Not everyone is unhappy about the elimination of PokerStars and Full Tilt from the American online poker marketplace. Shares of Bwin/Party soared today on the London Stock Exchange, closing up nearly 35 percent on rather high trading volume.

And while in some ways this graph looks like the inverse of Party Gaming’s graph in ’06 come the UIGEA and their subsequent, calculated US pullout. But zoom out and you’ll see today’s rise for Party (now officially Bwin.Party Digital Entertainment) is merely a token blip in their long-term efforts to get back atop the online gaming world.

In fact, they had plummeted rather hard just this month as US legislative efforts began making it seem as if Stars and Tilt would be white-list operators in any future, regulated American online gaming economy.

Meanwhile, Scarlet got her hands on some detailed equity research from the venerable banking institution Barclay’s … assessing the impact of of the US DOJ’s actions on the European gaming market. Good in some spots, not as promising as some might think in others.

Click here to see for yourself.

The “bull case” they make, interestingly, is a scenario where both Stars and Tilt end up in full collapse.

The DOJ dropped an A-bomb on the online poker industry Friday, and, as you’d expect, the impact was devastating. Within hours of the DOJ’s indictments, PokerStars and Full Tilt Poker had shut down real money gaming in the US, effectively killing online poker and leaving millions of customers with nowhere to play.

And while the sites are scrambling to readjust to a world where approximately 40 percent or more of their business just disappeared and mount legal defenses for themselves and their executives, the fallout from Friday’s bombshells continues to spread far and wide from its epicenters in Dublin and the Isle of Man.

I could go on, but I’ll just end up depressing myself and that’s no fun.

While Full Tilt and Stars were certainly the two biggest poker sites operating in the states, their reach extends far beyond the virtual felt. Until Friday, these sites were the drivers of a whole industry that revolved around their players, television programs and live tournaments around the world. With the sites gone, the poker economy they supported is sure to follow.

As I write this, a number of my friends are getting trashed on Pisco Sours down in Peru, where they’re covering the end of an LAPT event for PokerStars and PokerNews. The sad fact is, though, this may be the end of poker reporting as we know it.

Providing live tournament coverage is expensive and resource-intensive, and sites like PokerNews can’t exist without financial underwriting provided by sites like Stars and Tilt. With those players now out of the US market, there’s no reason for them to be spending resources on tournament reporting when that money can be better spent on the high-priced legal teams they’re undoubtedly going to need to put in place. Bottom line – that WSOP coverage that everyone has been gearing up for next month probably isn’t going to happen.

More…

We showed you the 52-page criminal complaint — 9 charges against 11 individuals facing between 5 and 30 years in prison. Now here’s the 80-page civil complaint in the DOJ vs. PokerStars, FullTilt, AP/UB, et al:

http://www.scribd.com/doc/53170382/3bb-Civil-Complaint-DOJ-vs-PokerStars-Full-Tilt-UB-AP-et-al

The Feds’ allegations tell a rather compelling narrative of illegal gambling, bank fraud, money laundering, and conspiracy to circumvent US law — that if proven calls for the forfeiture of not just domain names, but also:

$1.5 billion from PokerStars
$1 billion from Full Tilt
$500 million from UB/AP

The court documents also spell out the details on the 76 bank accounts money allegedly passed through … in multiple countries and currencies, making USA vs. PokerStars+ not just a federal case but also an international one. And with the US Feds seeking to freeze these accounts, industry types get a hint of which Stars- and Tilt-funded paychecks may soon be in jeopardy … if they aren’t already.

With the criminal indictment and civil complaint together, federal prosecutors Arlo Devlin Brown and crew, seem unafraid to telgraph their intent: People have to go to prison and we take their money, but if that’s not gonna work, we’re at least gonna get $3 billion guaranteed … and we now have two tries to take it down!

(I use the term we because these cases are technically “the people of United States of America vs.” … thus it really is you and I and my dad and grandma and her priest and the electrician and Bristol Palin and Justin Bieber … claiming that all those online poker spoils are rightfully ours.)

