Wicked Chops Poker: Poker News, Gossip and Hot Girls

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."

Neil Channing, a Ginger*, 'Jamie Golds' the Final Table at the 2008 Irish Poker Open

Neil Channing, a ginger, so he has no soul and may kill you in your sleep if he gets the chance, has won the 2008 Irish Poker Open in Dublin, Ireland.

After working his way through a field of 667 players, the 40-year-old from London entered the televised final table with more than a third of the chips in play and steamrolled over his competitors in a manner reminiscent of the way Jamie Gold dominated the final table at the 2006 World Series of Poker Main Event.

For the win, "Bad Beat" Channing takes home €801,400. Runner-up Donal Norton, the sole Irishman at the final table, walks with €420,000.

The rest of the final table finished as follows: Thomas Dunwoodie (€275,000), Tim Blake (€220,000), Danilo Paulsen (€175,000) and Edwin Tournier (€135,000).

While we weren't there in Dublin to cover the event as we've been banished from the Emerald Isle ever since the naked leprechaun tossing debacle in Kilkenny ten years ago, our pal Owen Laukannen was there and you can read his full wrap-up here.

Speaking of leprechaun tossing, for a video showing what all Canadians do to celebrate St. Patrick's Day besides freeze their asses off, go here.

Photo above of Neil Channing, a ginger, and last year's Irish Open champ, Marty Smyth, also a ginger.

*UPDATE: There's a good chance based on people who have played against him that Neil isn't an actual ginger although he does show some ginger tendencies. Perhaps it was just the photos Owen took that made him look pretty ginger-y to us. Same goes with Marty, although the dude's pretty much bald so it's hard to tell. Regardless, being labeled a ginger is a serious matter and if we're wrong, our apologies.

2008 NBC National Heads-Up Poker Championship Done: Wasicka, Forrest, Hellmuth, Dancing with the Stars' Shannon Elizabeth Do Not Advance

It was a bad opening day for previous NBC National Heads-Up Poker Championship champs.

2005 winner Phil Hellmuth (above) took a devastating beat on hand number three against online pro Tom "durrr" Dwan. Hellmuth, holding pocket aces, called a re-raise all in by Dwan, who held tens. A ten hit on the turn, sending Hellmuth to the rail.

2006 winner Ted Forrest was gunned down by Orel Hershiser. The former Dodgers pitcher had just received heads-up lessons from Gavin Smith and Bill Edler the night before (footage of this will be up on RawVegas.tv on Sunday). Guess it worked.

Last year's champ Paul Wasicka was taken down by half-man, half-amazing Freddy Deeb.

And Dancing with the Stars' Shannon Elizabeth lost to Andy Bloch. So it's back to Dancing with the Stars for Shannon Elizabeth.

Phil Ivey, fresh of his WPT LAPC win, advanced to the second round, where he'll face Johnny Chan (who confirmed to us that he does not have a handicap sticker on his car).

Other compelling Round of 32 match-ups include: Gavin Smith vs. Chris "Jesus" Ferguson, Scotty Nguyen vs. Gus Hansen, Jerry Yang vs. Phil Laak, Scott Fischman vs. Jamie Gold, Erick Lindgren vs. Doyle Brunson, and our pick to win it yet again, Huck Seed vs. Brian Townsend.

WPT LA Poker Classic: Vinnie Vinh Still Alive, Glum Girl is Here, Benyamine Looking Slim(mer), Negreanu Backing Barack

So we made it to the Commerce today after a night of relatively moderate bedlam that kicked off at the Library Alehouse in Santa Monica and somehow ended up with us at a Laurel Canyon mansion this morning with a group of Venice Beach trust fund hippies who graffiti'd are SUV rental with Obama stickers.

We'll save that story however for our forthcoming 4-part series entitled "How We Spent the Friday Night Before the WPT LA Poker Classic."

