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:

Non-Legend Joe Pelton Wins Legends of Poker

Joe Pelton, who is currently not a legend but may one day become a legend, especially if he does something like pull the Excalibur sword out of a rock or kill a grizzly bear attacking a group of Girl Scouts with his bare hands...twice...has won the WPT Legends of Poker.

For the win, Pelton banks $1,577,170. Pelton beat Frankie O'Dell heads-up for the title. Hoyt Corkins finished third, Kevin O'Donnell fourth, Randy Holland fifth, and Scotty Nguyen sixth.

Previous WPT Legends of Poker winners include Chris Karagulleyan (non), Mel Judah (non), Doyle Brunson (total legend), and Alex Kahaner (non). That doesn't leave a good track record for Pelton's chances at becoming a legend.

* Lousy image of Pelton from Poker Pages.

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?"

New Bond is a Poker Expert and Other B.S. You've Heard Lately

Ten months ago or so we told you that the new James Bond film, Casino Royale, was going to feature 007 playing Texas Hold'em instead of Baccarat, the special agent's usual game.

Then about four months ago we reported that the new Bond, actor Daniel Craig, apparently didn't know jack squat about poker.

Now, the "media" is reporting that Craig has, in the span of a few months, somehow managed to become "a poker expert."

Yeh right.

And Jamie Gold launched James Gandolfini's career and is a man of his word.

And Richard Lee has never taken an illegal bet.

And Anna Benson is a classy broad who loves Wicked Chops Poker.

And the Milwaukee's Best Light girls are "legal" (and you care).

Anyway, you get the idea. It's all B.S. All propaganda. All spin. And that's why you have Wicked Chops Poker here to give it to you straight. Because we're straight like that. And giving it to you straight about the new Bond film, there are only two reasons to go see it when it hits screens this November 17:

(1) Eva Green - She is starring as Bond's love interest, Vesper Lynd, and is the perfectly gorgeous French actress who spent two hours being lustfully naked in the tastefuly-done-porn-flick-masquerading-as-an-art-house-film, The Dreamers; and

(2) Caterina Murino - She is the sexy Italian starlet/model starring as the villain's love interest, Solange, which means Bond bonks, snogs and shags her, Britishly speaking, and then likely has to kill her.

Need further convincing that Eva Green and Caterina Murino are worth it? Some proof after the jump.

O'Dell, O'Donnell Out in Front at Legends of Poker

Frankie O'Dell and Kevin O'Donnell will be big stacked going into final table play at the Legends of Poker, with 3,880,000 and 2,335,000 respectively.

O'Donnell in particular has been on a tear recently, with six cashes at the 2006 WSOP, including a 21st in the Main Event.

Having won the World Poker Open in January, Scotty Nguyen makes his second WPT final table of the year, albeit as short-stack with 375,000.

Joining them at the final table are Hoyt Corkins (1,030,000), Joe Pelton (1,100,000), and Randy Holland (615,000).

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...

World Poker Tour Extends Its Middle Finger to Chris Ferguson, Andy Bloch, Howard Lederer, Joe Hachem, Greg Raymer, Phil Gordon, and Annie Duke

Somewhere deep in the World Poker Tour's ivory tower in LA that we're imagining in our minds, WPT executives and lawyers are leaning back in their Herman Miller chairs and saying, "Take that, assholes!"

This past June, Chris Ferguson, Andy Bloch, Howard Lederer, Joe Hachem, Greg Raymer, Phil Gordon and Annie Duke (from here on known as The Plaintiffs) sued the the World Poker Tour, alleging that the release forms it requires players to sign are, among other things, unlawfully anti-competitive and violative of their intellectual property rights. The players also alleged that the WPT has entered into agreements with certain casinos that have "artificially restrained the number of televised, high stakes professional poker tournaments that are available for poker players to compete in, and for poker fans to enjoy."

The WPT has now finally responded and did so first by sticking out its middle-finger and saying "Fuck you man. If it wasn't for me you would be nothing. NOTHING!" Then following it by saying, "Chill dude. It's cool. Everybody's doing it." Then, after providing a false sense of security to The Plaintiffs, they go for the jugular, saying "You dirty, double-crossing bastards . . . biting the hand that feeds you. I'm a gonna break you."

Finally, they wrap things up by saying something really spiteful and even a little bit dumb.

While that pretty much sums up all you need to know about the WPT's response, we understand some readers would like a more thorough account, which you'll find after the jump.

Non-Legend Javid Javani Leads Legends of Poker

Javid Javani, who is legendary only in the cool sounding name alliteration department, leads the Legends of Poker at the Bike after Day 2 play.

With only 51 remaining from the original 466, Javani wields the big stack with 435,000. In second overall is the always super intense-looking Tuan Le (at right) with 405,000. While we have no way to verify the upcoming statement, something tells us that Tuan could easily smash a 2x4 with a "hiyaah!" chop of his hand, or perhaps even make it snap with the power of his stares and the intensity of his mind.

The guy is intense.

Other notable stacks, according to Card Player, include: Barry Shulman - 400,000, Hoyt Corkins - 310,000, Scotty Nguyen - 292,000, Tim Phan - 275,000, Erick Lindgren - 226,000, Huck Seed - 150,000, Vanessa Rousso - 132,000, John Juanda - 112,000, James Van Alstyne - 109,000, and Jennifer Leigh - 57,000.

