Elizabeth Gets Smart

She's uber-gorgeous, loves playing poker as much as you do, and her bankroll outstacks yours about a million-to-1 thanks to hit movie roles that have showcased some of her finer assets. But over the past couple years, one thing has kept 31-year-old actress/poker fanatic Shannon Elizabeth from being the perfect girl, and that's her marriage to Joseph Reitman, a 37-year-old actor ("Drop Dead Sexy," "Choices," "Perfect Storm" and "Bum Runner) who we're pretty sure is somehow related to butt-ass-ugly crooner Meatloaf (just compare this link with the photo of Reitman and Miss Elizabeth below).

Well, Elizabeth has finally made the right move, filing for divorce last Wednesday and claiming irreconcilable differences (that's legalese for "I'm too frickin' hot to be seen with you anymore"). Actually, in one way you have to respect Elizabeth's beauty-and-the-beast relationship mentality and perhaps it translates to her poker playing in that she doesn't just play handsome hands like K-K but sees the beauty in such starters as 7-6 off. But, thankfully she knows you shouldn't stay married to ugly cards when the board and the betting say it's time to ditch.

Anyway, lame poker/relationship analogies aside, the rumor mill is trying to say Elizabeth is an item with Antonio "The Magician" Esfandiari, which first got started when she was seen cheering for him during the National Heads-Up Poker Championship.

But since we promised not to get into poker player gossip here, we'll refrain from perpetuating this (well, anymore than we just did). Plus, Esfandiari seemed to be unaware of the rumor until Phil Laak called him up to tell him the word's spreading. We believe and envy Antonio when he says they're just friends and he's helping her improve her game.

So far no confirmation on whether Elizabeth will be playing in the main event of this year's WSOP. We hope she does. She's a regular Hollywood home gamer and has appeared at a final table in the GQ and Calvin Klein’s 2nd Annual Celebrity Charity Poker Tournament in which she got 'sucked out' by Chip Jett (Don't worry Karina, we're talking poker here). Elizabeth has also been on several episodes of Celebrity Poker Showdown and has played Laak's E! Hollywood Hold'em. While she's no Mimi Rogers at the table, Elizabeth has shown some nice improvement since her first TV appearance, and based on her recent show of smarts in ditching a bad hand, we're confident her game is only going to get better.