One Week Until 2008 WSOP + We're Off Memorial Day Weekend

Barring some crazy breaking story, Wicked Chops Poker will be off Memorial Day Weekend. With the 2008 World Series of Poker just a week away (meaning six straight weeks of unrelenting poker coverage), and 2/3 of the Entities in Ireland right now, and 1/3 of the Entities staggering drunk for three-days, let's be honest, not much is going to get done.

But to get in the mindset for the 2008 WSOP, here's some recommended reading from WCP coverage of WSOP's past.

2005 WSOP
Before going down on Dancing with the Stars' Derek Hough, Dancing with the Stars' Shannon Elizabeth went down in four-way action.
Wily Brit Barry Baskin smelled like shit.
Whatever happened to Johnny Rockets from Daytona? That guy seemed to have the total package.
Brad Garrett was urinating and so dork had an Elmo head.
The longest massage ever?
Some dude got real creepy around Greg Raymer.
Tiffany Williamson...that bitch is crazy!

2006 WSOP
Where to even begin? How about some Card Player Like You Were There Moments (TM) here here here here here here and here.
Phil Hellmuth wins a then record-tying 10th bracelet.
Clearly us at our absolute most bedlam ensuing.
Some chick played in a nun outfit which probably blew Gank's mind.
The Milwaukee's Best Light girls need to make a comeback.
Somebody told us that Bill Gates has a regular call girl he sees in France.
Our Sweats did OK in Day 1B.
Mean people applauded when Doyle Brunson busted.
Our mutual love-affair with Anna Benson began.
Joanna Krupa (above) officially became the hottest girl to ever play the WSOP.
Some more hot girls from the 2006 WSOP.
Vaughn Sandman (where ya been, bud?) absolutely toys with "Salty" Joe Hachem.
We were the first to introduce the world to Jamie Gold.
And we were the only ones to get a pic with Jamie Gold and Crispin "Don't Call Me Bruce" Leyser.

No-Namer from the Netherlands Wins LAPT Rio

Julien Nuijten, a 19-year-old total relative unknown from Amsterdam, Holland, has won the first event of the Latin American Poker Tour, held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

Nuijten, who reportedly played the $2,500 buy-in poker tournament on a whim, started final table play as the chip leader and commanded his way to the title and $222,940 payday, which should be enough to buy him some sweet clogs, a field of tulips and loads of hash back home. And maybe a windmill or two. According to the PokerStars folks, Nuijten is a high-stakes poker player online and is a former Magic: The Gathering world champion, thus joining the ranks of fantasy wizard geeks turned cardtossers like David Williams, Noah Boeken, Dario Minieri, Eric "Efro" Froelich and Adam Levy.

Finishing in second for $117,750 was Russian-American Vitaly Kovyazin, who isn't a cab driver like we had assumed earlier but we were right that he is from Brooklyn where he is a "construction manager." So we probably got the Red Mafia part correct too. Which means we'll shut up now.

Alex Brenes, the brother of the insufferably annoying Humberto Brenes, finished fourth, earning $62,800.

The results from the final nine below:

1st -- Julien Nuijten (Holland) -- $223,000
2nd -- Vitaly Kovyazin (United States) -- $117,750
3rd -- Nikolai Senniger (Germany) -- $86,350
4th -- Alex Brenes (Costa Rica) -- $62,800
5th -- Oliver Kugler (Germany) -- $47,100
6th -- Eduardo Henriques (Brazil) -- $31,400
7th -- Rafael Pardo (Colombia)  -- $23,500
8th -- Juan Carlos Burguillos (Venezuela) -- $15,700
9th -- Severin Walser (Switzerland) -- $11,775

The next LAPT event is in San Jose, Costa Rica, scheduled for May 22-24.

Gratuitous Brazilian supermodel above is Raica Oliveira, who famously dated soccer star Ronaldo before he was into the whole transvestite hookers thing See lots more of Raica here.