Play resumes at 2pm (PST) today. If you're into sadomasochism, check out Card Player for live blogging reports.

* Image from Poker Player Newspaper.

The Fairer Sex Faring Well on Day 1B at the Bike

Despite what Anna Benson may think, Wicked Chops Poker loves women poker players. So after rubbing our eyes to make sure we read the chip counts right, asking our current/first wives to look at the chip counts to make sure we read them right, calling up friends who use different servers to make sure they are reading the same thing we are, and then having a collective heart attack, we were not surprised at all to see no less than seven women in contention after Day 1B at the WPT Legends of Poker tournament.

Jennifer Tilly (72,000), Liz Lieu (60,500), Clonie Gowen (at right from her Maxim photo shoot, with 41,000), Jennifer Harmon (38,500), Tobey Maguire (31,500), Jennifer Leigh (27,900), and Vanessa Rousso (21,700) all made it through Day 1B in decent shape.

All of these fine women though trail Day 1B chip leader Masoud Pourhabib, who may or may not be of Middle Eastern descent, and who is stacked at 125,000.

Other notable big stacks include: Joe Sebok (72,000), JC Tran (70,000), Scott Lazar (65,000), Amnon Filppi (60,000), Victor Ramdin (51,000), Michael "the Grinder" Mizrachi (47,500), and Jean-Robert Bellande (45,000).

Le Leads Legends at the Bike

After a two-month hiatus as the 2006 WSOP monopolized the time of the poker world, the WPT is back with the Legends of Poker at the Bike.

And much to our overwhelming delight, it also means Card Player is back with tournament reports that are unparalleled in the funny department.

So while we'd like to come up with some perfect way to explain the WPT's triumphant return to the circuit scene, we'll let the scribes at Card Player handle it:

The first impression made on Day 1A of the World Poker Tour's Bicycle Casino Legends of Poker hit like a rock straight to the head – goodbye World Series of Poker.

Rock to the head? At least we now have an explanation for Card Player's horrific WSOP coverage. Their writers are frequently pummeled with rocks to the head.

Sooooo....Legends of Poker at the Bike. Day 1A kicked off with 234 players. Tuan Le, the WPT's all-time top earner with $4,467,738, has a built large chip lead, even though we're getting three different totals from three different sources. But hopefully the WPT's site has the most accurate one, so we'll use their 141,000 count. The next closest (according to Poker Wire) may or may not be Mel "Ask Me About My" Weiner, whose potential funny headline quotient is off the fucking charts.

Other notable big stacks include Scotty Nguyen, Gabe Kaplan, Barry Shulman, Hoyt Corkins, Erik Seidel, Erick Lindgren, and Phil Hellmuth.

Get full chip counts from any of the aforementioned three different sources, because we don't have the time or the patience to figure out the chip disparities for you.

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.

Jamie Gold's People Respond to Lawsuit, Finally

You ever hear the expression "a monkey fucking a football?"

Well it seems to apply to Jamie Gold's team of publicists at B|W|R , the firm that was hired by Gold the day before he won the the WSOP and who wasted all this week before coming up with a lame, boilerplate statement on the lawsuit filed by Crispin Leyser against Jamie Gold over half his WSOP winnings. How they didn't have this ready to go the minute the suit was filed beats us, but being slow to act, or not acting at all, has been par for the course for them since day one, or Day 8 at the WSOP to be exact.

Anyway, below is the lame, boilerplate statement from Alfred Hopton at B|W|R :

“Jamie Gold is disappointed that the plaintiff, a person he has only known since July of this year, has elected to file litigation rather than continue the parties' discussions in an effort to find a resolution to this matter.

"Mr. Gold believes strongly in the American judicial system and believes that it is better to present his case there than to try the matter before the court of public opinion.

"He is pleased to have had the opportunity to participate and win the World Series of Poker and is pleased with the quality of the tournament, his outstanding opponents, and Harrahs, the event organizer. Mr. Gold further appreciates the support of his fans and sponsor, bodog.net, and hopes that this unfortunate litigation will not detract from the outstanding efforts of the entire field of participants in the World Series of Poker."

For more on the statement, check out CardPlayer.com and be sure to check out Lisa Wheeler's thorough summary of the lawsuit here.

Image of a monkey fucking a football courtesy of the site MonkeyFuckingAFootball.com

Looking Back at the Leysers

When I (Snake) first met Crispin and Jules Leyser at this year's WSOP I was chowing down on greasy food just outside the Poker Kitchen as Milwaukee's Best Light girls took turns dancing in front of me like ecstacy-soused Carmen Electras strutting their stuff on the dance floor at Hef's house. It was a spectacular, suggestively-sexual, pseudo-striptease spectacle, alliteratively speaking, and one that would have been best enjoyed had it not been interrupted. But no such luck.

First to intrude on my rare moment of WSOP solitude and visual delight was Colin Malone, the loquacious amigo and longtime client of Jamie Gold (in)famous for his cable access and porn star video exploits.

And soon after that, the Leysers.

