Will Penn National Gaming Inc. buy Harrah's?

Publicly traded Penn National Gaming Inc. (NASDAQ: PENN, which at "press" time is going for $36.94), owner of a dozen casinos and countless racetracks, is reportedly interested--VERY...interested--in buying Harrah's Entertainment, owner of the WSOP brand.

Reps from Harrah's and Penn are meeting this week in Las Vegas to hash it out.

Harrah's also received a buy-out bid recently from the Apollo Management Group and the Texas Pacific Group for over $15B (a little something we here at Wicked Chops Poker like to call "pocket change"), but rejected the offer because they thought the group wouldn't age well after they met the group's mother. We told Harrah's, "Hey, if in 20 years she looks nothing like the woman you married, you can always trade her in for a new one," but apparently they are looking for a serious, long-term commitment.

GamingPublic.com, Duplicate Poker, and Detective Randy Peterson Throw Popular Poker Sites Under the Bus, So Screw GamingPublic.com, Duplicate Poker, and Detective Randy Peterson

GamingPublic.com, an organization that claims to be an iGaming investment analysis firm and "the center for information on iGaming, industry stats, legal information and investment in publicly listed companies within the sector," but in reality looks like the iGaming investment analysis equivalent of some dickless executive who likes to throw employees under the bus for his own personal gain, has issued some sort of report claiming some sort of new game invented by some sort of "detective" is the tonic to cure what ails online poker in the U.S.

In this press release, GamingPublic.com says:

While companies such as Party Gaming Plc (LSE:PRTY), 888 plc (LSE:888) and Sportingbet Plc (LSE:SBT) are seeing their share prices languish...private companies Pokerstars.com and Fulltiltpoker.com have seen massive increases in their numbers.

These two private companies may be in breach of the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act of 2006, although there have been arguments bantered about that poker is a game of skill. Nothing could be further from being correct.

Um, way to help pull the poker community together in this time of general outrage against a prohibitionist law while sucker punching two companies with the Fristian-sized-sack to oppose it.

Who Will Replace Keeley in 2007?

Looking back at our "Look Back at 2006" post, we started looking forward towards 2007 and realized we need to starting looking for our official Wicked Chops Poker Girl of 2007 to replace our official Wicked Chops Poker Girl of 2006, Keeley Hazell.

So look, if you have any recommendations as you look over our past Friday Night Parting Shot Girls or perhaps any girls you've looked at while looking on the Intertubes, please share. This will be the girl you'll be looking at here all year long so think long and hard about it, as we are. And just to let you know what we're looking at, some names we've been tossing around this morning include Justine Bateman (at right), Princess Diana, Jennifer Love Hewitt and Neve Campbell...although Bateman seems so last year and we've been having a hard time finding recent photos of Lady Di so we're leaning more towards Hewitt and Campbell because these Party of Five chicks are gonna go places in 2007. Just you wait.

Speaking of looking...and we really don't want to share this with you because it's wrong and it scarred our minds first thing this morning and gave us brain herpes, but if there is one thing we learned from the philosophers in Soul Asylum, misery loves company so let's start a company and make misery, and our first product will be the photos of Britney Spears posted over at our favorite celebrity slag blog that show the twice divorced mother of two sans panties getting out of sports car driven by Paris Hilton. And if that sounds sexy to you then you've never seen photos of Britney Spears sans panties getting out of sports car driven by Paris Hilton. Put on your mental image condom and view photos here (NSFW although covered up until you click to enlarge). The image to the left of a dumb fluffy chick and pussy cat gives you a good idea, metaphorically, of what to expect...except imagine the cat shaved.

To aid recovery, after the jump is a photo of Keeley as Britney from our friends at Zoo Weekly.

A Look Back: Wicked Chops Poker's 2006 Year In Review Recap Because Hindsight is Retrospect (Part I)

The Entities that comprise Wicked Chops Poker are always looking for a way to shortcut actually writing new content. Particularly at the end of the year. When everything is brutally slow. Including the gentle breezes of Fijian beaches where we sit right now...in our cabana...sipping cocktails...and reminiscing of days of yore. Or more specifically the past 12 months.

So we begin our journey through recycled content today with Part I of our annual (as of this year) famed "A Look Back: Wicked Chops Poker's 2006 Year In Review Recap Because Hindsight is Retrospect" series. Today's topic: Top Referrers.