Jamie Gold's Personal Videographer Pissed, Will Auction 'Negative' Footage on eBay

Rae Valentine, the videographer who followed Jamie Gold around pretty much everywhere the WSOP Main Event champ went for several months before, during and after his controversial win in the summer of 2006, is set to auction off all of the video footage he has of Gold on eBay which he claims will "validate some of the negative imagery surrounding the life of Jamie Gold." Says Valentine on a website he created recently: "On August 10, 2008, the 2-year anniversary of Jamie's World Series Of Poker 2006 win, I will end a 5-day auction on Ebay providing the winning bid with all video content associated with the Jamie Gold Project, in its entirety. Maybe this day will prove to be lucky for me. I truly hope whomever ends up with this content has the same passion I once had of making a compelling movie documentary, even in it's moments of controversy, as interesting and entertaining a story, I know it to be." Valentine claims that he was hired by Gold per a "gentlemen's agreement" (Jamie's good at those) to produce a behind the scenes movie documentary and had followed Jamie "through airports and hotels, limos and casinos, from Los Angeles to New York." Valentine alleges that their friendship soured after Gold's win and that he has lost "an estimated $150k" because apparently Jamie no longer wishes to use the footage for a documentary, which we can't really blame Gold for considering how sucky poker movies are doing at the box office. According to Valentine: "A majority of the footage shows Jamie as an arrogant, paranoid, at times over-the-top individual who through all of his imperfections can be quite entertaining as he plots strategies (while in the comfort of his hotel bed with two plain clothes security guards posted just outside his door) on how he will defeat each of his opponents in the final days leading up to his poker world series victory." Arrogant, paranoid, at times over-the-top, and with security guards? No, not the Jamie Gold we know. No way. Check out all of what Rae has to say on his website, including a few transcripts from the footage featuring none other than our good pal Crispin Leyser, here. In related Jamie Gold eBay auction news, no one paid $5,000 for Jamie Gold's urinal mint. Semi-relatedly, Jamie Gold thinks Wicked Chops Poker is "awesome."

NewPoker Poker News

:: Old man Mel Molnick, the CEO of Home Gambling Network and all-around pain-in-the-asser for online gambling sites, is reportedly the guy behind the swiping of Bodog's domain names in connection with a default judgment 1st Technology LLC obtained on Aug. 1, 2007. [Gambling911, Points-Spreads] :: In related news, looking at Poker Site Scout just a second ago, Bodog poker players seemed to have made the transition over to newbodog.com just fine. [PokerSiteScout] :: Maxim's 2007 Hometown Hotties is down to its Semifinalists and we're picking Catalina (photo, far left) from Ft. Lauderdale as the early favorite. No, make that Erin from Port Orange. Or maybe Ashton from San Francisco. Yeh, let's go with her. Ok, Jennifer from Toronto is going to win. [Maxim Online] :: Apparently Canadians don't just watch hockey while eating maple syrup flavored beavers at the curling rink. They also play poker in industrial malls and get busted doing so. [Toronto Star] :: Candice Swanepoel is our favorite model from South Africa, today. [Horny Oyster] :: Poker is going to the dogs in Florida as residents in Orange Park, a nice town near not-so-nice Jacksonville, are looking to add a poker room to its kennel club. [News 4 Jax] :: If Heidi Klum is what you should look like after giving birth to three kids, WCP fave since puberty Elle McPherson is what you should look like when you're 43-years-old. [WWTDD] :: "Could any girl be hotter than 22-year-old Aussie actress Isabel Lucas?" is the Wicked Chops poker rhetorical question of the day. [FHM]

Jamie Gold's Urinal Mint from 2006 WSOP for Sale on eBay for $5,000

No shittin' ya, click here to see for yourself.

Starting bid is $5,000.

And you only have five days to act to be the proud owner of this "ultimate poker collectible" that, according to its auctioner "poker-kitty", was "used" by 2006 WSOP champion Jamie Gold "just prior to winning the biggest cash prize ($12 million) in all of sports history."