To be honest, I didn't know much about the Leysers at the time except for what was obvious during our conversation: they were apparently friends with Jamie Gold, knew a lot about poker, lived in Hollywood, spoke like Londoners and Jules was a pulchritudinous brunette with a resplendent smile (gets old saying "smoking hot" all the time). Shortly after this encounter though I learned that the pair were WPT Boot Camp Instructors and had a 50-50 split deal with Gold because Crispin had helped Jamie land some players for Bodog's celebrity team. And it was shortly after this (say, about 3 and a half minutes later) that I remembered how we had done a post more than a year ago about a radio interview with a couple who knew a lot about poker, lived in Hollywood, spoke like Londoners and the wife sounded like she may have been smoking hot. I thought, "Could this be the same people? Could the world really be this small? Could Pluto (at left) really not be a planet?"

Well, low and behold, the answer was yes, Pluto isn't a planet, which is really just blowing our fucking minds here at Wicked Chops Poker. We mean, that's some crazy shit. What was all that we learned back in elementary school? All a lie? Why are they just figuring this out now? What's next, George Washington didn't really cut down the cherry tree? Or, that's it's NOT OK to be touched "down there?"

Anyway, indeed that was the Leysers in the radio interview and you can check out the post we did here. After you listen to the first piece be sure to check out the follow-up piece entitled "Paying the Bills Playing Online Poker." Riveting stuff.

You can also find out more about Crispin and Jules Leyser at their website, PokersPairOfAces.com, which could also be read as www.PokersPairOFaces.com, as well as www.PokerSpairOfAces.com, that is, if you had too much time on your hands.

Finally, for the visual-image impaired, find out what an ecstacy-soused Carmen Electra strutting her stuff on the dance floor at Hef's house looks like after the jump...

The Best of the Worst: Jamie Gold WSOP Headlines

There's a saying about people who live in glass houses throwing stones.

It's a saying that we often stones rocks at, or choose to ignore.

One of the overlooked benefits to the dominating Jamie Gold WSOP win (and ensuing lawsuit) is the volume of uninspired or lazy headlines it has produced. We, in fact, have had one or two of our own (See: No One As Good as Gold).

However, this will not stop us from pointing out the faults of others, because in a lot of ways, that is our job. After the jump are some of our favorite Jamie Gold headlines from other "media":

Jamie Gold + The $6 Million Dollar Freeze-Out

In an effort to repackage as much content as possible this week, it's time to revisit the Jamie Gold lawsuit, because this story is not going away.

As we first reported earlier this week, the ex-agent/current producer is being sued by Crispin Leyser over an informal arrangement made between the two regarding Gold's potential WSOP winnings. It started when online gaming giant Bodog pledged to cover Gold's $10k WSOP ME buy-in in exchange for Gold recruiting some celeb players on Bodog's behalf. When Gold couldn't come through, he turned to Leyser, who was able to land the likes of Dax Shepard and Matthew Lillard. For this help, Gold pledged Leyser half of his WSOP Main Event earnings.

According to court filings, just three hours before the WSOP final table began, Gold allegedly left a message on Leyser's cell phone stating, "I promise you - you can keep this recording on my word - there's no possible way you're not going to get half [of the winnings] after taxes."

And as seen in this exclusive Wicked Chops Poker pic snapped right after his victory, Jamie's promise seemed to remain Golden, as Cripsin and his seriously hot wife, Jules, joined in the celebration.

However, Crispin has yet to see even one single crisp dollar bill, or even a silver nickle, from Gold. And a temporary restraining order has been issued this week by Clark County District Judge Kathy Hardcastle to prevent the Rio (where the WSOP ME is held) from disbursing half of Gold's winnings--the $6M he pledged to Leyser--for 15 days. A hearing is set for Sept. 1 to determine if the freeze will continue.

The national "media" and other pubs are picking up this story as it continues to gain steam. Read the articles below for more information on the happenings.

USA Today | ESPN.com | Hollywood, Interrupted | Bloomberg | Chicago Tribune | Defamer | SLAM! | Pokerati | Las Vegas Vegas

Super Robots of Poker Generation

When we're not cruising the ocean blue in our yacht, covering poker, eating at the world's finest dining establishments, playing poker, or doing our current/first wife, the entities that comprise Wicked Chops Enterprises LLC are known to dabble in a little artificial intelligence (AI) because we're smart like that and frankly, we enjoy a good challenge.

So it comes as no surprise to us that a team of nerds from the University of Alberta are using Texas hold-em as a means to study AI.

We've been doing this kind of research for years. So long that we almost laugh at what the UofA team is doing.

Ha. Ha.

See, one benefit from covering poker is we can program a variety of different playing styles we've witnessed from specific players and put them all at one table for OUR little AI robot, who we call Mr. Roboto (at right), to conquer.

For example, along with the top-notch and "simulated" playing styles of pros like Daniel Negreanu, Michael "the Grinder"Mizrachi, Phil Ivey, and Phil Hellmuth, we also fill the table with the "simulated" styles of people like Rhett Butler (so Mr. Roboto can learn how to handle someone folding over 100 hands in a row at times) and Robert Varkonyi (so Mr. Roboto can face someone who truly just sucks). However, we have not "simulated" the play of any woman yet, since that would probably short circuit the little guy, because we haven't gotten Mr. Roboto to the stage yet where he could compute a woman being good at poker. Listen, we're good, we know, but we're not Albert fucking Einstein.

