a casino and playing in the cash games and other tournaments before and after because that’s now the primary place that they’re going to play poker. The downside is that some players who were maybe “fringe” players have stopped being poker pros and decided to either find another interest or only play on occasion. The factors go in multiple directions, but in general, the attendance has been fantastic. We had our biggest event ever in September at Borgata with over 1,300 entries.

The World Poker Tour has expanded into Europe with more stops overseas in Season X. Do you expect more growth in Europe during Season 11?

There’s been great demand for WPT in Europe and we’ve taken the tour from having two events a couple years ago to having 10 or 12 in the calendar year. I do expect to continue to see additional events on the tour and WPT branded. There are a lot of casino partners that continue to come to us that have interest; it’s a matter of finding the right venues and the right calendar. But Europe continues to be a vibrant and growing market, and certainly WPT will continue growing there.

Season X is set to hit television screens this month. Can you talk about the changes to the coverage and what you have in store for viewers this season?

Last year, we made a lot of major changes in not only the way that WPT is broadcast, but in a way that we think poker programming is thought of. This year, we’re continuing that path. I think one of the big things that’s changing is we’re now offering three hours of coverage of each event, which allows for extended coverage of the play-down days.

Coverage of the play-down [from Season IX] got tremendous feedback from viewers and players and really gives a much fuller sense of what goes on at the event. So we decided to expand that substantially. It allows us to show more hands of poker, but also gives us some time to add more context to the players at the final table and the event in general.

We’ve also added a segment called “On The Road” which shows life on the World Poker Tour from the cast perspective and the player perspective to give viewers a little bit of a look behind the scenes.

We’re also celebrating our tenth season as a milestone and anniversary. You’ll see some look-backs into some of the most famous and most dramatic final table moments from the first nine seasons.

What are some of your plans for the WPT in the future?

We see the WPT’s role in the industry as very much of an ambassador to bring poker to people’s lives. So we’re going to continue to look for ways to expand geographically. We’ll look for ways to expand poker to make it of greater interest to those who have been historically engaged in poker. And we’ll try to allow viewers in particular to get a greater understanding of what playing in one of these events and being on the tour is like, and who these people are so [viewers] can root for them or root against them. That way they’ll have a more entertaining and deeper experience.

One important development is that the viewership has become more sophisticated. In Season IV we had a segment called the “Raw Deal” where you’re going into great depth and very sophisticated analysis. I think we’ll continue on that path to allow people to get deeper and deeper analysis and discussion of what goes on on the tour.

Stay up to date on all the latest news by following us on Twitter and liking us on Facebook.

Follow Brett Collson on