Referrers are kind of the life blood of our site in a way sort of. If we're being totally truthful, our writing is the lifeblood of our site. And the pictures of half-naked babes. And the personalities, good and bad, that make up our sport. And the feedback we get from you, the reader. But right after our writing, half-naked babes, personalities (good and bad), and feedback from you our readers, referrers are seriously what makes our site get up in the morning.

Wicked Chops Poker 2006 Top Referrers

1 - Gorilla Mask (for the Joanna Krupa 2006 WSOP link throughs)
2 - Tao of Poker (for countless link throughs)
3 - The Clay Report (for just, ah, forget it)
4 - Defamer (for continued Jaime Gold coverage)
5 - Gambling 911 (thanks to one of our favorites out there, Jenny Woo)

So over the next month, we'll recap everything that made 2006 the year that it was for us, including our favorite babe pics, our top news stories (hint: Jamie Gold/Crispin Leyser is #1), some clarification on our statement about how we don't believe in "journalistic integrity" (thought it was made perfectly clear, but some of you don't seem to get it), and as the Governator would say, "things of that nature."

"Vijay, get us another drink!" Wait, that's weird. What we just said to our cabana waiter was literally typed out verbatim. How'd that happen? This Internet thing is crazy. We bet it's here to stay.

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.

Keeley's Coming to America

The Official Wicked Chops Poker Girl of 2006, Keeley Hazell (seen right doing her best Madonna), has just done her first "serious" interview ever and among the shocking revelations we learn are that she occasionally does wear clothing above her hips and that she is going to be featured in Playboy next month. We asked our source at Playboy, who works in customer service over in Bhopal, India, if he could confirm the news and he didn't know shit other than that we're 60 days late on paying our subscription.

Like other famous pop culture imports from the UK, like the Beatles and that cool flag they have, Keeley's reps disclose to The Independent that they are positioning her now for stateside stardom, with the hopes of Keeley becoming the next Carmen Electra or Pamela Anderson, a Canadian. Indeed, there's even talk of Keeley starring in a "Baywatch movie."

Whether Keeley also plans on being an advocate for PETA while getting banged on tape by her skinny rocker husband's horse-sized knob, only to divorce him soon after and then marry another skinny rocker, start a poker site, only to divorce herself from both the poker site and the second skinny rocker months later, is yet to be seen.

MANSION Poker Signs Erica Schoenberg's Boyfriend

MANSION Poker, which once famously pissed the hell out of Full Tilt Poker with a press release, announced via a press release this week that it has signed French poker ace David Benyamine, who's famously envied for being the lovah of fellow MANSION-er, Erica Schoenberg, who is famously hot, and that he'll start repping the site starting November 24 at the Caribbean Poker Classic in St. Kitts, which we hear is in the Caribbean.

Commenting on his signing with MANSION, the two time WPT winner and seemingly the most regular regular of "The Big Game" (seriously when is he not there?) said, "I am enthusiastic about working with a gaming company that is driven to emerge as a leader in the high roller market for both online and land-based events, and I look forward to sharing the MANSION Poker experience with the best players in the world."

The MANSION press release, by the way, says Benyamine's age is 34, which must be in French years. Like kilograms to our pounds. So if a French person is 34 they're really like 43.8 years old in American, which is what we'd guess David's age was if we had to. Not that we're experts at telling a person's age, truth be told. Actually we suck at it and we'll tell you a story about it but we have to check the statute of limitations first.

Ok, nevermind with the story.

You can learn more about David Benyamine by reading his cover feature in this week's CardPlayer or by becoming his friend.

So-so photos of Erica Schoenberg from this year's WSOP after the jump, courtesy of our friends over at Wicked Chops Poker.

Blogger Reviews of Casino Royale, A Poker Movie Starring Eva Green

We've yet to see Casino Royale but full-time, pro blogger and woman-about-world, Jen Leo, who's got new online digs over at JenLeoLive.com, saw the new, poker-imbued, Bond flick over the weekend and said she loved it.

"It was a great movie and the audience clapped at the end," Leo remarked. "Quality Hollywood entertainment with a twist."

And while we love Ms. Leo like a kissable (on the lips) step-sister, it's worth noting that we're disappointed that she accompanied her post with a blatantly sexist photo of Daniel Craig in nothing more than his bathing suit, clearly giving into societal inclinations of objective iconization of the male physique for the mere sake of "eye candy" glorification. Really disappointing.