* * *

The regulated online poker-only “Reid bill”, if you recall, promised to generate $1 to $4 billion a year for the US government. So you gotta figure $3 billion in forfeitures buys another year for the forces who do wanna see fully legal licensed and regulated online poker — and other casino games — to craft a bill to their liking.

We drop everything and do a 6-hour breaking-news type show as the huge story develops regarding the 11-count indictment by the US Department of Justice against Full Tilt, Pokerstars, and Absolute Poker.  Brandon Adams and Eric Morris (CEO of Bluff Magazine) our are special guests, and we take a ton of listener phone calls.  Druff breaks down what everything means for the present and future of online poker.  We will return to our regular schedule of shows on Wednesday, April 20th.

The arrest warrant in rem in the parallel civil forfeiture case (11 Civ. 2564) involving PokerStars, FullTilt, and UB is out. This is the instrumentality through which the domain names were redirected by the FBI to the notices up on the sites. The only sites affected by this are: www.pokerstars.com, www.fulltiltpoker.com, www.ub.com, www.ultimatebet.com, and www.absolutepoker.com.

The warrant directs the .com registrar (VeriSign) to direct the name servers to the addresses specified in the warrant or such other name servers or IP addresses as directed by the FBI.

These domains have been locked by the registry (and by the registrar in the case of www.ultimatebet.com – this domain remains with GoDaddy pending a final disposition of the domain seizure case in Kentucky) and now cannot be moved without a court order or the consent of the Department of Justice. I understand that the rest of the domains (save and except for www.ultimatebet.com) are registered with foreign registrars.

Rabbit Hunt:

The Rabbit Hunt crew return after taking a week off to catch everyone up on the latest poker news. After discussing the recent legislation passed in Washington D.C. and Zynga Poker the host move on to discuss the WSOP rematch concept. Matt goes rants about how he does not like the concept, saying he would rather see a boxing match between Phil Helmuth and Eskimo Clark than the Helmuth vs. Johnny Chan rematch. To close out the show Matt continues on his rant party, this time he rants about the World Poker Tour and why it should not be considered a major along side the World Series of Poker. Take a listen to the show on either the Cardrunners site or download it directly from iTunes to listen to this interview.

Two Plus Two Pokercast:

Also coming off a week hiatus the Two Plus Two Pokercast returns this week with Scott “URnotINdangr” Palmer coming on to discuss his recent supersized SuperStar Showdown match. Starting off the show with a discussion on the recent big sporting events the guys confess their love for this time of the year, Hockey Playoff eh? Brandon Adams joins the show this week to discuss his trip to Augusta for The Masters before talking a little poker. At the 1 hour 54 minute mark Palmer joins in the discussing to give some commentary of his match against Blom to close out the show. You can listen to the show at the Two Plus Two Pokercast site or download it on iTunes.

Poker Static:

If you are looking for interviews, interviews, and more interviews then you need to be listening to the Poker Static guys. Kagome Kagome, formerly known as IHateJuice on Full Tilt Poker joins the crew this week to discuss the meanings behind his names and the discussion he had with Full Tilt when they wanted him to change his username. You can either download the show from iTunes or watch the video below.

Forbes associate editor Nathan Vardi published an article this morning entitled “How Casino Mogul Steve Wynn Went All In On Online Poker and PokerStars”, which despite the lame-o “All In!” header, is a compelling high-seas tale of how PokerStars founder Isai Scheinberg wooed and won the reticent Steve Wynn based on Vardi’s interview with the casino titan.

Because where else could billionaires come to grips with their future together but on a fabulous yacht in exotic locations and make the deal (surprisingly) even-steven 50-50?

I couldn’t help but think of Vardi’s post as if told in a novella….

When Scheinberg Met Steve

Chapter 1: The First Meeting

Nearly two years ago billionaire Las Vegas casino mogul Steve Wynn met Isai Scheinberg, the founder of PokerStars, the world’s biggest online gaming firm, for the first time. Scheinberg generally avoids traveling to the U.S., but the meeting took place on Wynn’s boat while it was anchored in the Mediterranean Sea. Over a three-hour lunch, Scheinberg tried to convince Wynn that the two of them should work together to regulate online poker in the U.S. with an eye toward setting up a joint venture.

