September 09 2011, Elaine Chaivarlis

Even though it was a short week for us, we couldn’t be more happy that it’s the weekend. And even though it’s Friday, there’s no shortage of news to talk about. It seems there’s another class-action lawsuit brewing for Full Tilt Poker. We’ll tell you about that, what you can expect from the World Series of Poker Europe Caesars Cup, and more.

In Case You Missed It

If you can’t wait for the Weekly Turbo, or hearing is more your speed than reading, then Sarah Grant has you covered. She covers the new EPT stop, the Epic Poker League and more in the latest edition of the PokerNews Weekly.

The World Poker Tour Grand Prix de Paris began with 61 players on Thursday, but by day’s end, the field was left with 18. Matthew Waxman led the field into Day 4 as one of two players who crossed the 1 million-chip mark.

After Thursday’s day of action at the Palms Casino in Las Vegas, the Epic Poker League Main Event was down to its final eight. Erik Seidel made his way to the final table, marking his second EPL final, but leading the way into play was David Steicke.

More bracelets were handed out on Day 5 of the PokerStars World Championship of Online Poker. Read our daily WCOOP recap to find out who added more bling to their wrists.

The high-stakes cash games on PokerStars have really been heating up the last few weeks. In this week’s edition of the Online Railbird Report, we’ll tell you which player claimed the largest pot ever recorded on PokerStars.

The first game of the 2011-2012 NFL regular season kicked off Thursday. Rich Ryan gave you his pick on that game earlier this week, but what about Sunday’s games? The Pigskin Diaries breaks it all down for you.

*Photo courtesy of WSOP.com

They’ve Been Served

Yes, we’re watching the US Open while we work on this, but unfortunately we’re not talking tennis serves. Full Tilt Poker has another class-action lawsuit on its hands. Canada’s Consumer Law Group filed a national class-action lawsuit against the online poker site on Sept. 8 in the Superior Court of Quebec. The suit was filed “on behalf of individuals who have funds being held in their Full Tilt Poker player accounts.”

According to the Montreal Gazette, CLG’s Jeff Orenstein said that “Canadian patrons could have lost anywhere from $5 to $10 million when Full Tilt shut down its online site to all players on June 29.”

Mitchell Schnurbach is the lead plaintiff in the class action suit. The Montreal Gazette is reporting that Schnurbach had between $1 to $5 in his player account. Yes, you read that right, and yes, we’re scratching our heads too.

Orenstein has been contacted by other players regarding the suit and says that one player had $250,000 in his account, while another had $10,000.

The suit needs to be approved by a Quebec judge before moving forward, and if it is, Orenstein plans to go after Full Tilt’s U.S. and Canadian assets.

If you want to contact CLG, you can do so at CLG.org, and if you want to read more, check out MontrealGazette.com.

Brat v. Bling

Over the last few days, Phil Hellmuth tweeted about his captain status in the 2011 Caesars Cup. The last Caesars Cup was held at the 2009 World Series of Poker Europe, where Annette Obrestad’s Team Europe defeated Team Americas, which was captained by Daniel Negreanu.

This time around, Hellmuth is captaining Team Americas and Bertrand “ElkY” Grospellier will be leading the charge for Team Europe. The event will take place Oct. 19 in Cannes, France, during the 2011 World Series of Poker Europe.

“Team Americas has a score to settle after what most considered a colossal upset in London,” said WSOP Executive Director Ty Stewart. “You see a real rivalry developing as European players continue to win more tournaments around the world.”

Two teams of five will battle in the no-limit hold’em tournament that will feature partner and heads-up formats. Points will be awarded for different elements and the first team to three points wins.

As for who will be on the teams, that hasn’t been decided yet. Hellmuth has tossed out some of his picks though, tweeting:

WSOP.com has more information about the Caesars Cup.

World Poker Tour Live Stream

The World Poker Tour debuted its live streaming final tables with the WPT Legends of Poker last month. On Saturday, the WPT will be live streaming again – this time from Paris. The final table of the Grand Prix de Paris will begin streaming at 1000 EDT (1500 BST) from the Aviation Club de France. Tony Dunst will host the live stream along with Roy “The Boy” Brindley.

The remaining six players will compete not only for the $701,573 first-place prize, but for a seat to the Season X WPT World Championship, entry into the WPT Champions Club, a Champion’s Cup, and Tiffany card protector.

You can catch the live stream at WorldPokerTour.com.

Internet Poker in Massachusetts?

According to MetroWestDailyNews.com, Massachusetts State Rep. Dan Winslow will “file an amendment to the Massachusetts gaming legislation to allow for Internet poker.”

The state would become the first in the U.S. to regulate Internet poker if the gaming legislation is approved. “This one, I think, is a great opportunity for Massachusetts to take the lead. No state in the country has yet enacted legislation to authorize and regulate Internet poker,” said Winslow.

Wilson pointed out that if the state regulated Internet poker, players “would have confidence that it is a fair game.”

He believes that adding Internet poker “would maximize total revenue while also expanding job creation into areas untouched by the addition of casinos and slots in the state.”

MetroWestDailyNews.com has more.

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Follow Elaine Chaivarlis on Twitter – @LaneyLV

September 07 2011, Elaine Chaivarlis

Nick Diaz was slated to fight Georges St. Pierre in October but after not appearing at the press conference held in Las Vegas on Wednesday, he might just suffer the same fate that three PokerStars sponsored players did. We’ve learned that the Team PokerStars Pro roster has gotten a little lighter. We’ll tell you who’s no longer wearing the red spade, what the online poker traffic numbers are looking like, and more in this edition of the Nightly Turbo.