For a certainly less sexist review, albeit compendiary in its summation, read the review of Casino Royale by this poker blogger, who is apparently some sort of honorary baronet or possibly a knight, like Isaac Newton or Mick Jagger.

Photo above is of Eva Green (properly dressed) in a scene from Casino Royale, and yeh it's a fucking slow news day here.

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%

The TOKE: A $50k Getaway, Party Plummeting, Bond vs. Penguins + Keeley's Casino Royale Spread

Been awhile since our last The TOKE. Some quick hits of recent news:

:: How to scoop a $50k pot. And by "scoop" we mean "rob at gunpoint." Newsday reports that "armed bandits" robbed a poker fundraiser in Long Island over the weekend, making off with around $50k. To this we ask, "people still call gun-toting robbers 'armed bandits?'" Did they hop in their Model T and "make off with the loot lickity split, you see"? Newsday

:: PartyPoker's popularity plunges. According to Launch Poker, PartyPoker, a mainstay as one of the top two most poker sites in the entire universe, slipped down to the number three most popular cash game site last week, surpassed by Full Tilt Poker. We'll go out on a limb and say this may have to do with Party not accepting U.S. players anymore. Somewhere in India, Anurag Dikshit is crying...over the billions he cashed out before Party pulled out of the U.S. market, that is. Launch Poker

:: New James Bond popular, but not as popular as animated penguins. The new James Bond flick Casino Royale, which from what we understand involves poker and Eva Green (at right), took in a hearty $40M+ in weekend box office, which is great, but not good enough to top Happy Feet, an animated movie about penguins. Fucking penguins. Box Office Mojo

:: Keeley Hazell Does Casino Royale and a Poker Table. Speaking of the new Bond flick, Keeley Hazell, Michelle Marsh and some other girls did a Casino Royale-inspired spread for London's Page 3, and it isn't so NSFW as it is completely NSFW. This photo (yes, NSFW) by the way is our favorite of the series. You can get your Casino Royale on over at the Page 3 Casino or check out a video of the shoot here. See the spread (did we mention it's NSFW?) at Daily Niner

Friday Night Parting Shot: Yesica Toscanini

20-year-old Argentinian model, Yesica Toscanini, who happens to have the same birthdate as WCP's very own Snake (with just 15 a few years separating the two), joins the ever growing ranks of Friday Night Parting Shot Girls with unusual names, including last week's Ariadne Artiles and past girls like Olga Kurylenko and Doutzen Kroes. And while it looks like we're purposely looking for girls who possess both rare beauty and a rare name that's not so easy to pronounce, it's just that most of the girls we've been digging lately happen to be foreign girls from places we like to call "West of America" and "Below America," and apparently a part of being from these places that are not America is having some non American name that is foreign to us.

By the way, another thing all these girls have in common, besides unusual names, is that they are all significantly hotter than model/poker hater Gisele Bundchen, who also happens to be foreign (she's from Below America). Seriously, why is Gisele so much more famous than Yesica, Ariadne, Olga and Doutzen?

Ok, we just remembered why Gisele is so famous.

You can see more of Yesica, who we'll just call Jessica for now on to keep it American, after the jump. Also be sure to check out Jessica's 2006 Sports Illustrated swimsuit issue page here.

Casino Royale, A Poker Movie Starring Eva Green, Opens Today

Long before Wicked Chops Poker temporarily changed its name to Wicked Chops State Lotteries and subsequent to our difficult internal deliberations over renaming our site "Wicked Chops Trannies and Furries" (a transitional time in our lives), our site was called "Wicked Chops Baccarat," albeit for only a few minutes (captured here) and only because we wanted to get a jump on the competition after hearing that the new Bond film starring Daniel Craig would be a remake of the first 007 book, Casino Royale, which centered upon a high-stakes game of Baccarat.

But as we've covered ad nauseam-ily--both here at WCP and last month in Bluff Magazine--the filmmakers behind the new Casino Royale went with No-Limit Texas Hold'em instead of Baccarat, because Baccarat is so yesterday, like Charles VIII France yesterday. And no doubt the change to poker would get people talking about the movie, like we did.

What really got us talking about the new Bond film though was not the poker part but the fact that French actress Eva Green is in it. Because she's so pretty. Like Michelle Theaurieu, but with less vowels in her name, talk-to-us-in-French-baby-even-though-we-hate-the-way-French-people-sound-when-they-talk kind of pretty or perhaps you could say it's a we-loved-you-in-the-movie-The Dreamers-and-not-just-because-you-were-naked-for-two-hours kind of way. Either way, we're infatuated, and we're going to see Casino Royale, which comes out tonight and set Bond records already in the UK (that's where James Bond lives), solely because of Eva Green.