For now, the word from the Commerce is that the action got underway almost 3 5 7 plus hours ago and we're finally getting around to writing something and we don't have much to say besides that pretty much every poker player you know this side of the Atlantic is here including Phil Hellmuth, Phil Ivey, Jamie Gold, John Phan, Carlos Mortensen, Are You Really Reading this List?, Paul Wasicka, Vannessa "Went to Duke" Rousso, Grover Cleveland, Layne Flack, Phil Laak, Josh Arieh, Rhahaeid Skaoodo, David Plastik, Barry Greenstein, Dan Harrington, Erick Lindgren, Mother Teresa, Eric Mizrachi, Scott Clements, Haralabos Voulgaris, Still Reading This?, David Williams, Freddy Deeb, We Wonder What We Should Eat for Dinner, Gavin Smith, David Singer, Lee Watkinson, Perhaps We'll Go to Panchos Tonight, Tom Schneider, Mark Seif, This Is Getting Tiring, Chau Giang, Tim Phan and Erick Seidel.

In total, 665 players started today, down considerably from last year's 791, and the total prize pool is $6,374,400, with first place set to take home $1,596,100. In 2007, Eric Hershler walked away with $2,429,970.

Of note . . .

Jamie Gold Did Not Hook Up with Brandi Hawbaker

How Wicked Chops Poker turned into the Brandi Hawbaker Network over the past 48 hours is beyond us, but whatever, it's great for ratings.

So we got word direct from the source that 2006 WSOP champ Jamie Gold never hooked up with Brandi (can we get a nickname for her from one of our readers? anyone?) as has been reported on WCP the forums. So let's strike that hook-up from the record for those keeping tabs at home. Didn't happen. Our apologies.

Jamie Gold's exclusive WCP interview

Jamie Gold on RawVegas.tv

Jerry Yang, God to Play 2008 NBC Heads-Up Poker Championship

NBC has announced its initial line-up for the (no longer?) Shana Hiatt-hosted 2008 National Heads-Up Poker Championship, and while most of the field is the same old same old (Doyle, Ivey, Chan, Jesus, Greenstein, Hellmuth, Shannon Elizabeth), a few new players on the scene are set to compete including Mirage Poker Showdown winner Jonathan Little, high stakes cash player Brian Townsend and God-on-his-side 2007 WSOP Main Event Champion Jerry Yang (seen at right), who besides his Chris McCandless-esque journey into the wilds of that cold ice mass north of America, we haven't seen much of since July.

Antonio Esfandiari, who hasn't done much on the poker circuit since Bush's first term, is also among the players set to play, for some reason. Or maybe he's just going to do table side magic or something.

The nationally televised single elimination tournament, which was won last year by Paul Wasicka, is set to take place February 29 - March 2 at Caesar's Palace in Las Vegas just as the LA Poker Classic wraps at the Commerce. The show will air on NBC in April and May.

For more on the NBC Heads-Up Championship go to the official site here.

For what 2006 WSOP Main Event champ Jamie Gold had to say about Wicked Chops Poker at last year's NBC Heads-Up championship go here.

For why you should go read a book, go here.

People Got Drunk at Phil Hellmuth's Holiday Party

This past Tuesday night, Phil Hellmuth threw a big birthday/holiday party in a Palms fantasy suite. If we were retarded, we'd say it looked "off the chain" or "off the hook" or "was the bomb." The dude with that thing on his chin from Anthrax played, and apparently, plenty of booze was available.

Having some fun at the party included party tour guide Gavin Smith, recent Five-Diamond $5k runner-up finisher Sully Erna, Roland de Wolfe, and Jamie Gold (who provides one of the night's best lines about 3:45 in). Watch below or here.

Jerry Yang, Poker's New Squeaky Clean Ambassador

The Yin and Yang of World Series of Poker Champions.

So the era of Jamie Gold as the WSOP Main Event champ is over, which sucks for us because we don't expect Jerry Yang, the Ajax of poker, to give us any real good material to write about over the next 12 months, at least not like our favorite Malibu blowhard did. Sure Jerry Yang, a God-loving, clean-living, charity-giving, father of six immigrant from Laos, has a truly compelling story, one that is the ultimate manifestation of the American dream--kind of like Tuan Lam's tale of immigrating from Vietnam is except totally different because Lam finished second and lives in Canada. But what can we expect from our new champion as a storyline after the initial media honeymoon is over? Will he balk on giving to the charities he promised? Not likely. Will he produce a new show called "The Hottest Hmong in America?" with a website that says "You Hot Hmong You" every time you visit it? That would be awesome. Will he stiff the WSOP dealers out of a big tip? Wait, he did stiff the dealers out of a big tip? Anyway, lots of people other than us are talking about Yang and below are the best reads we've found so far on the game's new de facto ambassador. Check 'em out. :: Jeff Haney on how the new face of championship poker came from unlikely origins, gained fame lightning fast and plans to give away part of his winning - Las Vegas Sun :: Jerry Yang, the (Poker) World Needs You Now - Lou Krief's Blog :: Can Yang Save Poker's Face? - Casino City Times :: WSOP Epilogue: A Leap of Faith - Tao of Poker :: How to Catch an Animal With a Havahart Trap - wikiHow UPDATE: Stiff the dealer link fixed above. Be sure to also read the piece 2007 WSOP POY Tom Schneider wrote on tipping.