More…

This week we cover another step toward online gambling regulation in the United States, as the announcement came that Poker Stars and Wynn Resorts have reached an agreement to work together! Also, updates on the upcoming iGaming Super Show and the latest from eCOGRA.

Rabbit Hunt:

Our friends on the Rabbit Hunt podcast jump right into the middle of the Joe Sebok drama this week. The guys break down and criticize both sides of the drama, breaking down what both sides of did wrong. They also discuss why Paul Leggett will probably never agree to come to 2+2 to answer questions from the forum readers and how much work the moderators have had to do over the past few days. Take a listen to the show on either the Cardrunners site or download it directly from iTunes to listen to this interview.

The Bernard Lee Poker Show:

Making its first appearance in the roundup The Bernard Lee Poker Show welcomes mindset coach Sam Chauhan to their show. Chauhan speaks about being in the positive mindset in order to be successful. He also discusses about how he got started in the poker community with a short discussion that he had with Antonio Esfandiari in a restroom at the Rio. To close out the show the two discuss some of the tools that Chauhan uses with his students to keep them in the right mindset. If you would like to listen to this show you can either download it from Bernard’s site, listen to it directly on on Rounders Radio, or through iTunes.

I Am Nanonoko – Team Pokerstars Online Documentary:

OK, this is not a podcast but it was brought to our attention this week from our good friend Dr. Pauly from Tao of Poker. If you have ever wondered what it is like to be in the head of a Supernova Elite you definitely should check out this short documentary that was done on Randy “Nononoko” Lew. Also check out the brief blog that gives an introduction to the film.

The Poker Edge:

The guys from The Poker Edge are back this week with Daniel Negreanu in tow. First on topic is Erik Seidel’s recent run to the top of the all time money list and how the super high roller events are altering how he looks at the list. The discussion shortly turns to the SuperStar Showdown where Negreanu discusses his game plan against Isildur1. Negreanu also discusses the recent notNAPT event that was held at the Bike and PokerStars moving into poker regulation. You can listen to the entire podcast on ESPN.com, or download it directly via iTunes.

Poker Road Radio:

Are you looking for on the road radio with stops at most of the major tournament stops then you should be listening to Poker Road Radio. These guys have been at the WPT Bay 101 Shooting Star tournament the past week and have had guest such as Dwyte Pilgrim, The Royal Flush Girls, and final table player Mike Sexton. The highlight of the week was the show from March 15th where Joe Sebok discusses the recent Friedman/Haxton issues that have come to the forefront on Cerus network. Check out the show on the Poker Road Radio site or subscribe via iTunes.

Jess And BJ Show:

This show speaks for itself, Jessica Welman and BJ Nemeth from the award winning The Poker Beat join forces at all the US World Poker Tour events to record the Jess and BJ show. If you do not watch these shows you definitely should.

Due to your heroic author’s insistence that he can actually play poker as well as write about it, he decided to take a quick trip to Atlantic City to play a couple of Circuit events. That failed miserably, and also delayed the publishing of this article by more than a day. But here it is, a recap of what turned out to be a very busy week.

Erik Seidel Declares, “All Buy-In’s Over $25K Belong To Me”
2nd in the 2010 NBC Heads-Up Championship. 4th in the 2011 PCA $25,000 High Roller event. 3rd in the $100,000 High Roller and a win in the $250,000 Super High Roller at the 2011 Aussie Millions. And in the last week, a win in the $25,000 High Roller event at the LAPC and redemption with a win in the 2011 NBC Heads-Up Championship.

