PokerStars Zoom: The PokerStars version of Full Tilt Poker’s Rush Poker is apparently close to launch. More here about PokerStars Zoom.

Live tourney updates: At the European Poker Tour Copenhagen, they are at a final table. Report here of the play leading up to the final table, and updates can be gotten here when play resumes. Mickey “mement_mori” Petersen, Steve O’Dwyer and Pierre Neuville are all still alive. You can catch a live stream at 6 a.m. Eastern here.

More with O’Dwyer here:

And Neauville here:

Meanwhile, ESPN has a roundup of what’s going on at the L.A. Poker Classic, where Vanessa Selbst beat Jonathan Duhamel in a $5K event. Get all the details here.

Everleaf followup: After Everleaf Gaming’s statement yesterday about pulling out of the United States market for online poker, the network noted that all player funds are covered and accounted for. Get the details here. If you’re playing catch up, read our previous stories here and here.

Full Tilt roundup: Poker News Daily has an editorial breaking down what we know about the Full Tilt Poker debacle here. And pro Matt Glantz blogs on the subject here, after his conversations with FTP shareholders.

Quick hitters:
–Is Jerry Yang’s life story going to be turned into a movie? Maybe, we learn in an episode of Short Stacked Radio with the former World Series of Poker main event champ.
–Speaking of former WSOP ME champs, did Chris Moneymaker get blackmailed?
–Card Player catches up with pro Sam Stein in The Scoop:

–The World Poker Tour launches a charitable organization, the WPT Foundation. More here.
–Below is a video roundup of the world of poker:

–Season five of the Latin American Poker Tour is set to start next month in Chile.
–PKR launched an Italian online poker room.

A new section of PokerStars’ website says the news fast-paced PokerStars game will be released soon, and that players should “stay tuned for more details.” You can check out the PokerStars’ site here for more details.

Here’s a description of PokerStars Zoom from the site:

PokerStars Zoom is a new fast-paced way to play poker. You’re always at the centre of the action and can play more hands per hour than ever before.
Fold your hand in Zoom Poker and you’ll instantly be moved to a new table and get a new hand. You can even ‘fast fold’ out of turn and the players at your old table will only see it when the action’s on you. By that time, you’ll already be playing your next hand at a different table!

The description sounds much like the popular “Rush Poker” on Full Tilt Poker that was on the online poker site before its gaming license was suspended last year.

PokerStars Zoom will be found in a section of the lobby in the PokerStars client, once it goes live. It is not yet known what games will be included other than no-limit hold’em, or what stakes will be included. We will have more details as they become available.

Further to our press release of yesterday we wish to inform our players that we are in constant communications with the Lotteries and Gaming Authority in Malta where we are informing the Authority of all the steps being taken by the Company. We would also like to reiterate that all the players funds are covered, and in line with our Maltese remote gaming regulations, they are also segregated and ring-fenced.

There has been much speculation about the financial health of the Everleaf Network. A lack of clear communication by both the LGA and until yesterday the Everleaf Network regarding the blocking of US players was a major factor in this speculation. While most players won’t be comforted until the funds are in hand, today’s statement should provide some reassurance for players. Next we hope to hear about the process for players to receive their funds.

Read about Everleaf’s departure from the US, Malta, and France in our Feb 9th story.

Everleaf confirmed that some funds of one of its payment processors were seized by the U.S. government, necessitating the online poker site’s blocking of American players. You can read the entire release below:

As has been reported, certain funds maintained by one of our payment processors to be distributed to U.S. customers were seized by U.S. authorities. To our knowledge, the U.S. authorities seized these funds and blocked the transactions based on purported violations of certain U.S. laws,
including operating an illegal money transmitting business, the Wire Act, and money laundering. Evidence relative to the subject can be reviewed from
the attached papers.

Please be advised that this seizure occurred in the United States and only affects U.S. players.

In view of the above Everleaf will no longer accept U.S. players. None the less Everleaf reiterates and wants to reassure all the effected players that
all the funds will be refunded in full and the effected parties will be contacted in a short while accordingly.

For the other markets we operate in and with regards to all our other players we want to reassure you that nothing has changed and thank you for
the continued business with our Company.