Jamie Gold Gone On Day 1 of 2007 WSOP

It was a disappointing return to the World Series of Poker for Jamie Gold (a paltry $14,000 in cashes and no deep runs) after a disappointing year with him as poker's ambassador.

Gold, who has been looking more like a homeless man around the Rio than the reigning World Champion of poker lately, was eliminated just after the dinner break on Day 1d of the 2007 WSOP. Gold had been at the ESPN featured table all day and proved to be more Varkonyi/Moneymaker-like than Raymer/Hachem-esque in his quest to repeat as champion.

"I'm just frustrated with the way that I played. I played really poorly," Jamie Gold told Lance Bradley of Canada's ThePokerBiz.com, minutes after he was eliminated from the second largest field in poker history.

Gold eventually hit the rail when he pushed all-in with Qs-9s and wasn't able to catch up to his opponent's A-7 off.

Gold's early exit falls far short of his prediction for this year's World Series of Poker. "I know this is the thing you guys are going to kill me on, but I think I'll make the final table this year," he told us during our heads-up interview with him last March.

For more on Gold's elimination, head over to ThePokerBiz.com. For less (clothes) on Jessica Alba, go here.

WSOP Flashback Forward: Jamie Gold Predicts He'll Make Final Table at WSOP

With the start of the 2007 WSOP Main Event just hours away, we thought now would be a good time to look back at what Jamie Gold told us about his predictions for this year's WSOP in our exclusive interview with the soon-to-be former World Champion.

Actually it really isn't a good time for that, or at least not as good of a time as looking at photos of the ridiculously hot Amanda Braun (seen in pic).

But since we brought it up, Gold had the following to say when we asked him for his prediction for this year's WSOP:

"I know this is the thing you guys are going to kill me on, but 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?"

Gold also said: "The Main Event is really important to me. My dream would be to stay in Vegas a month and play as much as possible. I'd like to try and win a little bit of money just to say I've accomplished something in my second year."

Gold has cashed twice this year so far for about $14,000.

Read the entire Jamie Gold interview here. Hear what Jamie Gold has to say about Wicked Chops Poker here. Learn more about Amanda Braun here.

Is Jamie Gold the Next to 'Back' Brandi Hawbaker?

Hanging with the crew at ThePokerBiz.com as Event #8 broke for dinner, we saw Jamie Gold in his all-too-familiar-from-last-year rapid hallway shuffle to the pisser, sans the bodyguards, with none other than the freaky ass Brandi Hawbaker hot on his heels spreading pestilence on unsuspecting passerbys.

Our penises curiously gazed at the narcissistic, hot-enough-to-bang, flame tosser but thankfully the penises were smart enough to dive for cover as she got closer. They may not look it, but our penises are frickin' Einsteins . . . that is, if Einstein was known for sensing the herp from a few steps away.

So what's up with Brandi Hawbaker and Jamie Gold palling around? Is the 2006 WSOP champ "backing" the former pageant girl? Is she the next member of Team BuzzNation? Will our penises' curiosities ever get the best of them?

Well, ThePokerBiz.com team of writers have already jumped on the Jamie Gold-Brandi Hawbaker sighting, so read about it there. We on the other hand are busy trying to convince our penises it's OK to come out now.

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.

EXCLUSIVE: Jamie Gold Goes Heads-Up With Wicked Chops Poker

It's possible over the past seven months or so we've said some harsh things about Jamie Gold.

Granted, he, along with his monkey-fucking-a-football handlers, have deserved a good share of it.

