Poker Proves to be Popular Super Bowl Alternative

The Palms hotel and casino hosted their inaugural Legends Celebrity Invitational Poker Tournament Friday night, providing a great-escape for sports greats who wanted to get the hell out of Detroit this week.

John Elway, Dan Marino, and Roger Clemens were among those who eschewed the 8-mile, ensuring that the only bullets they'd be facing were pocket Aces. 

That's right, we'll take a stand and say that Detroit is a violent-hell-hole-of-crime-and-murders.  Jimmy Kimmel be damned!

So instead of facing the icy stare of some thug trying to steal their Rolex, these sports legends instead faced the icy stare of Phil Ivey, Johnny Chan, Doyle Brunson, or Jen Harman trying to steal a pot.

The Palms isn't the only place to get your poker fix during all of the Super Bowl ballyhoo (or hullaballoo, if you prefer).

Wicked Chops fave Bodog.com will be hosting its Lingerie Bowl III at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum.  You can order by pay-per-view and witness, as only Bodog could put it, "...what promises to be the greatest sporting spectacle played in female undergarments..."  Beauts like Willa Ford (top left) and Cindy Hemme (right) are among the combatants.

And if you really just don't care about the Seahawks and Steelers match-up, or you can't get enough of Vince Van Patten, the Travel Channel will be running a WPT marathon so you can get your poker/Van Patten fix.