Anyway, as we've discovered and the Canadian team from UofA can back up, poker is a much more useful way to research AI than, say, chess. Says Michael Bowling from UofA:

"Poker has what are currently some of the biggest challenges to (artificial intelligence) systems, and uncertainty is the primary hurdle that we're facing...but in the real world, knowing everything is just so rare. Everything we do all day long is all about partial information. So poker's much more representative of what the real world's like, and in that sense it becomes a much harder problem."

While we totally could've told you that years ago, we like to provide an occasional "additional" opinion, because it's not about us all the time. So read all about the UofA project here.

A Wicked Chops Poker Photo Moment: Jamie Gold + The Leysers

If we had our shit together this morning when we did our story on Jamie Gold getting sued by Crispin Leyser for half of his WSOP winnings, we would have realized that we had in our possession an exclusive photo of Jamie with Crispin and Jules Leyser standing over the disputed $12 million (the blonde next to Jamie is his girlfriend ex-girlfriend). We also may have used one of our photos of the $12 million dollars and tear it in half to illustrate Leyser's claim, kind of like we did the DJ AM/Nicole Richie photo but different, because Nicole Richie is a do-nothing, need-a-sandwich, F-list celeb who is not $12 million.

But truth be told, we didn't have our shit together. No, we were too busy NOT looking at the photos we took at the WSOP, like the ones to the right and after the jump, and instead were looking at photos of an Atlanta girl named Lennox Miller, who emailed us this morning and wants to play one of our upcoming home games, which if you are one of our current/first wives reading this, we kid. Lennox Miller doesn't exist. She's just a figment of our imaginations, perversions or something. If you aren't one of our current/first wives, check out a photo of Lennox Miller after the jump. She's the one in the lingerie below the $12 million.

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).

Shannon Shorr: Guy With Girl's Name is a Millionaire

Editor’s Note: The following Blogfiles + Heads-Up article was contributed by FOWCP, Jeff Sealey

So you’re sitting in your cube on a Tuesday morning surfing some poker sites. You just turned in your “TPS Report” and wrapped up your first useless conference call of the day. You check out Cardplayer.com and the Player of the Year standings. It’s filled with poker’s biggest names…Michael "the Grinder" Mizrachi…Phil Hellmuth…Nam Le...Shannon Shorr…

Wait, who?

Shannon Shorr?

A woman is ranked in the top 5?! This can't be!

No my friends, Shannon Shorr is a dude, a poker blogger, and one of the best tournament players in the world today. He just won the Bellagio Cup II, a $10,000 buy-in event where he took home over $960k.

And believe it or not, his name has actually helped him score chicks. “They think the name is cute,” Shorr says. Hey, whatever it takes. But it probably doesn’t hurt that he has a million in the bank now too.

I consider Shannon Shorr a friend of mine, and did before he climbed to #3 (now #4) on Cardplayer’s rankings. Shannon is just a regular guy who loves poker, tells it like it is, and doesn’t take himself too seriously.

So then, who is Shannon Shorr?

CEOs: Super Robots of Profit Generation or Poker Players Who Just Need a Home?

Editor's Note: The following story was contributed to WCP by Beans from Sotherewewere.

CEO Poker has announced that it will be holding a NL tourney for...wait for it...CEOs at the Palms hotel in Vegas, Oct. 22-27. The event should feature over 300 CEO’s from the world of the Internet, Industry, Real Estate, and Fortune 500 companies.

Snake sent me the relevant links this morning from the website and clips from the press release with his favorite bits highlighted and, since I get bored a lot and rarely have anything “better” to do on any given Monday morning, I wrote a rant in response. As we all know, the only way to make your own job feel better is to make other people’s work look stupid.

And...begin:

1. "CEOs are people too and World CEO Entertainment wants to make sure that the public gets to see this first hand via unique events and television shows," – from http://www.ceopoker.net/williamperaza.htm

CEO's aren't people they are super-robots of profit generation who live lives that we can only imagine, and that the entities that comprise Wicked Chops Enterprises, LLC live on a daily basis.

2. www.ceopoker.net - a website that truly sucks

Before I get to the website, it just occurred to me: Aren't Snake or Addict or Chops technically the CEOs of Wicked Chops Enterprises, LLC? Were they not invited? Will the entities that blah, blah, blah abide such a slight without writing a scathing editorial about this farce of an event? (Apparently, I am doing their dirty work)

So the website...apparently CEO Poker isn't so much into creating a website that may remotely look like it caters to the executive crowd. Maybe if the CEOs were in middle-school, and this was their computer class project, then yeah, it would cater to them, but from what I can tell, that's not the case. Also, you can't click through any of their "sponsor" logos. That's fantastic. I'm sure Palms and Bluff are ecstatic about that (I think I’ve provided more links to them in this post than CEO Poker does on their site, I’m also willing to be sponsored….call me). I can't believe they can't even title their page or run spell check. First-class, all the way.

And is it just me, or does this guy, William Peraza, not exactly look like he's successfully CEO'd many businesses? Extra points though for the Barbara Walters/Martha Stewart fuzzy/dreamy background in the pic.

Wicked Chops Poker Announces New Stupid Poker Criminals Hall of Fame Inductees

The Stupid Poker Criminals Hall of Fame is proud to officially welcome two new members.