It all started days before Gold won the World Series of Poker Main Event. In an interview with ESPN.com's Steve Rosenbloom, Gold said he'd rather finish second than win the Main Event.

Then, within days of winning poker's biggest event in one of the most dominating performances ever (aided by some insanely fortuitous flops, turns and rivers), a lawsuit filed by premature ejaculating, gun-jumping Crispin Leyser brought on one of modern poker's ugliest chapters.

A series of misteps in the press followed, as well as some unfortunate personal hardships.

Now, Jamie Gold is ready for a new beginning.

Last week after playing in the National Heads-Up Championship in Las Vegas and sharing on video what he thought of us, Jamie Gold sat with Wicked Chops Poker for a candid (and frankly, ballsy) interview on his rollercoaster year. Gold was honest, forthcoming and, as he put it, ready to step up as an ambassador for the game.

NOTE: After reading our WCP Heads-Up interview with Jamie Gold after the jump, visit Jamie Gold's Raw Perspective video on RawVegas.tv for more in-depth coverage.

WCP: What was your life like a year ago? 

Jamie Gold Wants Us to Like Him

After saying the lawsuit with Crispin Leyser was "all really stupid" and "only the press made it out to be a big thing," Jamie Gold tells RawVegas.tv's Denise Pernula (and soon-to-be featured in Playboy) what he thinks about Wicked Chops Poker.

Link to Jamie Gold on Wicked Chops Poker video here.

UPDATE: WickedChopsPoker.com will feature a "Heads-Up" interview with Jamie Gold next week.

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.

Breaking News: Jamie Gold and Crispin Leyser Settle Lawsuit

Every time we say it's a slow news day something big happens.

The Associated Press is reporting that Jamie Gold and "Bruce" Crispin Leyser have settled their lawsuit.

In a joint, signed statement, the parties said:

"Jamie always intended on sharing his winnings with Crispin . . . Jamie and Crispin are happy to report they have fully settled this matter. They are pleased to be closing this chapter and look forward to continued success."

Gold allegedly promised Leyser half of his winnings for helping him land a few celebs to rep Bodog during the 2006 WSOP Main Event. Then unfortunately for Gold, he had to live up to his end of the bargain after winning the $12M first place prize.

While Gold was arranging payment of the funds, Leyser pushed the panic button and sued Gold for half the winnings.

The rest will go down as a really ugly chapter in poker's history.

We'll keep you posted on developments as they come. However, we'll set the line on what Leyser will receive at +/- $4.2M.

A Video Metaphor of How Jamie Gold Fared at the WPT Winter Poker Open

Since we mentioned the other day that Jamie Gold was, at one point, the chipleader during day one of the 2007 WPT Borgata Winter Poker Open, we thought we'd update you on his progress by posting this video metaphor of how things went for him, followed by the text after the jump.

Link to YouTube video here

Breaking News: Bodog Issues Statement On Split with Jamie Gold

It's now official.

Bodog.com and embattled 2006 WSOP champ Jamie Gold have split ways. The online gaming site said today that the "Hottest Mom in America" producer sued for half of his $12 million winnings will no longer be a part of Bodog's pro team that includes David Williams, Josh Arieh and Evelyn Ng.

In an official statement today on the split, Bodog.com said:

"In light of its decision to cease all offline marketing initiatives in the U.S., and instead refocus its efforts on growing its entertainment brand in Europe and Asia, Bodog has ended its business relationship with Jamie Gold. Bodog has enjoyed our association with Mr. Gold and wishes him the best of luck in his future endeavors."

Whether those future endeavors will include Gold starting a Team Buzznation poker team consisting of himself and anyone who can stand to be on the same team as him is yet to be seen. There's been no official word yet from the Gold camp, who we suspect are too busy still trying to fuck a football to get a statement out any time soon.

Relive all of the excitement, passion, glory and other emotions that don't come remotely close to summing up the way you've felt about Jamie Gold over the past 6 months here at Wicked Chops Poker.

Photo courtesy of the guys over at WickedChopsPoker.com. We love those guys.

Have You Met the Big Poppa, Jamie Gold?

The first hand of the first episode of High Stakes Poker on GSN was a gem, with Jamie Gold making a move on "Big Poppa" Doyle Brunson on the turn when he had bottom pair and a straight draw while Brunson held the nuts, and it's now up at YouTube.com, which you can view below. Up For Poker has a transcript of the hand, in part, but watch the video (beginning about 3 minutes in) for Gabe Kaplan's priceless commentary and for Sheiky and the gang's digs at the high stakes newbie.