Poker-kitty, who has a 100% positive feedback rating on eBay and is a 100% douchebag, goes on to say: "The mint in question was acquired (via rubber gloves) from a hotel men's room attendant (close friend of the family; can't disclose his name for obvious reasons), immediately bagged and labeled and stored for safe keeping."

"While this item is DEFINITELY different, that peculiarity and rarity makes it the absolute ultimate piece of poker memorabilia of all time," says poker-kitty. "Heck, you could even use it as a dealer button if you really wanted to, although I'd strongly suggest washing it first!"

There's really nothing we can add to this, except that if this person nabs $5,000 for Gold's piss mint, which is about as likely as it is the real deal, Tao of Poker's Pauly, who loves to write about the pros he whizzes next to at tournaments, has a whole new income stream, so to speak, available to him to pad his bankroll.

Thanks to Michael T. for the heads-up on this one.

The Case for Bombing the Crap Out of IranWSOP Won't Penalize Jamie Gold for Collusion

Editor's Note: Sorry about the first headline. That's for our other blog.

In surprising news that should be surprising to no one, WSOP commish Jeffrey Pollack said in a press release today that the World Series of Poker "will not penalize reigning WSOP World Champion Jamie Gold for two rules infractions that occurred during the 2006 WSOP Main Event."

For a refresher on those two infractions, read our "Forgive Me for Cheating" (aka "Jamie Gold is like herpes") piece here.

According to the press release, which you can read in its entirety after the jump, WSOP officials reviewed video of the infractions and discussed them personally with Gold and concluded that "he did not deliberately attempt to violate the rules and that no penalties would be invoked retroactively for the incidents."

"Not only were we impressed with Jamie's candor and contrition, but we also recognized that tournament officials didn't witness the incidents or take appropriate action at the time of the rules infractions," said Jeffrey Pollack. "We share culpability in this case and are satisfied that the actions in question were inadvertent mistakes. We look forward to Jamie's participation in the 2007 WSOP.

And Jamie of course is looking forward to returning to the WSOP. As he told us in our exclusive interview after the National Heads-Up Championship, "I think I'll make the final table this year. I know you're gonna slam me on this, but that's what I believe. If you don't believe that, then why are you playing?"

Full press release after the jump.

Forgive Me for Cheating, Says Jamie Gold

After getting bounced from Bodog's pro team, settling up his legal shenanigans with Crispin Leyser before he lost even more of his $12 million and repeatedly goose-egging it at major tournaments and on TV since the WSOP, we didn't think we'd hear much from Jamie Gold for awhile, which was pretty foolish for us to think since Gold is basically like a case of herpes, which the game of poker first contracted last August. Disappearing at times only to pop up every so often to remind us how bad it's gotten since those final days last summer.

And so like herpes, or that girl from the Lotto & Groceries store who keeps calling us saying one of us is her baby's daddy, there was Jamie Gold popping up again today, this time chatting it up in a New York Times article about his regrets from the World Series of Poker and how easy it was to settle the lawsuit with Leyser.

Gary Thompson, WSOP Players Committee May Be Smoking Something

Gambling911.com, the gambling news site we love for having hot chicks as journalists, is calling BS on WSOP director of communications, Gary Thompson, after an interview he did with PocketFives.com.

In the interview, Thomspon remarked:

"As in 2005 and 2006, Harrah’s will not be accepting third party registrations from online poker sites (.com’s) that do business with U.S. residents. PokerStars.com and PartyPoker.com could not register players directly last year because they did business with American customers. Ladbrokes could because it wasn’t doing business with U.S. residents.”

"Not true!," says Christopher Costigan, the man in charge over at G911. "PartyPoker practically sponsored the event with its logo prominently displayed on the sidewalk outside The Rio Hotel (host of the 2005 and 2006 WSOP events) and on nearly every taxi cab in Vegas. The fact that PartyPoker and its competitors all used a .net derivation is pretty much a non-issue."