:: Back in June, we told you the sad story of one Greg Hogan Jr. Hogan was the Lehigh University class president who, to pay off the money he lost being a donk online, robbed a Wachovia bank of $2,871 on his way to go see the Chronicles of Narnia. This robbery, for the record, occurred before he went to eat pizza with his buddies and attend orchestra practice...you know...typical hell-raising Friday activities for any average college student.

We here at Wicked Chops Poker ALWAYS reserve judgment on someone accused of a crime until all of the facts are revealed in a court of law* because there is nothing more damaging than false accusations**. Fortunately for the sake of this article, a court of law has found Hogan guilty. In court, Hogan did apologize to the teller he robbed, as well as to his family (he also stole money from his sister), friends and school. Hogan claims he has a "sick mind" and that he'd like to spread awareness about the dangers of compulsive gambling, an effort that will surely fall on deaf ears, since there are no dangers.

:: And in what is getting more and more John Mark Karr-ish by the day, 24 year-old Brian Jolley, accused of playing strip poker with underage girls, has now said he lied to police about his initial improper conduct while playing strip poker with said underaged girls. Whatever. Along with getting the girls naked, Jolley is accused of telling one of the girls "to get a condom so they could have sex," as well as simulating sex with her while fully clothed, which we think is a technical way of saying "dry humping."

Now while Jolley hasn't been "convicted" yet, he clearly was hanging out and doing something weird with girls 10 years younger than him, so we have no scruples in giving him his fictitious plaque, certificate, and carrying card that reads, "Official Stupid Poker Criminal Hall of Fame Inductee." Plus, double points against him because he could've just waited a few months and competed for the Golden Fig Leaf trophy, an event where photos/reports are surfacing that legitimately attractive women in his age bracket were in abundance. Moron.

* Technically not true. | ** Except for things like hurricane force winds, earthquakes, slamming into a wall while driving 180 mph, and things of that ilk.

Jolly Good Bloke Wins Strip Poker Title

Move over Jamie Gold, there's a new poker legend in town.

John Young (not pictured at right), a 32 year-old freelance writer, has won the World Strip Poker Championship and the coveted Gold Fig Leaf trophy.

Young beat out 200-odd contestants from 12 countries to gain access into a little place we like to call "poker immortality." For the win, Young banks 10,000 pounds, or as we like to call it in America, $18,866.57.

For added publicity, Paddy Poker, according to a spokesperson, said they would "...give 10,000 pounds to Cancer Research if John dropped his trousers at the end of the match and he duly obliged," which if said in American, would read, "...give him like another $18,866.57 if he dropped trou at the end of the match and basically he essentially totally did it, so..."

Friday Night Parting Shot: Monica Hansen

Monica Hansen has worked as a botanist and a plant ecologist for the CPRS for over 5 years. She completed her undergraduate degree in botany and . . . oh wait, that's the wrong Monica Hansen. Sorry.

Alrighty, the Monica Hansen you see to the right and making you go blind after the jump is an L.A.-based/Norwegian-born model who has been doing the FHM-Maxim-Stuff-Baywatch-Howard Stern-Wild on E!-and-now-Wicked Chops Poker circuit for the past few years and none of that really matters to you. Neither does the fact that she was Miss Norway, started getting photographed by creepy, middle-aged, bald men modeling at the age of 14, and has her own blog with pics of her partying and modeling all over the world. You also don't likely care that she owes her 5'11" stupidly sick bod and stunning blonde looks to her mixed Brazilian/Norwegian heritage. Finally you don't give a damn that Snake used to only date Norwegian girls, that Chops' pooch has a Norwegian name that ironically is the same as one of Snake's ex Norwegian girlfriends and that we here at Wicked Chops Poker, when it comes down to it, really prefer girls along the lines of Olga Kurylenko than the Playboy-ish Hansen but when you come across the pics of Hansen that we did you drop your pants throw all preferences aside and drop your pants make her your Friday Night Parting Shot Girl, which brings us to something you do care about, pics of Monica Hansen after the jump.

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.

This Has Nothing to Do with Poker

If you can decipher what James Brown is saying between :38 and :42 of this clip, you're a frickin' genius and should probably sign up as a CIA linguist, that is, if America was ever being attacked by terrorists who were crazed soul singers fried out of their minds and who liked to answer questions with mumbling jive and by randomly singing lyrics to their songs. Thanks to Cracked.com and their "5 Most Obviously Drug-Fueled TV Appearances Ever" for giving us this clip.

200 People We Hope Look More Like Joanna Krupa than Joe Stillman Will Compete for Strip Poker Title in London

Paddy Poker is organizing a publicity stunt that could go horribly awry by making you go blind the inaugural World Strip Poker Championship at the (soon to be much less) prestigious Cafe Royal in London tomorrow. Around 200 strip poker players will disrobe, exposing pounds of likely fanstatically flabby flesh, hoping to nab 10,000 pounds in prizes.

What makes people think that watching a bunch of people play strip poker that no one wants to see play strip poker is beyond us. Regardless, Paddy Poker obviously thinks the idea is "brilliant!" A spokesperson for Paddy said that men and women from 12 countries will vie for the money, fame, and glory associated with winning their Gold Fig Leaf trophy, which is right up there in the prestige category with winning the WSOP Main Event, except significantly less.

