November 06 2012, Brett Collson, Pamela Maldonado

Tuesday was a historic day for online poker as Full Tilt Poker came back from the dead, launching real-money games in much of the world. We’re bringing you that story, plus Chris Moorman looking for a live tournament title, in this edition of the Nightly Turbo.

In Case You Missed It

Will WSOP Main Event champ Greg Merson be a good ambassador for poker? Rich Ryan touches on that topic and more in his latest Five Thoughts piece.

Full Tilt Poker wasn’t the only online gaming site to launch on Tuesday. The Northern Bear Casino opened the world’s first tribal real-money tribal online casino.

Will the results of the U.S. elections have a major impact on the future of online poker? Matthew Kredell takes a look at the potential outcomes.

The 2012-13 World Series of Poker Circuit River Rock Main Event played down to 30 runners on Monday. Sonny Sekhon led the way going into Day 3.

Back in Business

Many in the poker community didn’t think this day would ever come. But on Tuesday, Full Tilt Poker relaunched real-money games in much of the world, picking up where it left off when the site was shut down last June.

The highly anticipated reopening took place at 7:00 ET (12:00 GMT), and within minutes cards were being dealt to more than 10,000 real-money players. According to PokerScout.com, Full Tilt Poker immediately vaulted back into the No. 2 spot in the online poker traffic rankings behind its new sister site PokerStars. FTP saw a peak of 14,773 real-money cash game players on Tuesday, as reported by PokerScout.

Among those hitting the virtual felt early on were Full Tilt Poker Team Pros Gus Hansen and Viktor Blom. Hansen jumped right back into the site’s highest stakes, playing $1,000/$2,000 Limit 2-7 Triple Draw. Blom, meanwhile, took a seat at a $.50/1 cash game before hopping into $50/100 pot-limit Omaha to play against Hansen and others later on in the day.

Blom even posted a picture of one of his $.50/1 tables. Check out the new avatar:

Tom Dwan, the third member of Full Tilt’s elite team of sponsored pros, is in the U.S. for the next week and was unable to participate in the reopening of the site. We expect to see the “durrrr” moniker at the high-stakes tables sooner rather than later.

For now, real-money games are not available those located in segregated markets like France, Spain, Denmark, Estonia and Belgium, but those players can withdraw their balances though PokerStars. Players in the U.S. and Italy do not yet have access to their funds.

We’ll be providing news, views and reactions throughout the week, so be sure to keep locked in to PokerNews.com.

Moorman Takes Another Crack at Title

When the PokerStars United Kingdom & Ireland Poker Tour (UKIPT) Bristol kicks off on Wednesday, eight players will hit the felts to play out a final table with £254,840 up for grabs. The first ever UKIPT online tournament began on Oct. 14, with 587 players putting up the £770 buy-in at PokerStars.com. After two days of play, the event was paused so the eight-handed final could be played in a live setting in Bristol on Nov. 7.

Chris “Moorman1″ Moorman, considered one of the best tournament players in the world, has the first-place £77,126 prize in his sight as he will begin the final table third in chips with 562,818. Despite boasting more than $11 million in online and live tournament cashes, Moorman has yet to achieve any major live wins. He has come close by placing second a few times, once at the 2011 WSOPE Main Event where he cashed for “800,000. The also took second at the 2011 WSOP $10,000 six-handed championship for $716,282, and again at the “10,000 EPT Berlin 8-max event, banking “145,000.

Moorman will be on display in Bristol as he looks to claim that elusive live Main Event win and add to his $2,700,162 in live tournament cashes.

Leading the Wednesday’s final table in chips with 1,530,528 will be 37 year-old Rafael “zugzwang16″ Haber, who placed third in the “2,100 SCOOP-H event at PokerStars earlier this year. In second place with 1,524,837 chips is Wojtek “piper_kl88″ Barzantny.

Also at the final table are Joep “Pappe_Ruk” van den Bijgaart (545,565 chips), Sregey “Seradja” Sergeevich Prostakov (490,798), Dan “danloulou” Smyth (485,659), David “komisch99″ Lenz (369,562), and Ben “gs08bjohnson” Jenkins (360,233).

Here a look at the UKIPT Online Main Event final table payouts:

For more on each of the final table members, visit the PokerStars Blog.

Rossiter Warms Up in Macau

The Asia Championship of Poker (ACOP) is taking place in Macau this week, and on Tuesday Jeff Rossiter kicked the series off by winning the HK$25,000 buy-in ACOP Warm-Up event for HK$1,777,000 (US$227,821).

A total of 358 players entered the Warm-Up event, generating a prize pool of $7,986,980 (just over US$1 million). Rossiter bested a talented field of pros that included the likes of Johnny Chan and Joseph Cheong, both of whom reached the final table. Chan exited in seventh place when his couldn’t improve against Rong Fan‘s , and he collected $291,500 (HKD). Cheong was eliminated in third place after he moved his short stack all-in preflop with and came up short to Rossiter’s .

That left Rossiter playing heads-up against David Martiryosan for the title. On the final hand of the tournament, Rossiter limped his button and then snap-called a shove from Martiryosan. Rossiter’s was way out in front of his opponent’s , and the board brought an end to the three-day event.

Here’s a look at the final table results from the ACOP Warm-Up event:

The ACOP Main Event kicks off on Wednesday, so be sure to read our live updates here at PokerNews.com. For in-depth coverage of the Warm-Up event, check out the PokerStars Blog.

Everest Joins iPoker Network

On Tuesday, French online gaming group Betclic Everest announced that it has officially joined Playtech’s iPoker Network, making its products available in France and international markets on ipoker.fr and ipoker.com, respectively.

Playtech, a leading provider of software and services for the online and mobile gaming industry, also confirmed that the Everest Casino brand is scheduled to launch in early 2013.

Everest and Betclic poker will continue to share their liquidity pool and have improved on their rake structure to benefit their French players, which will enhance the player’s experience. Playtech Chief Executive Mor Weizer is happy with the move, stating: “We anticipate that the enlarged liquidity pools on iPoker.fr and iPoker.com will attract further brands to the growing stable of well-established operators and contribute to our future success.”

Ignacio Martos, CEO of the Betclic Everest Group, said: “We are pleased to offer the best of breed technology to our poker players. Larger liquidity and state of the art features will give our players a superior experience, in line with our strategy of offering nothing but the best to our community of players. Playtech offers a market-leading range of products including a world-class casino, which Everest will be taking full advantage of in 2013. Betclic will maintain its program of investment in technology and innovation, focusing on major regulated markets to sustain profitable business growth.”

Read more at InterGameOnline.com.

Randy Lew in Macau

Last year, Team PokerStars Online’s Randy “nanonoko” Lew won his first major live title at the PokerStars.net Asia Pacific Poker Tour Macau Main Event. Before beginning his title defense in Macau this week, Lew posted some video footage of last year’s trip over at PokerStars.tv. If you’ve never been to Macau, this is definitely worth a watch:

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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.

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