The Nightly Turbo: Leo Margets Joins Team PokerStars, Ivey Leads ESPN's Poker Rankings
The stable of sponsored pros at PokerStars grew even larger on Tuesday. We'll bring you that story, plus the latest poker rankings at ESPN, in this edition of the Nightly Turbo.
In Case You Missed It:
On Monday, the American Gaming Association filed a petition to prevent PokerStars from buying a casino in New Jersey. Read about it here at PokerNews.com.
The battle lines are being drawn between Caesars and PokerStars in New Jersey. Rich Ryan touches on that topic and more in his latest Five Thoughts piece.
The 2013 Chicago Poker Classic Main Event came to a close on Monday. Blake Bohn emerged as the champion to collect the $288,171 top prize.
The 2013 World Poker Tour Bay 101 Shooting Star Main Event kicked off on Monday. Get the full Day 1a recap here at PokerNews.
CardRunners instructor Gareth Chantler specializes in Zoom poker at PokerStars. For his latest free training video, Chantler stresses the importance of game selection and being able to quit when necessary.
Tired of having your aces cracked on the money bubble and losing lots of equity? InsuredPlay offers a way to ensure you receive the fair share of the pot.
PokerStars Signs Leo Margets
PokerStars announced on Tuesday that Leonor “Leo” Margets is the newest member of Team PokerStars Pro.
The 29-year-old Barcelona native began playing poker in 2007. She was originally taught by her boyfriend and then started perfecting her online game shortly thereafter. Margets won a 2008 University Tournament in a casino in Barcelona, which led to a sponsorship with Team 888poker. She hasn’t looked back since.
During the 2009 World Series of Poker Main Event, Margets earned the distinction of Last Woman Standing, joining a small group that includes Barbara Enright, Susie Isaacs, Maria Ho, Tiffany Michelle and Annie Duke. She ended up placing 27th for $352,832 after losing an all-in preflop confrontation to Warren Zackey.
Margets also made a run in the 2010 Aussie Millions Six-Handed No-Limit Hold’Em side event, placing third for AUD$58,800. Her more recent accomplishments include winning the 2010 Full Tilt Poker Master Series and the 2012 European Poker Tour Grand Final €1,000 Ladies Event, where she defeated fellow Team PokerStars Pro Victoria Coren heads-up. She also made a run that year in the Main Event of the EPT Grand Final, placing 57th.
Along with being a former member of Team 888poker, Margets also enjoyed a short stint with Lock Poker beginning in August 2011. Outside of the poker realm, Margets boasts a Masters in communication business management and a degree in economics from London University. She also enjoys long-distance running and has competed in marathons. Margets currently resides in London.
As the newest Team PokerStars Pro, Margets can be found under the screen name "L. Margets" on PokerStars.
For more on Margets, check out the PokerStars Blog.
Ivey Leads The Nuts
The latest edition of ESPN's The Nuts has been released. The monthly blog post ranks the best poker players in the world at the moment. The 10-person panel includes Don Peters, PokerNews' editor-in-chief; Jessica Welman, WSOP.com's managing editor; and ESPN's Andrew Feldman and Bernard Lee, among others.
Phil Ivey kept his lead in the top spot despite not producing any tournament results in February. His last cash came in January for a 30th-place finish at the Aussie Millions Main Event. However, Team Ivey had a strong month with big scores from Toby Lewis, Jonathan Tamayo and Dan Shak.
Marvin Rettenmaier made the spotlight after jumping up five spots into a tie for second with Vanessa Selbst. Last month, Rettenmaier took third at a European Poker Tour Deauville event and finished fifth at the World Poker Tour Baden Main Event. Scott Seiver moved up one position to fourth in the rankings, while Phil Hellmuth dropped two spots after failing to cash in any February events.
Jason Mercier continued to slip down the rankings, moving into eighth after having not cashed any event since mid-December. Formerly the top-ranked player on the list, Mercier doesn't have a six-figure cash in more than a year. We may see him fall off the list entirely if he fails to produce any results in March.
