The Nightly Turbo: Kostritsyn Profits $1.3 Million at FTP, Iowa Revisits Online Poker
Miss any of the day's biggest poker stories? You've come to the right place. In this edition of the Nightly Turbo, we're covering Alex Kostritsyn's hot run at the high-stakes cash tables, Iowa's interest in legalizing online poker, and more.
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How did Antonio Esfandiari embrace becoming a poker superstar? Find out that and more in the latest Seat Open.
Andrew Robl won the Aussie Millions $100,000 Challenge on Monday. Find out who he beat at the final table in our $100,000 Challenge recap.
Nate Silver joined the PokerNews Podcast from Melbourne this week. The PokerNews crew spoke with Silver about online poker, the Aussie Millions, and more.
The World Poker Tour Borgata Winter Poker Open kicked off on Sunday. We broke down all of the highlights in our WPT Borgata recap.
Didn’t get a chance to sweat all of the big online tournaments this weekend? Don’t worry, we’ve got you covered in this week’s edition of the Sunday Briefing.
Poker-themed social network Tiltbook.com has only been around since the middle of 2012, but the community has been rapidly building. Take a look at Tiltbook's top 10 posts from 2012.
Kostritsyn Crushing
After a slow start to 2013, Alex "PostFlopAction" Kostritsyn is putting together some big wins at the high-stakes cash tables on Full Tilt Poker.
As of last week, Kostritsyn was nowhere to be found among the year's biggest online winners, but that has changed after the Russian made more than $1.3 million in four days at Full Tilt Poker. Kostritsyn's most profitable day came on Sunday when he profited more than $517,000 playing mixed games against "patpatpanda," "punting-peddler," and others.
Kostritsyn was down $200,000 at Full Tilt Poker entering his hot streak, but he's now ahead $1.1 million for the year, placing him among the year's biggest earners with Viktor "Isildur1" Blom, Phil “OMGClayAiken” Galfond, Ben “Bttech86” Tollerene, and Ronny “ronnyr37617” Kaiser.
Read more about the weekend's high-stakes action at HighStakesDB.com. And be sure to check out a full recap in Friday's Online Railbird Report here at PokerNews.com.
Iowa Eyes Online Poker
Legislators in Iowa have reintroduced a bill that could legalize online poker within state lines.
Last week, Iowa Senate Study Bill 1068 was proposed by Iowa State Senator Jeff Danielson and co-sponsored by Sens. Wally Horn and Randy Feenstra. The poker-only bill proposes that Iowa consider establishing requirements for the issuing of Internet gambling licenses.
Study bills in Iowa are generally developed to evaluate political reactions to a proposal before it is formally introduced in the legislature. Study Bill 1068 is “an Act authorizing licensees authorized to conduct gambling games on an excursion boat, gambling structure, or racetrack enclosure to operate internet wagering on poker and making penalties applicable.”
Last year, the Iowa Senate approved a similar study bill to legalize and regulate intrastate online poker. However, the bill never moved through the House of Representatives due to a “general lack of interest” on the issue, according to House Speaker Kraig Paulsen.
The legalization of online poker in the Hawkeye State could generate between $3 million and $13 million in state tax revenue, according to a study by the Iowa Racing and Gaming Commission last year.
Iowa Senate Study Bill 1068 can be viewed in full at Iowa.gov.
PokerStars TCOOP Sets New Marks
The second annual PokerStars Turbo Championship of Online Poker (TCOOP) ended on Sunday, Jan. 27 and the overall numbers from the series were enormous.
The 50 fast-paced turbo events proved to be a huge success as 240,321 total entrants generated a combined prize pool of more than $24 million — about $4.5 million more than last year’s inaugural series.
Sunday's TCOOP Main Event drew in 5,060 entrants (about 1,300 more than last year). The $3,364,900 prize pool shattered the $2 million guarantee, and Sweden's "froma1103," was the eventual winner, collecting $326,880 after a seven-way deal that saw all seven players pocket six-figures.
The TCOOP Player of the Series was awarded to "Tjepan," who made two final tables and scored 12 cashes to earn a total of $79,819 across 46 events. "Tjepan" won the champion’s trophy and a 2014 PCA package worth $16,500. The TCOOP leaderboard runner-up was "Tinas21," who received a 2013 SCOOP ticket worth $5,200 after making three TCOOP finals tables.
2013 TCOOP Lederboard
| Place | Player | Points | Events Played |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Tjepan | 270 | 46 |
| 2 | Tinas21 | 245 | 28 |
| 3 | Faith#1Virtu | 230 | 50 |
| 4 | Assad91 | 225 | 41 |
| 5 | PSMozak | 215 | 39 |
| 5 | TMMPOKPOK | 215 | 50 |
| 5 | Xerophyten | 215 | 34 |
| 8 | bullyon | 205 | 39 |
| 8 | Ian "staknchips83" Gillespie | 205 | 43 |
| 8 | uremyatm | 205 | 32 |
| 8 | Allan "Yaba" Drake, Canada | 205 | 49 |
| 8 | ZlatkoJohan | 205 | 44 |
Team PokerStars Pro Marcel Luske also enjoyed a nice series after taking third place in Event #42, a $27 No Limit Hold’em [2x-Turbo], for $58,510.24. Luske is off to a great start in 2013; at the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure earlier this month, he managed to win the $1,100 8-Game event ($13,810) and the $1,100 H.O.R.S.E. event ($18,500).
More on the TCOOP series can be found at the PokerStars blog.
Adrián Mateos Díaz Wins Estrellas Poker Tour Madrid
Season 4 of the PokerStars Estrellas Poker Tour kicked off in Madrid last week, and the series ended Sunday with 18-year-old Adrián Mateos Díaz winning the Main Event.
The €1,100 buy-in tournament attracted 632 players from 28 countries to create a prize pool of €606,720. A three-way deal left €5,000 for the eventual winner, and Mateos Díaz went on to claim victory and a total prize of €103,000.
The final table started with eight players, five of whom were out before the second break. With a deal in place, the last three players pressed on, but it was only a few minutes before Richard Milne busted in third place.
Once Milne was out, Mateos Díaz and Jose Álvarez played for the title. After a 45-minute heads-up battle, Mateos Díaz was crowned the winner, leaving Álvarez with €88,512 for his runner-up finish.
| Place | Player | Prize |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Adrian Mateos | €103,000 |
| 2 | Jose Álvarez | €88,512 |
| 3 | Richard Milne | €81,000 |
| 4 | Pedro Oliva | €40,960 |
| 5 | Angel Botana | €30,340 |
| 6 | Francisco Arce | €21,240 |
| 7 | Vicente Delgado | €15,170 |
| 8 | Javier Sánchez Miguel | €11,375 |
The next stop on the ESPT Tour will continue in Valencia April 1-7. More on the final table and the ESPT Tour can be found on the official tour website.
Welcome to Melbourne!
The PokerNews Live Reporting Team has arrived in Melbourne for the 2013 Aussie Million Poker Championship. Our resident Aussie, Lynn Gilmartin, took a tour around the city's most popular hot spots and landmarks.
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