That’s a whole lot of words without a complete sentence, but it needs to stand alone due to the sheer impressiveness of one man accomplishing all of that in a calendar year. For a long time, Erik Seidel was known only as the man on the other end of Johnny Chan’s WSOP win, courtesy of the famous clip in the movie Rounders. Since his most infamous moment, Seidel has won 8 WSOP bracelets, but the last year has to be his crowning achievement. The total cash haul for all of this success? Over $4.5 million.

The path that Seidel took to the Head’s Up Championship was an impressive one. His first three victories were over fellow founding members of Team FullTilt, defeating Allen Cunningham in the first round, Jennifer Harman in the second round and Phil Gordon in the third. Seidel’s next two matches were against very different kinds of players, specifically of the online variety. One of the few people who’s been as hot as Seidel on the tournament trail is Vanessa Selbst, who has captured a few titles of her own in the last year. But she too fell to Seidel in the round of eight, setting up a match with Andrew Robl in the semifinals. Robl was no match for Seidel, who advanced to the finals and, wouldn’t you know it, a WSOP Main Event champion was waiting for him there. In a reversal of fortune it was Erik Seidel standing tall, claiming the $750,000 first place prize by beating what many would classify as a surprise finalist in Chris Moneymaker. Should make for some pretty good TV.

John Riordan Can’t Buy Booze, But He Can Rock a WSOP Circuit Ring
WSOP Circuit, West Palm Beach, Florida
The bad news for John Riordan is that because he can’t gamble in the state of Nevada, he misses out on the huge opportunity of the WSOP Championship, with $1 million in the prize pool. The good news is that he’s already got quite a few reasons not to be upset. About 210,810 reasons, to be specific, as he won the Main Event of the WSOP Circuit stop at the West Palm Beach Kennel Club last week.

Riordan took advantage of the fact that Florida is one of the few places in the United States in which you’re allowed to gamble at 18, so while he technically qualifies for the million dollar freeroll, he can’t legally play in Las Vegas, and thus forfeits this right to play. His spot will be occupied by an additional at-large qualifier, determined by overall point standings for the entirety of the 2010-2011 WSOPC season.

Gregory Brooks Owes Neighbor Free Drinks For Life After Convincing Him to Play LAPC Main Event
LA Poker Classic, Commerce, California
I don’t personally know what it’s like to be able to play or not play a $10k event on a whim, but for those who can, it can be a decision that can change their life. In the case of Gregory Brooks, that’s exactly what happened. After some disappointing results online, Brooks was ready to take a break from poker, but thanks to the advice of that sagely neighbor, he decided to squeeze in a trip to the Commerce Casino that would change his life.

After several grueling days, Brooks found himself in the final six of the LAPC Main Event with online legends Vivek Rajkumar and Steve Gross, as well as former WSOP Main Event champion and poker superstar Carlos Mortensen. But when the dust finally settled, it was Brooks that was the last man standing. Most people end up with a headache or a mysterious rash after doing something on a whim. Greg Brooks won $1.6 million and a seat to the $25,000 WPT Championship. Tough life.

In other action at the seemingly endless LAPC, David Kitai won the WPT Celebrity invitational. The final table of this event was delayed by a week to accommodate the WPT filming crew, which was already set up to film the Main Event. Kitai took home a $100,000 package, with $75,000 in cash and the other $25,000 wrapped up in a seat in the WPT Championship.

WSOPC in Atlantic City Becomes a 3-Ring Circus
WSOP Circuit – Caeser’s, Atlantic City
The WSOPC has been in Atlantic City for less than a week, and there’s already madness brewing. At the final table of Event #5, a bevy of borderline poker ettiquette issues were raised, from calling for cards in hands players weren’t involved in to high-fiving spectators, to running around the rather large tournament area causing a major scene. The instigator of this madness was Matthew Piccolo, who Nolan Dalla, in his recap of the event, called “an unshaven Chris Farley wearing an Oakland Raiders cap.” The hysterics overshadowed the victory of Jaeik Cho, who quietly collected the WSOPC ring and nearly $30,000.