Investigators: Richard Lee's Operation a Family Affair (and People Still Use Rolodexes)

The case against this year's WSOP main event 6th place finisher, Richard Lee, continues to build, with San Antonio police recently raiding the home of Lee's wife's cousin, Michelle Stiehl-Guerra. This is coming on the heels of a raid on the home of Larry Davenport, Lee's son-in-law, in connection with the case, which suggests that Lee's alleged bookmaking operation was one big family affair. Which is kind of sweet, when you think about it, if it wasn't a federal crime and all.

The warrant said Stiehl-Guerra, who went by the name Chele because this is San Antonio, maintained players' lists for Lee, and during the raid, police reportedly seized a Rolodex, address book, computer CDs and cell phones.

A Rolodex?

People still use Rolodexes? That's fantastic!

Did they use a suànpán to do their accounting?

Anyway, read a great article about the latest in the Lee case here and a TV news story here, which reports that all of Lee's assets are still frozen, including the nearly $3 million dollars he won at the World Series of Poker.

We So Busy

We're so busy here at Wicked Chops Poker--like taking showers, combing our hair, closing the door after we open it kind of busy-ness--that we haven't really posted much the past few days.

Sorry.

We have poker stuff on our minds. It's just hard to find the time when you're busy putting on your shoes and stuff to get a quality post up. So until we do, entertain yourself with the pretty pic after the jump of a girl who is either 18 or will get you 18.

8,773 X $10,000 = $90+ Million?

So apparently there's some controversy about the number of chips in front of Jamie Gold at the end of the Main Event, and surprisingly the controversy has absolutely nothing to do with Jamie Gold (although conspiracy-minded folks may imply otherwise). No, this one--which involves an extra $2 million worth of tournament chips in play that weren't there when the Main Event started---rests squarely on the shoulders of the suits at Harrahs, who run the Main Event like a daily tourney at the Gold Strike rather than the multimillion dollar property it has become.

It's understandable though, or at the least, expected. In most businesses, the operations side generally lags behind everything else, and the WSOP is no exception. How much longer they can ignore their gross incompetence remains to be seen. Based on the conversations we're hearing, probably not much longer.

To break down the numbers for you, there were 8,773 players who started this year's WSOP Main Event, each ponying up $10,000 and receiving $10,000 in tournament chips in return. Thus the total dollar value of chips in play would be...hold on, ok, wait, that's four zeros and 1 x 8,773 is...fuck we hate math. Math is dumb. Let us get one of them calculator thingamajigs.

[several minutes later]

James Gandolfini's Current Agent Vouches for Jamie Gold

Michael Friedman, who is hands down our favorite Card Player-er, is reporting that James Gandolfini's current agent, Mark Armstrong, has stepped forward to vouch for Gold's mercilessly ripped resume, stating in a letter:

“Jamie did indeed represent as an agent or manager James Gandolfini (who I currently represent), Lucy Lui, Felicity Huffman, and Jimmy Fallon, who he helped bring to Los Angeles from Albany to get his start. Any inference otherwise is incorrect."

Yes, any inference otherwise is incorrect, which is another way of saying that it is so correct it's incorrect. Kind of like the word infamous, which if you aren't a Three Amigos fan, we're losing you here.

Speaking of infamous though, Defamer, the gossip blog that's so famous it's infamous (really go watch Three Amigos again..such dumb humor, it's weird we like it so much), has been leading the charge on the "inference otherwise" front ever since it reported back on August 14 that Jamie Gold may not be "as agenty as previously claimed." In their story then, Defamer shared what someone--who would be best described as "not a Jamie Gold fan"--said about the WSOP champ, including the following:

Richard Lee Doesn't Wait a Week to Respond to Raid

Obviously not operating from the same crisis management playbook as Jamie Gold's PR reps at B|W|R, Richard Lee wasted no time today to respond to the raid on his home last night.

"Just a few hours ago I was one of San Antonio's favorite sons," Lee told a reporter from the San Antonio Express-News. "It seems like maybe I've gone from hero to zero in the course of a few hours."