Mark Seif Rips Jamie Gold

If there's one thing we've learned in covering the Crispin Leyser v. Jamie Gold case is that both guys have some seriously loyal friends. People who are sticking by them, through thick and thin, defending them in the media and via emails and phone calls to us, and sometimes with annoying ass comments to our posts that rival some fat ass hoochie momma on Jerry Springer who thinks she's all that and a bag of chips and we're just jealous of them.

And we here at Wicked Chops Poker often find ourselves in the middle of all this, as we report on the case and share our instant opinions on both guys, because a number of our friends and acquaintances in poker are among these seriously loyal friends, and when we diss on either, they're the first to let us know we suck.

Well, one seriously loyal friend of Crispin Leyser, poker pro Mark Seif, who also happens to be a FOWCP and a past WCP Heads-Up interviewee but likely thinks we suck, has just publicly aired his thoughts on Gold and the lawsuit in his first blog for BluffMagazine.com.

Jamie Gold Likely to Lose Leyser Case, Says Judge

Jamie Gold, the controversial WSOP Main Event champ, isn't having the best December.

Just last week his ailing father, Dr. Robert Gold, died just as Jamie landed in Las Vegas to play the Five Diamond Something Something Doyle Brunson Something Something.

Then yesterday in Vegas, the U.S. District Court judge in the Leyser v. Gold court case, the Honorable Roger Hunt, ruled against Gold's motion seeking a lift of the freeze on the remaining $6 million and delivered this not so promising remark:

"His actions, in the court's view, do not give the plaintiff much assurance that the money would, in fact, be available in the event of a judgment in his favor. The likelihood of success weighs on the side of the plaintiff."

Ouch.

Jamie Gold's Father Succumbs to ALS

Early Thursday morning, Wicked Chops Poker received word from a friend of Jamie Gold that Dr. Robert Gold, the father of the 2006 WSOP Main Event champ, had passed away at the age of 76. As most know, Jamie's father was battling ALS, the crippling neurodegenerative disease commonly referred to as Lou Gehrig's Disease.

According to Gold's friend, Jamie was set to play the Five Diamond World Poker Classic in Las Vegas and had just landed at McCarran Airport when he got the news from his mom and caught the next flight home. Jamie Gold's father became an integral part of Gold's WSOP story after Jamie pledged to use the money from his winnings to make his father as comfortable as possible and when Gold called him from the final table immediately after winning.

More on the Jamie Gold "Help or Hurt" Question

Right before the Holiday break we posed the question "Does Jamie Gold help or hurt poker?" and asked readers to voice their opinions over at BluffMagazine.com. In response, millions went over to the Bluff site over the weekend, give or take some large number of people, and voiced their opinion while a few expressed their views on this site. One of those, Craig Tapscott, recently interviewed Jamie Gold for FOXSports Poker and thinks Gold is getting the raw deal.

Paraphrasing--word for word--what Craig said in his comment:

"How in the world does Gold hurt the game? I see a lot of haters out there that are simply jealous. No real facts to back anything up. Go see the on camera interview I did with him for FOXSports for 1 hour and your opinion will change. Straight forward, humble guy who loves the game.

You can view the video of Tapscott's FOXSports interview here and let us know what you think.

Also worth viewing is the excellent, level-headed comment from reader Waynebullet, who leans towards thinking Gold is not good for poker but without resorting to the kind of hoochie-mama-on-Maury-saying-she's-all-that-and-a-bag-of-chips argument we've been seeing in the Gold-Leyser debate. For the record, we wholeheartedly agree with Waynebullet when he says that the lawsuit is bad for poker. It's something we've said before, and while the damage is already done, the sooner the parties settle the better.

Token Jamie Gold-Crispin Leyser photo from the 2006 WSOP after the jump.

Does Jamie Gold Help or Hurt Poker?

Since our October spread in Bluff Magazine, where we asked whether controversial WSOP champ, Jamie Gold, is good for poker, Bluff has had a poll up on their homepage where people can vote and voice their opinion on the matter, and boy do we know people have strongs opinions on this because, as they say, opinions are like assholes and everyone we know is one, and they stink like poop.

