The Nightly Turbo: Pennsylvania Considers Online Poker, London Tournament Breaks Record
More than three years ago, the PokerNews Nightly Turbo was created as a way to give readers a quick rundown of the biggest poker stories of the day. The daily article quickly became a staple here at PokerNews, and we've had a lot of fun with it over the years.
As they say, though, all good things must come to an end. This edition of the Nightly Turbo will be the last — at least for a while — as we are in the process of redesigning some elements of the site. But don't worry; we'll continue providing our loyal readers with the same quality of poker news from around the globe, so stay tuned for the exciting new things we have in store!
In the last Nightly Turbo here at PokerNews, we're bringing you an online gambling bill being introduced in Pennsylvania, a record-breaking tournament in London, and more.
In Case You Missed It:
Paul Volpe is on the heater of a lifetime. On Thursday, he made his second World Poker Tour final table in eight days.
How was the high-stakes action at the online tables this week? Read the Online Railbird Report to find out the week's biggest winners and losers.
Philipp Gruissem returned to the Top 10 of the Global Poker Index rankings this week. Mickey Doft breaks down the biggest movers and shakers of the GPI.
New Mexico isn't normally thought of as a gambling mecca, but the state generated a “net win” of more than $1 billion in 2012. Read all about it in the latest Inside Gaming.
Grant "balbomb" Coombs was a long-time member of CardRunners before becoming an instructor. In his latest free fraining video, Coombs discusses how and when to turn a showdown hand into a bluff.
Later this month, DraftKings will be hosting a massive $150,000 daily fantasy NBA game with $50,000 going to the winner. You can qualify for as little as $5!
Pennsylvania Enters The Mix
Pennsylvania is the latest U.S. state to consider offering online gambling to residents. According to Philly.com, Democratic State Rep. Tina Davis is looking to introduce an iGaming bill as early as next Wednesday.
"We wanted to get the conversation going," Davis said, according to Philly.com. "We're working on some changes to the bill. I got a lot of feedback from the different stakeholders, including the casinos."
Under the proposed bill, online license application fees would be set at $10 million each, gross gambling revenue would be taxed at 20 percent, and only those with slot machine and table-game licenses would qualify for online gambling licenses, which would restrict Internet wagering to only Pennsylvania casinos.
The bill would also set provisions dealing with problem gamblers, such as a trigger mechanism in the software that would lock the account of someone with consistent losses in a short time.
Davis’ bill would also exclude any talk of interstate compacts for online poker.
"If we do not protect our casinos and money in Pennsylvania, we will be hurt by all the competition," she said.
The House Gaming Oversight Committee must first consider the bill, and then the Gaming Control Board would approve the manufacturers and distributors providing the software for online gaming.
With a Republican majority in a House that has been mostly anti-gaming, State Rep. Paul Clymer intends on introducing his own bill, which would make online gambling illegal.
For more, check out Philly.com.
London's Poker Festival Breaking Records
The UKIPT Main Event at Grosvenor Victoria Casino set a new record on Thursday as the largest live poker event ever held in London. After three starting flights, 1,099 total players generated a prize pool of £746,221, with £156,800 going to the eventual champion.
The third Day 1 starting flight saw 491 players pony up the £770 buy-in, with less than 100 moving on to Day 2. Two-time UKIPT champion Wojtek Barzantny finished Day 1c as the overall chip leader with 275,900 chips, more than 60,000 chips ahead of his nearest competitor Weideng Wang.
This isn't Barzantny's first dance. In November, he won the inaugural UKIPT Online event that mixed online and live play in Bristol, where he defeated Chris Moorman heads-up to earn £77,126. A week later he took down the UKIPT Bristol Main Event, claiming £90,400 and becoming the only player in UKIPT history to win back-to-back titles.
On Thursday, Barzantny got things rolling when his pocket eights cracked pocket tens for 80 big blinds. He took the chip lead later when his A♣K♣ held up against Q♠J♦ preflop.