Lee continues, "I don't believe I've done anything wrong, and if they prove differently on something I thought was OK, well, I guess I'm going to have to cross that bridge when I get to it."

Lee's willingness to speak at this time and his apparent sense of humility and measured statement show that:

(1) He understands the media's interest in his story;
(2) He wants to manage the flow of information; and
(3) He is assuming the situation will only escalate and get worse.

The above are pretty much textbook principles when it comes to crisis management, and the folks at B|W|R could learn a thing or two from Richard Lee, which is ironic because the above three principles are right off the B|W|R web page on crisis management, which they apparently have torn out of their playbook and replaced with this page.

More on the story here, here and PokerBlog.com, who point out how Lee, unlike Gold, faced the media himself rather than have PR flacks do it for him. Also be sure to check out PokerNews.com's piece, where they pose the intriguing question: "If authorities decide that Lee's buy in to the Main Event was secured with ill gotten funds, would they then have the right to seize the $2.8 Million Dollars Lee won with his 6th place finish?"

Police Seize Richard Lee's Property for "Allegedly" Running a "Well-Oiled" Gambling Operation

Another week, another black eye for a 2006 WSOP final table finisher.

We detailed earlier this month that Richard Lee, a semi-professional gambler, is known to have a lot of gamble in him. Apparently, the police knew this too. And they also knew that he was doing some semi-professional gambling illegally out of his home.

Last night in Shavano Park, the non-dump heap part of deap heap San Antonio, police executed a warrant on Richard Lee's home and began seizing property and vehicles. Police believe/probably know for sure now, that Lee, the sixth-place finisher at the 2006 WSOP Main Event who ripped Jamie Gold after getting knocked out by the eventual champ, obtained these items from his involvement in an illegal gambling operation.

Police spokesperson Joe Rios told San Antonio's #1 choice for breaking news!, WOAI, that Lee's house has been under investigation for months, and police turned up multiple gambling receipts during the search. Rios says that Lee (allegedly) is basically, "a bookie taking bets online and then placing those bets."

Payouts from this operation have been well over a half a million dollars.

Says Rios: "It was a pretty well-oiled machine they were running out here."

More details to come...

Anna Benson Is A Meanie

Sure, we often refer to Anna Benson as a trashy hot publicity whore.

And recently labeled her a bitch and the most despicable person at this year's WSOP.

But truth be told, we actually love Anna Benson. And what's not to love about a poker playin', PETA hatin', Michael Moore loathin', gun totin', ex-stripper MILF with a southern accent and a smokin' hot bod she ain't afraid to show and use, a lot?

So if we ever talked unkindly of Anna, well, we just thought that's how poker playin', PETA hatin', Michael Moore loathin', gun totin', ex-stripper MILFs with southern accents and smokin' hot bods like to be talked to. You know, dirty. "Oh, you dirty, trashy hot, publicity whore, you." That's how you talk to girls. It's hot.

Apparently she doesn't see it that way. Anna was recently chatting with the fine folks over at Gambling911.com about Wicked Chops Poker and said some very hurtful things about us.

"WickedChopsPoker are nobodies, the site is garbage. Gambling911.com is a respected website," Anna quipped when asked about our previously "misconstrued" unflattering remarks about her.

Ouch. So mean, Anna. Lots of people don't realize this, but Wicked Chops Poker doesn't have "thick" skin. In fact, our skin is like papier mache. We hurt. We bleed. We cry.

Thankfully Anna, we have our current/first wives' shoulders to cry on because if we didn't we'd have to go out and find some poker playin', PETA hatin', Michael Moore loathin', gun totin', ex-stripper MILF with a southern accent and smokin' hot bod and bang her senselessly until her eyes rolled back in her head just to get over the hurt of what you said. Because we're sensitive like that.

Except replace all of the wimpy things we said in the previous two paragraphs with the exact opposite. That's slightly closer to the truth. Except replace "slightly" with "much much more."

