The Nightly Turbo: Phil Galfond's Big Weekend, Online Poker Bill in California, and More
Did you miss any of the day's top poker stories? Well, you've come to the right place to get caught up. In this edition of the Nightly Turbo, we're bringing you Phil Galfond's huge cash-game wins at Full Tilt Poker, a new online poker bill in California, and more.
In Case You Missed It:
Calvin Anderson had an incredible Sunday on the virtual felts. Check out his results and more in the Sunday Briefing.
Did you miss Sunday's World Poker Tour coverage on FSN? Read our WPT recap to get caught up.
Day 2 of the 2012-13 World Series of Poker Circuit Palm Beach Kennel Club Main Event came to a close Sunday evening. David Grandieri led the way with 30 players remaining.
Can poker players in the U.S. still expect a federal online poker bill to be passed? Matthew Kredell spoke with PPA Executive Director John Pappas about the recent optimistic comments made by Frank Fahrenkopf.
How did poker pro Jay Tan get her start in poker? Find out in the latest edition of Seat Open.
The World Poker Tour 2013 L.A. Poker Classic continued on Sunday at the Commerce Casino. Get the full Day 2 recap right here at PokerNews.com.
Galfond Makes His Weekend Count
After losing $630,000 at the high-stakes tables on Full Tilt Poker last Wednesday, Phil ��OMGClayAiken�� Galfond bounced back Saturday by booking a massive win and pushing his profits above $660,000 for the week.
Galfond began Saturday playing a heads-up 2-7 triple draw against Viktor ��Isildur�� Blom, and after only 20 minutes he had snatched $142,000 from his Swedish friend in just over 30 hands. Galfond then went on to win an additional $160,000 playing triple draw playing against Patrik ��FinddaGrind�� Antonius, ��patpatpanda," and Phil ��Polarizing�� Ivey, bringing his winnings to more than $300,000 for the day.
Later on, Galfond put in a five-hour session and won four of the five tables he played, adding another $185,000 to his daily total. His success over the weekend followed an impressive $362,000 win at the 2-7 tables on Thursday. Galfond is up more than $1.8 million this year, making him online poker's top earner so far in 2013.
Blom spent more than six weeks as the year's biggest online winner, but his recent cold stretch continued Saturday when he lost $450,000 playing fixed-limit Omaha hi/lo after already losing $238,000 at triple draw earlier in the day. After taking another huge hit, Blom was spotted playing lower stakes on Sunday and Monday, presumably looking to rebuild his bankroll.
HighStakesDB.com has more.
Another Online Poker Bill in California
As the largest state in the U.S., California presents a very compelling market for legalized online poker. And with Nevada, Delaware and New Jersey ramping up efforts to launch their own platforms, the Golden State doesn't want to fall too far behind.
On Friday, State Senator Lou Correa introduced SB 678, also known as the Authorization and Regulation of Internet Poker and Consumer Protection Act of 2013. The measure would authorize the operation of real-money Internet poker within the borders California.
Correa's bill would require the California Gambling Control Commission to establish a regulatory framework for the licensure of eligible operators to run an Internet poker site. The bill would prohibit interstate compacts for now, but California and its 38 million residents would undoubtedly establish the best model for intrastate online poker liquidity in the U.S.
California now has two online poker bills in the legislature. In December, Sen. Roderick Wright reintroduced a poker-only online gambling bill. SB 51 is very similar to Wright's SB 1463, which failed to gain any momentum last year before the legislative session ended in August. Wright hopes his latest measure will be heard later this year.
View SB 678 in its entirety at leginfo.legislature.ca.gov.
Rafa's Last Longer
Team PokerStars SportStar Rafael Nadal hit the virtual felts over the weekend to participate in the PokerStars $11 Sunday Storm. The tournament attracted more than 43,000 entries, including Nadal and friend Joan Suasi, both of whom were looking to claim a share of the $300,000 guaranteed prize pool.
(c/o PokerStars Blog)
After studying and improving their poker game over the last several weeks, Nadal and Suasi upped the ante in the Sunday Storm by agreeing to a last-longer competition. Nadal shared the wager with his Twitter followers last week:
I'mm ready @joansuasi to go deeper than you on Sunday's poker tournament. These days I have practiced a lot @el_rage . I will beat you!
— Rafa Nadal (@RafaelNadal)
@RafaelNadal @el_rage Stick to playing tennis Rafa which you do very well... There is no chance you beat me on Sunday !!
— Joan Suasi (@JoanSuasi)
Nadal got off to a fast start in the tournament after making quads, and he was even kind enough to post the hand on the PokerStars BOOM! Replayer:
Eventually, though, Nadal's stack dwindled down to five big blinds, and he got his remaining chips in with A?5? against K?Q?. He was ahead before the flop, but the board brought a queen to end Rafa's tournament. While Nadal did finish in the top half of the field, his friend Suasi won the last longer.
Read more about the bet at the PokerStars Blog.
Full Tilt Poker's New Schedule
Beginning Feb. 25, poker players will be able to find an exciting new tournament schedule at Full Tilt Poker. The world's second-largest online poker room is now offering prize pool guarantees on every single tournament, becoming the first and only online site to provide such an offer to its customers.
The new schedule will offer at least one guaranteed tournament every ten minutes and up to 225 guaranteed cash tournaments every single day. That includes up to 30 Rush tournaments, 20 multi-entry events, 15 re-entry tournaments, and eight multi-chance tournaments.
"From Rush tournaments to multi-entry events, Full Tilt Poker has always been the market leader in providing players with a huge range of diverse and innovative tournaments," said Sarne Lightman, head of marketing at Full Tilt Poker.
"Full Tilt Poker��s scheduled tournaments already offer round-the-clock action every day of the week with a wide range of buy-ins and guaranteed prize pools to choose from," Lightman continued. "The new schedule is another market first offering our players the only fully guaranteed schedule of any online site."
During March, FTP will guarantee more than $25 million in tournament prize pools and will feature a range of satellites allowing players to enter the larger events like the daily $150 buy-in Tyrannosaurus Rex at 15:00 ET.
Players can also look forward to a new tournament lobby that will make it easier to find the tournaments they are interested playing.
The full tournament schedule (with some hilariously-named events) can be found at FullTiltPoker.com.
Schedule Change for PPC Aruba
The DeepStacks Poker Tour Players Poker Championship at Aruba is still on tap for 2013, but the series has been pushed to this fall. Tournament organizers announced this week that PPC Aruba is now scheduled for Oct. 2 through 9 at the Radisson Aruba Resort, Casino & Spa.
The same exciting schedule includes eight events, highlighted by the $2,500 buy-in Main Event which features a $200,000 guaranteed prize pool. The tournament has commitments in place from DeepStacks Pros Michael Mizrachi, Mike Matasow and Tristan Wade, and the final table will be live streamed online via DeepStacks.com and DeepStacks360.com.
The Radisson Aruba Casino will begin running PPC Aruba satellites in May during the newly announced 2013 PPC South America Poker Classic. The series will run May 4 through 9, 2013.
"Players Poker Championship is very excited about the new series schedule and dates that will benefit players from the United States to South America," said Bryan Oulton, co-commissioner of the PPC. "Not to mention, the addition of the 2013 PPC South America Poker Classic will add a second exciting stop in Aruba."
For more, visit PPCAruba.com.
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