In Case You Missed It

On Tuesday, the Epic Poker League Main Event #2 concluded with 51 players remaining of the 96 who entered. Jamie Kaplan received his seat in the EPL Main Event through a twist of fate and rode that luck to the top of the chip counts on Day 1.

The World Poker Tour Grand Prix de Paris held Day 1b of the “7,500 buy-in Main Event on Tuesday. Topping the field on Day 1b was Guillame Darcourt.

In the latest PokerNews Podcast, Rich Ryan, Donnie Peters and Elaine Chaivarlis discuss the top poker headlines of the week. Tony Dunst then joins the program to discuss the World Poker Tour and more.

On Day 3 of the PokerStars World Championship of Online Poker, two champions were crowned. Who walked away with WCOOP glory and which players are on to Day 2 of Event #9? Find out in our daily WCOOP recap.

Did you miss ESPN’s coverage of the World Series of Poker and your DVR was full of Real Housewives episodes so it didn’t record? Bummer. Lucky for you, that didn’t happen to us and we can bring you this recap of the action.

The Culinary Union has a beef with the UFC. We’ll tell you what’s up with that, which casino in downtown Las Vegas reopened and more in the latest edition of Inside Gaming.

We know how taxing the grind of the live tournament circuit can be. In our most recent Stay Stacked series, we spoke with Jesse McKenzie to find out how he stays focused and healthy on the road.

Not on the Team

We don’t check the Team PokerStars Pro roster every day, and we’re sure you don’t either, but a quick look today will show you that a few players are missing.

It seems that Dennis Phillips, Tom McEvoy, and Bill Chen are no longer on the Team PokerStars Pro roster – or there’s a pretty big computer glitch going on.

We’re not going to speculate on who’s decision it was, or why the three players are no longer on the roster. This was just an observation, and now we’re passing along the information.

There has been no comment has been made (that we’re aware of) from either of the players – or PokerStars.

Numbers, Numbers, Numbers

Another week has gone by, so we’re bringing you a look at the latest online poker traffic numbers from PokerScout. The number wizards at PokerScout reported that overall traffic saw a 0.6 percent decrease for the week of Aug. 29.

PokerStars may have a stranglehold on the top spot of the traffic report, but the site saw a decrease in traffic for the same week last year. Traffic for the online poker giant fell 2.4 percent, after a gain of 1.8 percent in the same week last year, according to PokerScout.

The Merge Gaming Network has been knocked out of the top 10 with a 5 percent traffic decrease. PokerScout reports that with Merge being out of the top 10, this is only the second time in online poker history that the list of top 10 sites has not included a U.S.-facing site.

Merge may be out of the top 10 in the latest reports, but year-over-year the site has seen a 62 percent increase in traffic. Bodog (up 55 percent), 888poker (up 124 percent) and the iPoker Network (up 22 percent) have all seen increases in their year-over-year traffic. As a whole however, online poker traffic has decreased 26 percent year-over-year.

PokerScout.com has the recent online traffic numbers, as well as an updated look at current numbers.

BPA Results

The British Poker Awards were held over the weekend, and we’re sure you were wondering which one of your favorites walked away with awards. Jake Cody won both awards he was nominated for and was the only multiple-award winner. And even though these were the British Poker Awards, Jason Mercier managed to walk away with a win, as well. #whenwillitend

Best International Player: Jason Mercier
Best Tournament Player: Jake Cody
Best Cash Player: Sam Trickett
Best Mixed Game Player: Richard Ashby
Best Pot-Limit Omaha Player: JP Kelly
Best Online Player: Chris Moorman
Best Poker Forum: TwoPlusTwo
Best Blogger: Neil Channing’s Blackbelt Poker Blog
Best Social Media User: Vicky Coren
Best Poker League: Champions Poker League
Poker Personality of the Year: Kara Scott
Outstanding Contribution to Poker: John Duthie
Best Breakout Player: Matt Perrins
Lifetime Achievement Award: Roy Houghton
Player of the Year: Jake Cody

Read more at UK.PokerNews.com.

Third Annual Queen City Shootout

If you’re in Charlotte, North Carolina, in October, you may not want to miss this charity poker event. The Third Annual Queen City Shootout will be held at Whisky River on Oct. 12. Wondering what Whisky River is? We were too. It’s a bar owned by NASCAR driver Dale Earnhardt Jr. that mixes “two ounces of rock and roll, an ounce of country, and a splash of southern hospitality.”

The Queen City Shootout charity poker tournament will benefit the Juvenile Diabetes Research Fund. On top of the charity poker tournament, a live auction will be held to benefit the Alexander Youth Network, an organization that “provides quality professional treatment to children with serious emotional behavioral challenges.”

For those who wish to attend, individual and spectator tickets go on sale Sept. 12. This could be your shot to not only help children in need, but to rub elbows with NFL players and NASCAR drivers and win a seat to the 2012 World Series of Poker Main Event.

To find out more, check out QueenCityShootout.com.

The Future of Moneybookers

We know EPT London isn’t until the end of the month, but we don’t like to wait until the last minute to make plans and we don’t want you to either. Last month we told you that Skrill, the new name of Moneybookers, became an official sponsor of the PokerStars European Poker Tour. While in Barcelona, Kristy Arnett caught up with Skrill’s spokespersons shown here to get the scoop on the company, the last-longer bets, and what to expect from Skrill at EPT London.

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Follow Elaine Chaivarlis on Twitter – @LaneyLV