Anyway, besides being all those things we said about her, Benson is also a liar or whatever it is you call someone when they say something untrue and know that it is untrue. When Gambling911.com asked her about Wicked Chops Poker's "unflattering account" of her at this year's World Series of Poker, Anna responded:

"I'm a nice person. This was my first World Series of Poker tournament and after sitting there for so many hours, I was just getting very uncomfortable. I didn't mean to upset anyone."

Her first WSOP? Did Anna somehow forget that she played last year's WSOP, had someone wager $10k that she'd win it and boasted that she lasted to the end of the third day, beat out 1200 other players and "shocked the poker professionals that gathered to watch her?"

Perhaps though we'll give Anna the benefit of the doubt here. Maybe she was just saying this was her first event at this year's WSOP and not first WSOP ever. And you know, maybe we here at Wicked Chops Poker are too quick to jump on Anna the minute she opens her mouth.

Not like she's not used to guys jumping on her the minute she opens her mouth.

After the jump, a video of Anna opening her mouth...among other things.

The 2006 WSOP Main Event Airs Tonight, So Let's Start Recapping

Tonight, ESPN begins airing coverage of the 2006 WSOP Main Event.

For a change, televised poker media is finally getting ahead of the curve in its coverage. Given the final table was broadcast live on PPV (kudos ESPN), not to mention the hundreds of people who were manically refreshing Card Player for updated chip counts and the literally billions who did the same on Wicked Chops Poker, it would seem very "yesterday's news" to start broadcasting the Main Event in October or November (however, the prelim events won't get their just due until then, but we'll keep some of those stories fresh for you after the jump).

So in light of tonight's airing and in the spirit of repackaging content, below are five major story lines that broke during this year's WSOP prelim events (in no particular order of importance, who are we to play God?), followed by some things you may or may not see in tonight's coverage of Days 1a and 1b...

Jamie Gold Gets Sued for Half His Winnings

Three hours before this year's WSOP final table got underway, Jamie Gold allegedly left a message on the cell phone of Crispin Leyser (seen at left), a Brit-born/Hollywood-based TV producer who some may know from the WPT Boot Camp, where he and his hot wife, Jules, are instructors.

"I promise you - you can keep this recording on my word - there's no possible way you're not going to get half after taxes," Jamie reportedly said about the $12 million he would go on to win. "I can't imagine you're going to have a problem with it. I just don't want any stress about any money or any of that shit going on today, or even after the end of the day."

Gold continued, "But please just trust me. You've trusted me the whole way, you can trust me a little bit more. I promise you there's no way anybody will go anywhere with your money. It's your money."

Gold's word, as captured in this message, is now a crucial part of a lawsuit Leyser filed yesterday in the District Court in Clark County, claiming that he is entitled to half of Gold's $12 million because of an informal arrangement the pair had made after Bodog enlisted Gold to recruit celebrity players in exchange for his $10k buy-in. It seems Leyser had more ins with the in-crowd than Gold, and therefore, Leyser agreed to help Gold recruit celebs (like Matthew Lillard and Dax Shepard) in exchange for half of any Gold's WSOP winnings.

So basically it was like the Steve Dannenmann-Jerry Ditzell deal at last year's WSOP, where the two Maryland-ers each put up $5k and agreed to split the winnings, but completely different--because Gold and Leyser are from Hollywood and rich folks from La La land don't pay for measly shit like buy-ins to the WSOP. Not when you got Shaggy's and Dax's digits, baby. Those are worth their weight in gold, which in this case, may be worth $6 million (by the way, both went out early Day 1, for what that's worth...again, maybe $6 million).