Luke Vrabel Takes Home $670K and a Lambo In 5th Anniversary of PokerStars’ Sunday Million
Its rare to see a tournament eclipse 10,000 players online. It’s nearly impossible to imagine almost 60,000 players in an event, and it hits that mark when the buy-in is $215. But that’s just what happened this past weekend in the PokerStars Sunday Million, where they guaranteed a $5 million prize pool for their 5th anniversary and reached more than double that mark. As play reached the final table, the structure became a bit too fast for the remaining players, who each agreed to chop out part of the prize pool and guarantee themselves almost $300,000. The biggest winner of them all was Luke “Bdbeatslayer” Vrabel, who took home $670,000 as well as a brand new Lamborghini Gallardo. Not bad for 16 hours of work.

Gah, another juicy newsbriefable thingy to speculate wildly on with little information or context when we all could just make a phone call or send an email to find out what’s up) … yet no Poker Beat to break it down.

Anyhow, check it out and decide with minimal information for yourself … Daniel Negreanu, “caught” on webcam via screencap … playing on a site that isn’t PokerStars?

It’s something new called PokerView — which looks like just about any other online poker site except instead of avatars you have webcam video. Very tell-revealing you might think in straight-up play. And Negreanu obviously isn’t making any effort to hide his identity any more than he’s actively trying to promote this new endeavor.

So many stories potentially in play here. Is Negreanu going the way of Hellmuth, Duke, Raymer, and Maven … seeking a new poker home? Does this new site have any connection to PokerStars (the biggest online poker company in the world, save for maybe Zynga)? Could this technology be a major step forward in TOS security, giving a real-time glimpse of who’s really playing and what else might be going on in their seat. Could you mix it with Rush Poker to create online poker’s version of chat roulette? And with that in mind, serious question … how long before people start showing their junk and contend it’s merely a strategic maneuver if your schlong got the other guy to fold?

ALT HED: Show Me Your Nuts

(Thanks, DL, for the tip!) (Shame on you, DL, for trying to play me a chump!)

CONFIRMED: Not a real Daniel Negreanu endeavor.

Women’s Poker Hour:

Host Amy Zupko and Jennifer Shahade are joined by Donna Houle to start off this weeks show. Donna is one of the founders of the Pink Ladies Poker Tour. They then move on to discuss the Women’s Poker League on PokerStars before briefly discussing the PCA women’s event. If you want to keep up with some women in poker or ladies only events then check this podcast out. You can listen to the show on WomanPokerPlayer.com or download it directly on iTunes to listen on your iPod later.

Wicked Chops:

With no This Week In Poker this week the entities come together for a TWIP style podcast this week. Just like with TWIP Jess Welman comes on to do “Poker Headlines” before getting into the feature of the show. That feature this week is Erik Siedel who comes on to discuss his recent success, his appearance on “The Micros”, and Rounders 2. Listen to the show on the Wicked Chops site or download it on iTunes.

The Poker Edge:

Eric Siedel is making his rounds this week joining Phil Gordon on The Poker Edge. Before Siedel makes his appearance Andrew Feldman gives this weeks headlines, he is followed by Matt Savage who comes on to discuss the LA Poker Classic and the future of poker. Siedel comes on to close out the show to discuss the high roller cashes that he has enjoyed since the first of the year. The guys finish off the show by handicapping most of the top players chances at winning a WSOP bracelet in 2011. You can listen to the entire podcast on ESPN.com, or download it directly via iTunes.

It’s already starting to pain me not to have The Poker Beat to re-speculate wildly with limited knowledge on real people’s lives. Not sure who said what on previous episodes, but I can almost guarantee you one of us said this retirement would never stick, one said yes it would forever because we just know, and another panelist probably went “meh”. Oops, now the secret formula to award-quality podcasting is out …

Surely a newsbrief for the next episode … words coming directly from the WSOP champ himself via his PokerStars keepers … Peter Eastgate is Isildur1 back on some sort of probationary re-entry deal, obv. Rumor has it from unconfirmed unverifiable sources that he turned down inclusion of a WSOP ’11 main event buy-in in exchange for starting a Danish “home game”:

“Sometimes in life a person can feel lost and wake up one morning not recognizing who he is. Last summer that was how I felt. Prior to winning the WSOP in 2008, my life was very much a good solid routine of playing online poker and hanging out with my friends and family. Winning the WSOP changed that. I relocated to London and started a new life, the life of a high profile poker pro. For almost 2 years I was in a constant spotlight, travelling from poker tournament to poker tournament, doing thousands of interviews and never had a chance to catch my breath. In the whirlwind that followed winning the WSOP I lost track of the most importing thing in my life, myself.