For the full top 10, visit ESPN.com.
Chris Reslock Wins Fifth WSOP Circuit Ring
Atlantic City-based poker pro Chris Reslock won his fifth World Series of Poker Circuit ring on Monday, tying him with four other players who have won five WSOP Circuit events. His latest achievement came in the $580 buy-in no-limit hold’em tournament at Caesars Atlantic City, where he collected $25,480 in prize money.
Reslock joins an elite group that includes Mark "Pegasus" Smith, Kyle Cartwright, Ari Engel and Kurt Jewell, all of whom sit one victory behind all-time leader Alex Masek. Masek won his sixth ring just two months ago in a $300 NLHE Turbo event at the WSOP Circuit stop in Los Angeles. With another three months remaining in the season, time will tell if one of the five players can catch Masek in wins.
To date, Reslock has over $1.7 million in career earnings with four of his five rings won in Atlantic City. His top accomplishments include winning the 2005 WSOP Circuit $10,000 Championship Event, in which he scored $335,000 after beating John Juanda heads-up for the title. Two months later he won his second ring, good for $82,000.
In 2007, Reslock won his first WSOP gold bracelet in the $5,000 Seven Card Stud event for $258,453. The final table included several notables like Marco Traniello and Phil Ivey, whom Reslock defeated in heads-up play.
He followed that up with another WSOP Circuit ring in 2007 at Harrah’s Tunica. His fourth circuit victory came in 2010 at Harrah’s Atlantic City.
“It's always nice to win,” Reslock told the WSOP Blog on Monday. “You don't get a chance to get here too often, so I'm really glad I was able to win it.”
For complete coverage of the WSOP Circuit Caesars Atlantic City prelims, check out WSOP.com.
PokerStars.com Sees Huge Boost in Traffic
PokerScout.com released it weekly online poker traffic report on Monday. The data tracking site showed that online poker traffic was up 4% from last week, but was down 4% from the same time last year.
The only change in the top 10 rankings this week was 888poker taking the No. 5 spot from PokerStars.it, which dropped 19 percent after its milestone hand promotion ended early in the week. PokerStars.es kept is No. 7 ranking despite a traffic decline after the end of its 500 Millionth Hand promotion.
PokerStars celebrated its 95 billionth hand on Monday, drawing in more than 90,000 players to boost traffic by 20 percent over the last five days. PokerStars' traffic hike was also affected by the 7th Anniversary Sunday Million, which attracted 49,287 entrants to create a prize pool of nearly $10 million.
PartyPoker confirmed on Friday that it is taking steps to segregate players by ability. Still in the testing phase, it will restrict more skilled players from playing on tables consisting of mostly newcomers. The Revolution Network is also following a similar model; however, neither site is expecting immediate impact on the total player counts.
Here’s a look at traffic rankings as of Tuesday:
| Rank | Site | 7-Day Average (Real-money ring players) |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | PokerStars | 28,600 |
| 2 | Full Tilt Poker | 3,640 |
| 3 | PartyPoker | 3,300 |
| 4 | iPoker | 3,000 |
| 5 | 888Poker | 2,500 |
| 6 | PokerStars.it | 2,150 |
| 7 | Pokerstars.es | 1,960 |
| 8 | Winamax.fr | 1,920 |
| 9 | MPN | 1,360 |
| 10 | PokerStars.fr | 1,320 |
The full online poker traffic report can be found at PokerScout.com.
acePLAYpoker Charity Championship: Episode 3
The parent company of the Stratosphere Casino Hotel and Tower recently celebrated the official launch of the free-to-play acePLAYpoker.com with the first acePLAYpoker Charity Championship. Among the players competing for $5,000 in charity money were poker pros Liz Lieu and Tony Dunst, two-time UFC Heavyweight Champion Frank Mir, BMX pros Ricardo Laguna and TJ Lavin, and Bellator Ring Girl Jade Bryce.
Here's a look at episode 3 of the event:
Read more about acePLAYpoker.com here at PokerNews.com.
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