Not the Friday Night Parting Shot: Jamie Gold

If I (Snake) wasn't busy last friday sleeping all day after being up 24 hours covering the final table at the WSOP only to finally wake up around 5pm-ish to eat dinner and play the Caesar's 7 o'clock tourney only to get knocked out when it was down to 3 tables because my pocket aces were no match to pocket fours that found a third on the river only then to head over to the Bellagio to play a NL cash game only to have my pocket aces cracked again with over $1k in the pot preflop because some pimple-faced pansy with A-Q hit a flush on the river, then these photos (below and after the jump) of Jamie Gold in the Bodog lounge with the only two Bodog Girls awake at 7 am on Friday morning when I took this photo would have been our Friday Night Parting Shot last Friday.

Just saying.

The Sports Guy Has Sour Grapes

One of the biggest non-stories at the 2006 WSOP ME was the entry and prompt exit of Bill "The Sports Guy" Simmons.

We tried to track him down and get some coverage of his non-journey for our readers, but like Crazy Bitch Tiffany Willaims, he barely lasted a couple of hours.

Turns out the Sports Guy had a pretty miserable (and all too typical) WSOP ME experience. No need to summarize, you can read it here. And since you'll read it here, there's also no need for us to get all "nerd" on you by breaking down the many facets of this article that are wrong and misguided.

Which is a shame. Because typically the Sports Guy is spot-on with his opinions. And had he made any sort of run in the WSOP, it would've made a great story to cover and an even better one to read from his perspective.

Unfortunately though, all we have is this, which just sounds like a bunch of sour grapes and is really a lousy way to end a Friday...except we'll have a Parting Shot up later, which should really make up for it all, you ingrates.

The Anatomy of a WSOP

Editor's Note: The following guest editorial is from FOWCP Jeff Sealey. Jeff was the fifth place finisher at the 2006 Aussie Millions and one of our 2006 WSOP sweats.

What does it take to win the World Series of Poker’s Main Event? I wouldn’t know. You're asking the wrong guy. But what I do know is that it’s different from any other major event I have participated in, which have been a bunch.

The first difference is the sheer fucking size of the field. Obviously, all you can do is beat your table. I truly had the mindset going in that this was “just another tournament.” But it's not. The difference between this and other tournaments is that the number of players that need to be accommodated forces the play into flights (four to be exact). Throw in nearly two-hour blinds levels and you are in for a loooooooooonnnnnnnnnng tournament.

So, what's it like playing in your first WSOP? First, in my case at least, you arrive in Vegas on Wednesday night. Then you find out that you don't play until Saturday. Then you play for fifteen hours on Saturday and make it through to the next day…which isn't until Tuesday. You play for fifteen hours on Tuesday (technically, I was KO'd on Day 2a) and make it through to Day Three…which isn't until Friday. Now you have been in Vegas for 9 days and you’ve played twice.

Richard Lee Bashes Jamie Gold During Interview

It would be easy to label Richard Lee, the sixth place finisher in this year's WSOP, a sore loser after he repeatedly ripped WSOP champ Jamie Gold as a horrible player in a radio interview he did 12 hours after busting out.

Granted, there's a saying regarding something about glass houses that may be applicable here, as we've called people way worse things in the past for much, much less. So we'll tread lightly.

And perhaps Lee is entitled to voice his own opinion of Gold without much deference to grace. Perhaps he earned that right after eight grueling days of poker and outlasting more than 8,700 players, only to get knocked out by Gold when Gold had...um...a much better hand and Lee failed to account for the former Hollywood agent's tendency to not laydown easily in the face of a massive reraise. We also understand that it all may have been said in the heat of the moment, the fog of battle, or perhaps, the haze from many long hours of poker followed by an early morning of drowning away sorrows and drinking away thoughts of a WSOP title that might have been.

Is Keeley Hazell Still the Wicked Chops Poker Girl of the Year?

Ever since seeing Joanna Krupa at the 2006 World Series of Poker (and taking 502MBs worth of photos of her sitting at a poker table doing nothing), we've considered renaming her the 2006 Wicked Chops Poker Girl of the Year, a title currently bestowed upon the bodacious Brit babe Keeley Hazell, who always seems to make us alliterate, among other things.