Or however that analogy goes.

Go express your asshole over at Bluff now. Currently the results are as follows:

Gold hurts the game --- 60%

Gold helps the game --- 7%

Just another side show --- 33%

Jamie Gold's "Hottest Mom" Definitely Not Porn, Says Spokesman

"Hottest Mom In America", the yet-to-be-completed-or-signed-to-a-network reality TV show hawking a "dermal filler" for women that is being produced by WSOP champ Jamie Gold and his production team at Buzznation, is in the middle of a trademark fight over their name and concept, and as the LA Times reports, "Testy lawyer letters have been exchanged. High-profile litigation firms have been retained. And an awkward chapter in feminist history unfolds."

Apparently a woman named Jessica Denay, who has a bit of a celebrity following and who co-founded an online community called HotMomsClub.com and published "The Hot Mom's Handbook: Moms Have More Fun!," has two TV shows and a radio program in development and isn't happy about Gold busting in on her hot moms market. "This has only hurt our company," said Denay, who said her business was "started by moms, not a big corporation, not a marketing firm, not men — real moms who know what it is like to juggle our own needs and the needs of our families."

What she means by this whole juggling "our own needs" stuff, we have no idea. Like is she talking about food and sex? The way she says it makes it sound like she has "needs" that a man can't satisfy with a good meal and a romp, which if this is the case, she might as well be talking about journalistic integrity to us in Farsi, or better yet, be Canadian. All very foreign to us.

An equally interesting quote, on the other end of the battle of the sexes, is when Gold's biz partner and Buzznation executive VP, Jeff Greenfield, was asked about the fine line between celebrating motherhood and the whole "sexiness" thing of it all. Seemingly out of nowhere Greenfield brought up the "P" word, saying, "There's a fine line between Porn and regular stuff. This is a show that is sexy enough to satisfy the people that are looking for that, but it is definitely not that at all."

So to be clear here, "Hottest Mom in America" is definitely not porn. Absolutely not. No way.

BUT it will satisfy people looking for porn?

Sounds like a website we know.

By the way, Wicked Chops Poker totally sides with Jessica Denay in this trademark battle solely because her silhouette of a hot mom is way hotter than Buzznation's. Seriously, if you had to bang a silhouette, Denay's mom, sans the brats, would be right up there alongside Charlie's Angels or a Bond girl silhouette. Also, and in no way ironic, Jessica Denay is hot herself, so she has that going for her. Yes, photos of her after the jump.

Crispin Leyser Is Charles Bronson Tough

We've mentioned before that we don't like 90% of the people in the world, so it's no surprise that 90% don't like us either. Lately it's been friends of both Jamie Gold and Crispin Leyser, who are turning out to be on the same level as Nickelback and Anna Benson fans (i.e. Anna Benson) in terms of their hatred of us, with the key difference being that no one sucks more than Nickelback fans. Except Al Qaeda, maybe. We hate those guys.

Anway, because we've made unfair slights against Crispin Leyser and his manliness lately, we thought it would be journalistically responsible (a phrase that means about as much to us as the word "sesquipedalian" does, which we have no idea what that means) to point out that Leyser is actually a tough guy. Like Charles Bronson in Hard Times tough, if Charles Bronson in Hard Times slapped wrists instead of beating the shit out of people.

Don't believe us that Leyser is that tough? Go to a WPT Boot Camp sometime and try raising in early position with a weak ace. The word on the street is that Leyser will unleash a slap of fury on your wrist so fast you won't know what slapped you. On your wrist. And if you're really bad, he may just slap you across the face. And if you're REALLY bad, he may...uh oh, we better stop, cause this is kind of turning us on.

By the way, if our photoshop expert was in right now we would have put Leyser's face on Charles Bronson's body on the poster to the left to drive the point home that Leyser really is Bronson tough. But you'll have to settle for second best, photos here and after the jump of Keeley Hazell in her recent Zoo spread doing Christina Aguilera's boxing in her panties and chaps tough girl thing. There are also photos of Keeley doing the Britney Spears Catholic school girl number and a video from her Kylie Minogue bit, which aren't so tough looking as they are Keeley doing the Britney Catholic school girl number and Kylie bit.