After yesterday’s indictment of its owners, PokerStars, formerly making its home on the URL PokerStars.com, will now move to PokerStars.eu according to a post from a site representative on TwoPlusTwo. The new domain loads normally from all parts of the world and boasts that nearly 150,000 players are logged in at the time of writing.

PokerStars cut off real money play from the United States on Friday afternoon after the U.S. Department of Justice issued indictments against 11 men, including PokerStars foundersIsai Scheinberg and Paul Tate. PokerStars.eu went live shortly thereafter and a PokerStars representative posted about it on TwoPlusTwo around Midnight ET.

On Friday, an indictment against the founders of online poker's "big three" was unsealed by federal authorities. According to MarketWatch.com, the founders of PokerStars, Full Tilt Poker, and Absolute Poker were indicted on charges of bank fraud, money laundering, and illegal gambling. There were also restraining orders issued against over 75 bank accounts used by the online poker companies and their payment processors, as well as five Internet domain names.

The United States Department of Justice released a PDF of the indictment, and in it, 11 defendants are named: Isai Scheinberg, Raymond Bitar, Scott Tom, Brent Beckley, Nelson Burtnick, Paul Tate, Ryan Lang, Bradley Franzen, Ira Rubin, Chad Elie, and John Campos.

The 2010 World Series of Poker (WSOP) Main Event field shrunk from 27 players to 18 on Tuesday night as the tournament aired on ESPN. Two players began with over 20 million in chips and five of the top nine stacks were seated at the ESPN feature table.

PokerStars pro Johnny Lodden was the first casualty of the night after 3betting all-in before the flop with pocket eights and receiving a call from Matt Affleck, who held A-10. Affleck turned a pair of tens and Lodden exited in 27th place from the Main Event.

To put this year’s tournament in perspective, only the 2006 WSOP Championship Event and its 8,773 player field – held prior to the passage of the Unlawful Internet Gaming Enforcement Act (UIGEA) in the United States later that year – eclipsed the number of players accommodated by the Rio this year. While this year’s Main Event is the second largest tournament in history, the first place prize will not be the second largest in history. Due to the flattened payout structure instituted by Harrah’s and WSOP officials last year, this year’s winner will receive $8,994,138, the third largest payday behind 2006 champion Jamie Gold’s $12 million bonanza and 2008 victor Peter Eastgate’s $9,152,416 bounty.