To compete, constestants must wear five clothing items supplied by Paddy. To keep chafing at a minimum, contestants will also be given a towel to sit on. And just in case contestants are hung like Nick "AAA" Lachey or are really fug, they'll be given a towel to cover themselves when completely naked, because no one wants to see that shit.

The Paddy spokesperson added, "Inappropriate behaviour," will not be tolerated. However, since there is no mention of smoking hot models like poker player Joanna Krupa (upper right) or FOWCP Lacey Jones participating in this, we gotta assume the worst, because that's what we do, which means that spectators will likely be watching some 350 lbs schlub (like, say, #22 here) with a hairy back and moles that would make Men the Master proud getting buck naked, which seems pretty fucking inappropriate to us.

What does seem appropriate though are pics of Joanna Krupa after the jump, which may be inappropriate if you are at work.

The TOKE: The Kid Signs, Kid Poker Sign Up for Another Protege + Kids, Stay Away from Brian Jolley

Wicked Chops Poker just remembered we have a semi-regular news dump called the TOKE. Good thing too, because we have some brief Nick Lachey-sized bits of poker news to dump on you, and creating yet another new feature on this site would require entirely more effort than we are willing to give right now.

:: Poker Royalty adds to its court. Jeff Madsen, known on this site as "Mad Dog" and to the rest of the industry as "the Kid," needs a new nickname, cause both of his current ones are lazy and completely uncreative (no fault of his own, of course). Maybe he should just change his name to "Youngest Ever" since he'll probably be called the youngest player to win two WSOP bracelets for the rest of recorded history (much to the chagrin of his arch-nemisis, E-Fro) and since he could very well be the youngest person that will ever sign with Poker Royalty. PR News Wire

:: Daniel Negreanu is a good teacher. In case you missed it, the first protege Daniel Negreanu took under his wing, Brian Fidler, is doing pretty well. So if you like poker and want to do pretty well at it, sign up for season two of Daniel Negreanu's Protege. Yahoo! News

:: Brian Jolley (allegedly) touches underage girls in inappropriate ways. In what will surely be a new entry into of our Stupid Poker Criminals Hall of Fame, 24 year-old Brian Jolley (allegedly) taught two underaged girls how to play strip poker and then touched them in a way that lands 24 year-olds who touch underaged girls inappropriately in jail. Cambridge News

Brad Pitt Likes Poker More Than His Adopted Kids

One thing we tell our current/first wives over and over again is this: no one should stop kids from playing poker and no kid should stop us from playing poker so if you want to have kids with us then keep this in mind now I'm off to play poker see you on Monday.

And they're cool with that, because they're cool.

So keep the above tucked away as we go off on a parenthesis-and-comma-drenched rant about Brad Pitt, poker, adopted kids and Angelina Jolie.

Ok, so if we weren't already rich and famous, we think it would be cool to be a movie star like Brad Pitt. Pitt has famously put the "Brad" in Bradgelina as well in Bradifer, Bradyneth, Bradliette, Bradbin, and pretty much any girl he wanted to put the Brad in. And of course, he put the "Pitt" in CloonPitt. Brad also happens to be a regular poker player (yes that ruins the theory that only actors who are B-list or below or who have fantastic breasts play poker regularly), and he is currently filming the Vegas-centric crime caper, Ocean's 13 , which we can only assume is the sequel to Ocean's 12, which if our math is correct (and we are clueless) is the 12th installment in the Ocean's franchise. Anyway, word has it that the current Ocean's film's producer Jerry Weintraub was kind enough to build an exclusive on-set poker lounge for Brad and his A-list co-stars without breasts, George Clooney and Matt Damon (loved him in Team America, easily his best performance since Geronimo: An American Legend).

Says Weintraub, "It was inspired by Frank Sinatra and the Rat Pack, guys I hung around with all my life, who made the original Ocean's Eleven."

And this is where the kids come in. Or not. You see, Brad has reportedly been bringing two of his kids (the adopted Cambodian and Ethiopian ones) to the set of Ocean's 13 on a daily basis. Yes, very fatherly and sweet of him. The man is busy acting and has an exclusive on-set poker lounge at his disposal and he still opts to bring his kids to work. But of course "bringing the kids to work" is merely Hollywoodspeak for "dropping the kids off at the daycare at work to play with everyone elses' adopted kids from third world countries," and in Brad's case, all while you are busy acting and playing poker in your exclusive on-set poker lounge inspired by Frank Sinatra and the Rat Pack.

For the record, we'd be willing to wager that Sinatra and the Rat Pack never even bothered to bring their kids to work, certainly never dropped them off at daycare, and may not have even been aware that they had kids because they were too busy boozin', fightin', and pullin' more tail than a two-year-old at a puppy farm. But, at least to Brad's credit, having to bring the adopted kids to work isn't stopping him from playing poker, and so Angelina Jolie must be cool like that. Like our wives.

But this also begs the question that we plan to beg our wives with when we have kids: why can't she watch them?

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?