Last summer I decided that I wanted to stop playing poker and catch my breath and find out who I am and what I want to do with my life. Over the last 8 months I have had a chance to reconnect with my friends and most important, my family. I have spent quality time with my family and really had an opportunity to figure out who I am and what I want to do with the rest of my life. When there is no financial pressure it can sometimes be hard to get motivated to move forward as a person.

I truly enjoy playing poker. I love the competitive element and the mental challenges of tournament poker. I feel it is important to constantly grow as a person and for a while I didn’t feel I was moving in the right direction. Having had time to think about my life and future I feel I have figured out how I can combine playing poker with a healthy life outside of poker.

I do not consider this a comeback, as I always knew there was a good chance I would play poker again. During my hiatus from poker, PokerStars have been very supportive. Therefore, I am pleased that I will start out with playing two events where I will be sponsored by PokerStars. First, I will be playing the PokerStars.com EPT Copenhagen which of course means a lot to me, since it is on my home ground. Then I will play the NBC Heads Up Championship. I am fortunate that PokerStars have the best online tournaments, so I have an opportunity to get back in tournament shape.

There have been some questions about the sale of my WSOP bracelet. I was not trying to devaluate the WSOP name. It was not sold to make any kind of statement. It was sold to raise money for UNICEF and I am very proud and thankful that the sale raised £100,000 to UNICEF.”

- Peter Eastgate

Interesting + cool … now the first ever November Nine winner can be more like all the rest who have come since then, but different because two months ago he became the only November Nine-era champion old enough to rent a car in Vegas.

NOTE: Turns out “devaluate” is a real word. Who knew?

I didn’t think I cared too much about the forthcoming Season 7 of High Stakes Poker, kicking off later this month on GSN. I dunno, the show’s still gonna be good, I’m sure, technically, but it certainly hasn’t been the must-see-TV it was in the early days when people stayed home on Tuesday nights to see new episodes first-run. But now I’m thinking the latest from HSP might be more than something I may or may not catch part of on YouTube every so often by accident or read about on Twitter.

Saturday Night Live alum Norm MacDonald is replacing venerable sometimes-funnyman Gabe Kaplan as the show’s host. Gotta think it’s a good move because I’m kinda-sorta re-interested, suggesting others are too … Might even go outta my way to set the DVR.

Also changing things up this year … the show is being “presented by PokerStars” — meaning no usual cast of Full Tilt Pros. No Lederer, Matusow, Cunningham, or Harman? Please, they were like so 2006-2010. Supposedly the show’s gonna be airing in 3D, too (on GSN). Awesome. Can’t wait to see Doyle Brunson-HD in my living room … close enough to see his hole cards and imagine I’m bringing him a glass of water and some ointment.

(Go technology advances, but at the same time, keep thinking of the not-so-awe-inspiring Jaws 3-D and Honey, I Shrunk the Audience… not to mention PKR!)

Kevmath’s got the 411 over at Bluff, including the complete lineup and a breakdown of where the amateurs got their bankrolls. Also, if you want to know more about Norm and his path to poker and degenerate sports betting, check out Michael Kaplan’s profile on him from 2007.

Likewise, a reminder that Norm didn’t just come to Las Vegas outta nowhere … check out one of my early attempts at podcasting, from the 2006 WSOP: Norm Macdonald gives me personally very practical advice on how to take down single-table satellites — but not without an admission of recruiting minors to ghost on his PartyPoker account:

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Norm Macdonald WSOP Satellite Tip