We don't take decisions like this lightly though. No, they're hard. Very hard. Like waging war in Iraq hard, but without all the bloodshed, Arabs and the Cindy Sheehan-types camping out in front of our ranch.

On one hand we have the amazingly gorgeous Joanna Krupa, who we once said was officially the hottest girl in Christendom and who knows enough about playing poker to last two full days at the 2006 WSOP. All incredibly impressive, and it's practically a laydown with those credentials; that is, if we had never come across the supremely stacked sexpot Keeley Hazell. And while Hazell, unlike Krupa, wouldn't know if she had flopped the nuts if they hit her in the face, she does occasionally make poker-related news and she certainly knows what to do when you're stacked big at the table, or in the shower or sitting in a leather sofa chair or, well, just watch the below videos of Keeley Hazell sent to us by one of our readers and help us decide.

To make the decision even harder, be sure to check out the longer, uncensored version of the same video after the jump.

The Totally Fabricated Wicked Chops Poker Interview with Rhett Butler

Some performances are so epic, so one of a kind, they are remembered for the ages.

And the 2006 WSOP ME final table had one such performance. Those of you who watched live at the Rio or on PPV knew what you saw would likely not be repeated for some time. Yes, one person from the 2006 WSOP ME final table will be talked about for years and years.

Rhett Butler.

Rhett's final table strategy was utterly captivating, the stuff legends are made of, easily worthy of its own Super/Sytem III no limit hold'em tournament strategy chapter.

With that in mind, Wicked Chops Poker is pleased to bring you this totally fabricated interview with Rhett Butler (at right, image from Poker Pages). And on a side note, look for our totally unfabricated interview with 2006 WSOP ME champion Jamie Gold later in the week.

WCP: So Rhett, you had an interesting strategy going into the final table. Tell us about it...

RB: Well, my goal was to play as few hands as I possibly could. In fact, if I could've gotten away with playing no hands, I would've.

WCP: Well you practically did.

RB: I know! My execution was nearly flawless.

No One As Good As Gold

In what will go down as one of the most dominating performances in poker history, Jamie Gold has won the 2006 WSOP Main Event.

The ex-agent/current producer/Team Bodog member was chip leader since Day 4. He never relinquished the chip lead during nearly 14 hours of final table play. Only for brief periods did he not have at least a 2-to-1 chip advantage over his nearest competitor.

Gold defeated Paul Wasicka heads-up for the title. On the final hand, Gold raised pre-flop and Wasicka called. On a flop of Q-8-5, Wasicka fires a 1.5M bet. Gold moves all-in and Wasicka calls, flipping over pocket tens. Gold shows Q-9. Wasicka doesn't improve, and Jamie Gold's ridiculous run ends with a WSOP ME title.

Gold banks $12M for the win. Wasicka will take home $6,102,499. Michael Binger finished third and receives $4,123,310.

Read more WSOP coverage here, here, here, here, and here.

* Photo from Bodog Beat.

Allen Cunningham Has Been Eliminated

Jamie Gold has knocked out proverbial favorite Allen Cunningham in fourth place.

Cunningham got all-in preflop with pocket tens. Gold called with K-J. King hit on the flop, and Cunningham was gone.

Gold has over 60M in chips now. Paul Wasicka is second with 16M. Michael Binger has 12M.

Rumor has it Rhett Butler was eliminated in fifth.

Dammit, What Part of Don't F*CK With Jamie Gold Don't You Understand?

Didn't we tell you not to fuck with Jamie Gold? Didn't we?

Richard Lee reraises a Jamie Gold preflop reraise, moving all-in. Jamie Gold calls. Again:

Gold = QQ
Lee = JJ

Gold's hand holds, and he now has well over half of the chips in play, with over 51M.

In other news, we just heard that Rhett Butler is still in the tournament, and has back-aswarded his way into at least a 5th place finish.

Players are now on a premature dinner break. Gold has over 51M. Wasicka has 14.5M. Cunningham over 13M. Binger, 7.5M. And Butler...does it really matter?