The Nightly Turbo: Chilipoker Integrates Social Media, Zynga Hires PTR Staff, and More
UCONN won the National Championship Monday night, and in a way, you're winning too. You're getting the top poker news stories of the day all in one place, so we'd like to think of it as a win. Who else is winning? Chilipoker launched Chiliconnect, and Zynga acquired the staff from MarketZero. We'll tell you about those stories and more in tonight's Nightly Turbo.
In Case You Missed It
Who do you think would be a good ambassador for poker if he or she wins the 2011 World Series of Poker Main Event? Mike Sexton has his thoughts on the topic (other than himself of course).
The next stop on the World Series of Poker Circuit is at Harrah's in St. Louis.Here's a preview of the event, and a look at the National Leaderboard.
In the latest PokerNews Podcast, the crew discusses hot poker topics and getting Fricke-rolled. Then they're joined by Barry Greenstein who discusses everything from High Stakes Poker to a new production format for the WSOP to UB. Check out the podcast for more.
The online high-stakes cash-game scene was recently graced by the presence of "cadillac1944," who had taken March off. How did he do? You'll have to check the Online Railbird Report to find out.
ChiliConnect(s) You to Your Facebook and Twitter
Remember that announcement from Chilipoker we were telling you about last week? Well, it's here, and our detective work proved correct.
Chilipoker has just launched Chiliconnect, a social media interface that allows players to share their results on their favorite social networks. Not only can you brag about that massive pot you just won, but you can make side bets with your friends, like cash-game challenges or last-longer bets. Chilipoker is the first online poker site to implement a feature like this, but with the social media craze not going away anytime soon, we're sure to see something like this pop up again.
If you want to try out the new Chiliconnect innovation, sign up for a Chilipoker account.
Zynga Acquires More Staff (from PokerTableRatings)
It was announced today that Zynga has acquired the team from MarketZero. What is MarketZero? Just the creator of PokerTableRatings, that's all. Just in case you didn't read this right, Zynga is acquiring the team from MarketZero, not PokerTableRatings. This marks Zynga's 11th acquisition in 11 months. According to TechCrunch, the team will help develop new and innovative features for the Zynga Poker game.
PokerTableRatings released a blog post regarding the announcement, and for those of you worried about your PTR account, don't.
"So what does this mean for PTR and our members? Nada. PTR hasn’t skipped a beat and we’re working hard to make sure PTR continues to be the best place to find stats on every online poker player," the blog post said.
Do Not Pass Go
Online poker in Iowa will not be passing Go and collecting money this year, after Senate Bill 458 failed to make it through the "funnel stage" in one piece. Now, the Iowa Racing and Gaming Commission will be able to study the bill and report its provisions to the state legislature.
The bill's sponsor, Senator Jeff Danielson, remains optimistic about the bill, while one congressman, Dave Jacoby, said the bill was "on life support."
Read more at EGRMagazine.com.
Racing to Brazil
We've always wanted to go to Brazil, and going for free would make it that much more enticing. If you're on the same page we are, you should check out the newest promotion from Rox Poker.
There are three $4,000 prize packages up for grabs for the BSOP and the only way you can get them is by signing up for a Rox Poker account through PokerNews and taking part in the RoxRace promotion.
Willkommen in Berlin!
The PokerNews Team is in Berlin for the latest stop on the PokerStars European Poker Tour. For those of us not lucky enough to make it to Germany's capital city, Laura Cornelius brings us a tour of what we're missing.
Be sure you're following us on Twitter for up-to-the-minute news.
