The Nightly Turbo: Nevada Online Poker Proposals, PokerScout Numbers, and More
You made it to the middle of the week. If that doesn't call for a margarita, we don't know what does. So catch up on the Nevada Gaming Control Board's Internet poker proposals, the latest online poker traffic numbers, and more. Then relax, or work on that fantasy football draft prep you've been putting off.
In Case You Missed It
Day 1b of the PokerStars.net Asia Pacific Poker Tour kicked off on Wednesday with 43 players taking their seats at the felt. When the six-hour day concluded, 28 players remained and Marcel Schreiner was on top of the leaderboard for his Day 1 flight.
ESPN continued its 2011 World Series of Poker Main Event coverage Tuesday night with Day 3 action. The episode feature Amanda Musumeci and Daniel Negreanu to name a few. If you missed any of the two-hour episode, get caught up with our WSOP on ESPN recap.
Caesars Entertainment is planning big things for the Las Vegas Strip — world's tallest observation wheel big. It looks like O'Sheas will be the property that suffers from The Linq development.
Not only do we want your brain full of all of the news going on in the poker world, but we want you to stay healthy and fit, too. That's why we're introducing our new Stay Stacked series. In our first edition, you can find out why sitting could be killing you.
Over the summer, the World Series of Poker announced changes to its 2011–2012 Circuit. The Main Events on each stop are now re-entry events and the $10,000 Regional Championships no longer exist. In our latest PokerNews Debate, we discuss whether the changes are really enhancing the tour.
Proposals Released
On Wednesday, the Nevada Gaming Control Board released drafts of regulatory proposals that would allow the state to establish Internet poker in accordance with Assembly Bill 258, which was passed in the 2011 Nevada legislature.
The Las Vegas Review-Journal spoke with Gaming Control Board Chairman Mark Lipparelli regarding the proposals. ""Internet poker has become a multibillion dollar business around the world. The technology supporting it, while not perfect, has improved dramatically since its introduction. Similar to our land-based requirements, Nevada will establish high standards giving players as much confidence as possible in the entities and technologies that might eventually gain approval," Lipparelli said.
The proposals, which include rules for customer enrollment and technology approvals among other things, will be put through a public regulatory workshop. The workshop will provide for amendments and revisions to the proposals and the first one is scheduled for Sept. 26.
"We can't predict what may happen with any national legislation and we have attempted to frame these regulations in a manner that will provide appropriate flexibility. This will be a rigorous process and these regulations will, no doubt, undergo a good deal of revision," Lipparelli told the Las Vegas Review-Journal regarding the state being ready for federal legislation.
Want to know more? Check out the article on LVRJ.com and you can read the proposals at Gaming.nv.gov.
PokerScout Traffic Numbers
According to PokerScout, online poker traffic dropped last week by 3 percent, with nine of the top 10 sites recording a loss. The Merge Gaming Network was the only one of the top 10 that saw an uptick in traffic — 4 percent.
It seems that PartyPoker and the iPoker Network are battling it out for the second-place spot on the top 10. The race is a close one. There's only a 5 percent difference in traffic between the sites. For the second time in three weeks, the iPoker Network sits just below online poker giant, PokerStars.
As for year-over-year numbers, PokerScout's ACES indicator shows that online poker traffic has decreased by 24 percent. Some sites that have seen increases in year-over-year traffic include 888poker (124%), Merge Gaming Network (91%), and Bodog (70%). Microgaming (down 22%) and Everest Poker (down 21%) are just a couple of the sites that have seen decreases in year-over-year traffic.
PokerScout.com has more online poker traffic numbers.
World Poker Tour Legends of Poker
The World Poker Tour kicked off its tenth season overseas already with the Spanish Championship and WPT Slovenia events. On Thursday, WPT Season X officially kicks off stateside. Day 1a of the WPT Legends of Poker will get under way at the Bicycle Casino. The 2011 Main Event buy-in dropped to $3,500+$200 from last year's $5,000. The Main Event is also a re-entry event this year meaning that if you bust on Day 1a, you can fire another shot off at Day 1b.
Last year, the event attracted 462 players, creating a prize pool of $2,151,072. The field was stacked with well-known players, and in the end, Andy Frankenberger finished in the top spot, collecting $750,000. His win at Legends was the start of his run for WPT Player of the Year, which he earned by making two final tables and earning a total of $944,985 on Season IX of the WPT.
Find out more at WorldPokerTour.com.
Poker on Degrassi
It seems that TeenNick is tackling poker on its show Degrassi. We first saw a thread on TwoPlusTwo discussing it, but it seems there's an entire episode revolving around a poker game. We can't tell if the thread, showing a screen shot from the show where TwoPlusTwo was featured, or the episode below are the same, because, well, we don't watch Degrassi, but here's the clip of the show anyway.
Get More: Degrassi Episodes,Degrassi,Degrassi Games
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