Cunningham Makes a Huge Call...And Then Makes a Bad One

Huge Call: Jamie Gold raises 800k. Allen Cunningham calls from the big blind. The flop is 8-8-3. Gold fires away 1M and Cunningham calls.  The turn is a 2 and both check.  The river is a Q.  Gold bets out 2M and Cunningham goes into the tank. Gold starts talking, telling him "I'll show you if you fold." Cunningham then calls with A-9. Gold mucks, and Cunningham goes up to 17.5M.

Bad Call: Then, Michael Binger moves all-in UTG. Cunningham, in the big blind, calls. Binger has A-Q vs. Cunningham's...Q-J? Why Allen? Why? After losing the hand, he's back down to around 14M. Binger is now up to 8M.

No Call: Elsewhere, after sitting out the first four hours of play of so, Rhett Butler, who we forget was still playing, has decided to get into the action...by moving all-in...on any hand he has...cause he has no chips left...and has no choice. He's still around 4M.

Scotty Nguyen Is Drunk

At the end of the break, tournament officials introduced 10 past WSOP ME champions--including Joe Hachem, Greg Raymer, Johnny Chan, and Doyle Brunson--in a ceremony that was supposed to be "historic" but unless they changed the definition of "historic" to mean "awkward and poorly conceived and executed" then it wasn't so much historic as it was awkward and poorly conceived and executed..

However, the highlight was without a doubt 1998 champ Scotty Nguyen showing up drunk and toasting the crowd, baby. Gotta love Scotty.

Paul Wasicka Is Above Average Stacked

Paul Wasicka, whose name sounds too much like swastika for our liking, just knocked out Doug Kim in 7th place.

The KO gives Wasicka 15M, which is about the average stack.

In unrelated news, Rhett Butler's strategy of not playing any hands is working perfectly, as he still hasn't played a hand.

And on the off-chance you're not rapidly refreshing our sites for updates, check out ESPN's blog for more live coverage.

UPDATE: At the break, here's the approximate chip counts: Jamie Gold - 38,200,000, Richard Lee - 19,000,000, Paul Wasicka - 14,500,000, Allen Cunningham - 13,000,000, Rhett Butler - 3,000,000, Michael Binger - 2,900,000.

Michael Binger is Crazy

Michael Binger moves all-in as short-stack on a mixed suit flop of Q-J-8 with A-T for a double-gut straight draw. Cunningham calls with A-Q.

Of course, a King hits on the turn, and Binger doubles up.

While taking a hit, Cunningham still has over 10M.

On the very next hand, Michael Binger calls an all-in from new short-stack Paul Wasicka, who only had 16 big blinds. Binger has A-9. Wasicka has A-J. Wasicka doubles up with trip Aces (better kicker), and Binger goes back down to 2.5M+.

Binger apparently doesn't handle adrenaline well. A-9 ain't exactly the nuts, and Wasicka had been playing as tight as Dan Harrington's colon.

Jamie Gold Does It Again

As predicted, Erik Friberg flamed out early. He raised UTG and Jamie Gold on the button re-raised. Friberg moved all-in and Gold quickly called.

Gold: QQ. Friberg: JJ.

Gold hit a Queen on the river and knocks Friberg out in 8th place.

Gold is up to around 36M. Doyle Brunson has joined the broadcast booth and called a Gold victory "destiny."

Lee has 19M+ and Cunningham 14M+.

Jamie Gold Can Change Speeds

Jamie Gold is showing some versatility to his game. After betting at a bunch of flops in the previous level, Jamie is slow-playing/playingmoreconservatively now...and still winning pots. He also talks a ton, is usually telling the truth, yet no one believes him, and calls off their chips to him anyway. He just did it again (we've seen him do so in earlier rounds), taking down a big hand after limping in early position, facing a raise from Richard Lee and call from Allen Cunningham, and coming over the top big, telling Lee and AC he had a huge hand, but this time they believe him and fold, and he rakes somes more chips.

Moving on, other observations:

:: Richard Lee is playing very well.

:: Rhett Butler apparently doesn't like to play many hands, except remove the "m" from "many."

:: William Chen, winner of two 2006 WSOP bracelets, joined the broadcast booth. He's got one of the largest heads you'll ever see. That guy could block the sun out if he stood on Mt. Everest.

Jamie Gold Wins Huge Pot - Puts Hurting on Cunningham

Jamie Gold just won a huge pot off of Allen Cunningham and [to a lesser degree] Erik Friberg.

Both Gold and Cunningham flopped trip nines, but Gold had the better kicked (10-9 vs. 9-7).

Gold is up to 32M and Cunningham down to 12M.

In other news, Jeff Madsen just joined the broadcast booth. Phil Gordon introduced him as the youngest person to ever win two WSOP bracelets to which Madsen replied, "Thanks Bill. I mean, whatever your name is."

Kid still has a lot to learn. Like class.

UPDATE: At the break, Gold has 32M+, Lee has 16M+, and Cunningham has about 13M. Everyone else is far behind.

Phil Gordon Ripping Richard Lee After Winning Big Pot

Phil Gordon, one of the final table PPV hosts, is ripping Richard Lee after winning a big pot off of Jamie Gold.

Lee limped UTG. Gold limps from the small blind. Rhett Butler checks his option. The flop came J-J-3. It's checked to Lee, who bets 200k and is reraised another 500k by Gold. Butler gets out and Lee calls. Turn and river are Aces. Gold bets out 600k on the river and Lee calls, showing Q-Jo, raking the pot.