We sincerely apologize for the lack of communication to date, but as a Company we were still trying to find our feet and assessing the situation at
hand and how to best protect the interest of all the effected parties.

Everleaf Gaming

If you need the backstory on the Everleaf situation, read a previous story here.

The amount of funds seized was not mentioned in the press release, although a story here listed the amount as about $27,000. The statement is the first since Everleaf stopped accepting U.S. players early in February.

Everleaf is the latest casualty as a result of the actions of the U.S. government. Last April, PokerStars, Full Tilt Poker and the Cereus Network (Absolute Poker and UB.com) all had their domains seized and were forced to give up accepting players from the United States. While PokerStars was able to repay its American players, Full Tilt and Cereus have not. Full Tilt is in the middle of negotiations to be purchased by Groupe Bernard Tapie, while late last year there were reports that Cereus’ parent company would liquidate assets in an attempt to repay American players.

Currently, the Merge Gaming Network, the Winning Poker Network and Cake Poker continue to serve U.S. online poker players.

Everleaf added to their statement on February 24th. Read the update here.

Negreanu’s latest rant: Daniel Negreanu likes to blast Full Tilt, Howard Lederer, and Chris Ferguson, as we see his second recent video blog that addressed the subject (watch below). This time, he also talks about Doyle Brunson’s recent controversial comments on the Full Tilt debacle.

U.S. regulation update:The amount of news breaking on the online poker front regulation is growing, and the issue continues to gain traction in the United States. Massachusetts is now considering regulation possibilities. Get the story here.

Mississippi is also trying to get in on the act. Meanwhile, Utah moved closer to banning online poker after a bill passed the state House.

In Nevada, the rules for private testing of online game technology was discussed as the state moves closer to regulated online poker. Story here. And Bally Technologies purchased ChiliGaming in a move that will likely play into a future regulated market. More here.

And MGM CEO Jim Murren says he expects online poker to be regulated in the United States this year.

Atlantis Internet Group Corp. became the first entity in the U.S. to offer regulated online poker, in a deal with Native American tribes in Louisiana and California. More about the network here.

In live poker, Maine has approved a brick and mortar casino in Bangor.

Live tourney roundup: The European Poker Tour Copenhagen is into day 3. Melanie Weisner had been the chip leader, but she is now out. Martin Staszko and Steve O’Dwyer are still alive. Live updates can be found here.

Video update:

At the L.A. Poker Classic, an “Ironman” event ran for more than 20 hours, with no breaks. Story here.

Quick hitters:
–Jens “Jeans89” Kyllonen won $333K in the online high stakes cash games.
–What are the best live tournaments in the world? PokerNews.com breaks it down here.
–Why isn’t poker more mainstream? PokerListings.com talked with Annie Duke and others on the subject.

A story by Jerry Kronenberg on Thursday talked about a commission that addressed online gaming as it relates to the future of the Massachusetts State Lottery.

From Kronenberg’s story:

“I think we’ve got an obligation to the people of the commonwealth to study the whole basket of (Internet gaming options) — including online poker,” state Treasurer Steven Grossman, who oversees the Lottery, said yesterday in a meeting with Herald reporters and editors.

Grossman said the new Online Products Task Force, a group of experts he recently formed, plans to consider the pros and cons of the state launching video poker or other Web gambling.

You can read more from the story from the Boston Herald’s website here, and video with Grossman below:

Efforts have been moving forward across the country to regulate online poker, with Nevada and Iowa the closest to passing legislation. The issue is also on the table at the federal level, with discussions taking place on adding online poker regulation to the payroll tax bill, although that effort was eventually quashed.

The discussion of online poker regulation is also a big turnaround in Massachusetts, which was considering a ban of online poker and gaming just two years ago. Language was originally included in a casinos bill that would have outlawed online poker and gaming, although that language was eventually removed from the bill. You can read a story here for some more background.

EPT update: The European Poker Tour Copenhagen is into day two after two day ones. Kevin “kice32″ Iacofano, Melanie Weisner and Steve O’Dwyer are all still alive. Live updates here, and here’s a video update from day 2:

More live poker:A World Series of Poker Circuit event in Florida attracted more than 2,600 players who plunked for $555 for a shot at part of a prize pool of more than a million dollars. Details on what went down here. And a PokerStars Macau Poker Cup event is in the books; get a report on that here.