Several well-known players participated in the third leg and advanced to Day 2. Marvin Rettenmaier (129,900), Juan Manuel Pastor (65,400), Olivier Busquet (45,900), and Liv Boeree (33,000) all survived on Day 1c. Among those who didn't make it through the day were Jake Cody, Anton Wigg, Pierre Neuville, JP Kelly, and Toby Lewis.
Day 2 began earlier today with 248 players remaining starting on Level 12 with blinds at 600/1,200 and the average stack at 65,500 chips. Here's a look at the leaders when the day began:
Start of Day 2 Top 10 Chip Counts
| Place | Player | Chips |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Wojtek Barzantny | 275,900 |
| 2 | Weideng Wang | 213,400 |
| 3 | Ben Jackson | 197,700 |
| 4 | Luke Bird | 196,800 |
| 5 | Tom Hall | 181,600 |
| 6 | David Urban | 162,400 |
| 7 | Daniel Rudd | 161,500 |
| 8 | Philippe Souki | 159,800 |
| 9 | Patryk Slusarek | 159,100 |
| 10 | Paul Kerr | 150,000 |
As part of the London Poker Festival, the EPT London Main Event begins March 10 and PokerNews will be providing live coverage from the Grosvenor Victoria Casino. The £5,250 championship event will conclude when a champion is crowned on Saturday, March 16.
Until then, follow the PokerStars Blog for live coverage of the PokerStars European Poker Tour London Poker Festival.
PokerStars Versus Full Tilt Poker: Tale of the Tape
The $300,000 battleship-style heads-up contest between Team PokerStars and Team Full Tilt at the London Poker Festival is just two days away. To build excitement for the event, PokerStars has released a "tale-of-the-tape" between the two sides. But before we break down the stats, here's a refresher of the format in case you forgot:
Team PokerStars will be represented by Daniel Negreanu, Isaac Haxton and Bertrand "ElkY" Grospellier, and Team Full Tilt Poker will be made up of its team dubbed "The Professionals" — Gus Hansen, Tom Dwan and Viktor Blom. The action will be played on Full Tilt Poker in a "battleship" style format with a best-of-three structure determining the winner. The victors of each match will collect $50,000 from his opponent and each member of the overall winning team will receive $10,000 in tournament buy-ins from the rival poker room.
The challenge kicks off on Sunday, March 10 at 10 a.m. ET and will be hosted online by Full Tilt Poker, allowing everyone to log in and rail the action.
Because Negreanu had a much wider selection of players to choose from, Hansen was given the option of selecting the matchups. Here's what he came up with:
| Daniel Negreanu | vs. | Gus Hansen | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Team | PokerStars | Full Tilt Poker | |
| Country | Canada | Denmark | |
| Age | 38 | 39 | |
| WSOP bracelets | 4 | 1 | |
| EPT final tables | 1 | 1 | |
| Live tournament winnings | $14 million | $11 million | |
| Online tournament winnings | $483,000 | N/A |
| Bertrand Grospellier | vs. | Viktor Blom | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Team | PokerStars | Full Tilt Poker | |
| Country | France | Sweden | |
| Age | 32 | 22 | |
| WSOP bracelets | 1 | 0 | |
| EPT final tables | 1 | 0 | |
| Live tournament winnings | $11 million | $1.5 million | |
| Online tournament winnings | $2 million | $480,000 |
| Isaac Haxton | vs. | Tom "durrrr" Dwan | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Team | PokerStars | Full Tilt Poker | |
| Country | U.S.A. | U.S.A. | |
| Age | 27 | 26 | |
| WSOP bracelets | 0 | 0 | |
| EPT final tables | 0 | 0 | |
| Live tournament winnings | $4 million | $2 million | |
| Online tournament winnings | $408,000 | $330,000 |
When the event kicks off on Sunday, PokerNews will be providing live coverage of each match on our live reporting page. Stay tuned for all the action!
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