Gordon is just slaying Lee for limping UTG with Q-Jo. T.J. Cloutier joined the broadcast booth and Gordon is still drilling Lee for the move.

But it paid off, and Lee is back up to over 11M.

Gold is down to 27,570,000.

Update: Gold Eliminates Nassif

Jamie Gold flops set to take out first player in the 2006 World Series of Poker. As predicted by Wicked Chops Enterprises, LLC, Dan Nassif is eliminated first.

Jamie Gold Wins the First Pot of the 2006 WSOP Final Table

Final table play is underway, and Jamie Gold has wasted no time establishing himself as captain.

From the cutoff, he reraised Doug Kim a mil, up to 1,480,000. Kim folds as Gold gets going early, increasing his stack by about 500k.

Who Will Win the 2006 WSOP Main Event?

Wicked Chops Poker is disgustingly good at making predictions. We're like 20th century Nostradumi...except it's the 21st century, and where Nostradamus gave painfully vague quatrains for his prognostications, we just come flat out and tell you what will happen. In fact, part of our Mission Statement reads: "...and while we're at it, screw Nostradamus. We will provide our readers with accurate predictions that aren't bullshit vague quatrains like that fraud."

With that in mind, below is how we think the final table--which you can purchase on PPV, play starts at 2 p.m. (PST)--will shake down, as well as some other predictions on final table play. And we'll be providing you updates all night on who's in, who's out, and what's happening.

And for more detailed info on the final nine than we care to give, read here, here, here and here.

Now, let's discuss who won't win:

:: PokerStars has three players at the final table this year. And none of them will win. Dan "danxxx1" Nassif of St. Loo is a 33-year-old advertising sales exec. As told on the excellent PokerStars Blog, Dan "had to call his bosses at the Riverfront Times last weekend and ask for a few more days' vacation." He brings 2.6M to the final table and will exit early.

:: PokerStars finalist #2 is Doug Kim from West Chester, New York. He's a recent Duke grad, which means he probably partied his ass off the past four years and got to bang morally casual brainy co-eds. He's stacked at 6.77M.

:: PokerStars finalist #3 is 23 year-old Swede Erik Friberg (at right, image from PokerStars Blog). Known for being uber-aggressive, he'll bring 9,605,000 to the final table for the fourth biggest stack overall. While we actually view Friberg as a threat, we don't think he'll end up pulling it through. It's also very possible he could be one of the first eliminated.

:: Known as "Kwickfish," 25 year-old former bartender and restaurant manager Paul Wasicka has been playing poker for 2 1/2 years. He's stacked at 7,970,000.

:: Rhett Butler is an insurance agent from Rockville, Md. He's 44 years old and has three kids. Butler will bring 4,815,000 to the final table and will exit early and quickly be forgotten.

:: Michael Binger (at right, photo from Poker Pages) is a 29-year-old who earned a PhD in theoretical particle physics from Stanford, whatever the hell that is. He's been playing poker for six years. This is his second WSOP ME, and he banked $101,570 in Event #27 earlier this WSOP. He'd be more of a threat if he wasn't stacked at 3,140,000.

Now for the final three...

After Winning $1,500 WSOP Event, Robin Williams Enters Rehab

Two days after winning his first WSOP bracelet, Robin Williams, going under the pseudonym of "Paul Kobel," has checked himself into rehab for alcoholism.

Says his publicist earlier today:

"After 20 years of sobriety, Robin Williams found himself drinking again and has decided to take proactive measures to deal with this for his own well-being and the well-being of his family."

His publicist failed to mention anything about Williams' explosion onto the poker scene after winning Event #41 ($1,500 NLH).

However, as seen in this photo composite at right, perhaps it was Williams' victory that drove him to alcoholism. Perhaps he couldn't handle the fame that poker has brought him. Perhaps, within hours of winning, he returned to the streets, coping with his newfound poker fame the only way he knows how: with booze.

Perhaps.

For now, we can only speculate. But when we hear more, rest assured that Wicked Chops Poker will be the first to bring you the truth. Cause that's what we do best around here. The truth.

The 2006 WSOP Main Event Final Table

Nine.

A ridiculous 8,773 entered the 2006 WSOP. But after seven days filled with fast action, bad beats, suck outs and lucky draws, only nine remain.

Continuing his amazing run, Jamie Gold will bring the big stack to the final table. With over 26M, he's sitting with almost 9M more than the man in second, the most feared person at the final table, Allen Cunningham. Some sites had Cunningham listed at 750-1 to win before the ME started. Now, he's probably the odds on favorite.

Final table play is set for Thursday, August 10th at 2 p.m. (PST). Below are counts and seat arrangements. We'll have our predictions for you tomorrow.

Seat 1 - Richard Lee - 11,820,000, Seat 2 - Erik Friberg - 9,605,000, Seat 3 - Paul Wasicka - 7,970,000, Seat 4 - Dan Nassif - 2,600,000, Seat 5 - Allen Cunningham - 17,770,000, Seat 6 - Michael Binger - 3,140,000, Seat 7 - Doug Kim - 6,770,000, Seat 8 - Jamie Gold - 26,650,000, Seat 9 - Rhett Butler - 4,815,000