In upcoming events, the Wynn Poker Classic and the World Poker Tour’s L.A. Poker Classic are on tap. More here and here.

$6 Million Guaranteed: PokerStars is guaranteeing $6 million in an upcoming Sunday Million for its sixth anniversary; details here. There’s also a 1,000-seat guaranteed satellite for the March 11th tourney.

Quick hitters:
–Former PokerStars pro and WSOP main event champ Peter Eastgate joined Betfair as a sponsored pro.
–The Party Poker Premier League event in April is gonna have a lot of ballers. Erik Seidel is the latest pro to join the festivities, with the likes of Patrik Antonius, Tony G, Luke “Full Flush” Schwartz, Sam Trickett, Vanessa Selbst, and Andy Frankenberger.
–The push to regulate online poker in the United States is still on, with former Director for the Federal Bureau of Investigation Louis Freeh and former Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge of FairPlayUSA writing an editorial on the issue. More here.
–Should you be wearing headphones all the time while playing poker? Maybe not.

Eastgate, the 2008 WSOP ME champ, will join online player Stefan Raffay as a Betfair pro. According to a Betfair press release on the two players’ signings:

The two high stakes players will help marketing efforts in Denmark to promote the site and also an exclusive Danish WSOP promotion where players can win the opportunity to live and play in the same house as the two champions during the tournament this Summer.

Peter Weinreich Betfair Danish country manager said: “We are delighted to sign two of the the most successful and professional poker players in Denmark. We hope their expertise and popularity in the poker community will be a positive relationship for both parties”

Eastgate was formerly a pro for PokerStars, but that relationship ended when he decide to “retire” from online poker in 2010. His retirement became a short hiatus, as he returned to the game in 2011 after less than a year away.

Raffay is not nearly as famous as Eastgate in the world of poker, but he has been successful in online poker, with half a million dollars in tournament winnings across all sites, and he has also made the final table of a WSOP event. Eastgate and Raffay join John Tabatabai and Hans Vogl on Team Betfair.

The March 11th version of the Sunday Million will have a $6 million prize pool, with at least $1 million going to winner of the biggest weekly tournament in online poker. As always, the buy-in is $215; the tournament starts at 14:30 Eastern on that Sunday.

Satellites will be running before the tournament for as little as $1, and there will be a 1,000-seat guaranteed satellite before the tournament, as well.

Over the six years the Sunday Million has been run at PokerStars, there have been 278 editions of the tournament, and more than 2.1 million entries.

PokerStars has said that members of Team PokerStars Pro are expected to play in the tournament, including Bertrand ‘ElkY’ Grospellier, Jason Mercier and Liv Boeree.

PokerStars recommends that you contact support@pokerstars.com if you have questions about qualifying for the tournament. If you don’t have a PokerStars account, you can sign up here.

Seriously, Full Tilt?: Not only does Full Tilt Poker owe millions of dollars to online poker players around the world, they apparently also haven’t paid out the prizes in connection with a live poker tournament, the Montreal Open, that was put on in Canada. Details here. Stay classy, FTP.

Meanwhile, Doyle Brunson does some Full Tilt bashing in his blog.

EPT Copenhagen: The European Poker Tour event in Copenhagen is rolling along in day 1B. Kevin “kice32″ Iacofano is among the chip leaders in the middle of play; Theo Jorgensen and Johnny Lodden are also playing. Live updates here. For a report on day 1A, where Steve O’Dwyer leads, go here.

More with O’Dwyer here:

PokerNews.com caught up with Melanie Weisner:

Quick hitters:
–Daniel “Jungleman12″ Cates and Andrew Feldman in a combat sport? Could happen.
–Iowa seems to be serious about moving forward on online poker regulation now; a bill passed a subcommittee vote.
–Cake Poker released a major update.
–The recap show for the latest Sunday Million on PokerStars:

–Could Big Brother be watching online poker players in Canada and the United Kingdom?
–You can play PokerStars on a mobile app almost anywhere. But we don’t recommend it while washing dishes.
–Ville Wahlbeck keeps winning in the high-stakes online cash games.