And yes, the poker scenes don't hurt either because no matter how contrived they may be and how much the characters may look like avatars straight from PokerRoom.com, we're betting they won't seem nearly as contrived as the poker scenes in Lucky You, which we predict we'll have a woman president and, dare we say, a woman major poker tournament winner before that film hits theatres.

But don't just take our word for it though, especially considering we're compromised parties because of our infatuation with Green. As the BBC America "Anglophenia" blog points out, critics are also gushing over the new Bond girl.

A Woman Does Not Win WPT World Poker Finals

Kathy Liebert and Mimi Tran--both women--failed to capture the WPT World Poker Finals title. That honor instead goes to renowned chauvinist* Nenad Medic, who banked $1,717,194 for the win.

Despite some good-natured ribbing we occasionally engage in by pointing out the track record of women poker players in major tournaments, we here at Wicked Chops Poker were genuinely bummed that Kathy Liebert didn't pull this one through. She's as tough as they come, and doesn't get nearly the same amount of face time and credit that she deserves, and that some other female pros get, due to a little thing we like to call "sex appeal." Well, we don't call it "sex appeal" so much as it calls us.

Not to say that we didn't want Mimi Tran to win either, but the name "Mimi Tran" reminds us too much of the word "transexual," and there's some bad memories of transexual experiences in our collective past that we just don't care to revisit. Not that we didn't bring these bad experiences on ourselves. You know what they say, "Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me 147 times, shame on me."

Get final table payouts from BLUFF here.

* So totally not true, as far as we know.

Poker Pro Not Named Richard Lee Nabbed for Illegal Gambling Operation

High-stakes poker player James "The Mortician" Giordano, of Miami, Fla., was arrested Wednesday for spearheading a billion-dollar-a-year gambling operation that authorities said was the largest they've ever encountered and rivaled casino sports betting, basically making Richard Lee's San Antonio-based online gambling scheme seem rinky-dink and half ass, as most things are in San Antonio.

The arrest of Giordano, who recently won the $1,000 buy-in this summer at the Bellagio Cup II, was the result of a year long sting after police got a tip from a suspect in a separate organized crime probe. That tip eventually led to a covert operation at a New York City hotel where Giordano was staying while in town for a wedding. While out, the NYPD went into Giordano's room and made a digital copy of his laptop's hard drive, which revealed "a network of 2,000 bookies who had taken more than $3.3 billion in cash wagers since 2004 from tens of thousands of customers nationwide." Apparently the scheme involved a website called Playwithal.com where bookies would assign bettors a secret code to track their wagers and results through the site.

Poker's Streak Comes to an End

Cal Ripken Jr's streak came to an end. Titanic's record streak at the box office, that ended too. As did FDR's streak as President. And surely Mark Robert's streak of streaking at major British events will come to rest.

So there should be no shame that poker, Lycos' top search term for some time, took a thumping on par with the Republican Party last week, dropping from the top spot down to number 8. Replacing "poker"? The term "spyware."

Still among the top search terms however is Pamela Anderson, who precipitously dumped poker after sort of being affiliated with the game in a half-assed money grabbing kind of manner.

Lycos, briefly a popular search engine about 12 years ago, publishes its top 50 search terms every week.

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.

WPT World Poker Finals: Will It Be a Woman?

Could this be it?

Is it finally happening?

Could a woman--a woman--win a major $10k buy-in event?

The final table is good to go for the WPT's World Poker Finals and not one but two--TWO--women are in position for the title. Top pros Mimi Tran and Kathy Liebert are stacked second and third overall, respectively, going into final table play.

We've discussed ad nauseum the social, moral, ethical, religious, geopolitical, environmental, scientific, meteorological, pharmaceutical, astronomical, and diabolical implications of a woman breaking through and winning a major poker tournament. No need to elaborate further. So we'll just note that the world may very well be turned on its head, or flipped on its ear, or let's just make up a new phrase like "180'd on its nose" if Tran or Liebert break through. Women have been challenging for major titles for some time, so it should come as no surprise that one of them would finally freaking win one already.

And despite what some might think, this is totally OK by us. See we here at Wicked Chops Poker occasionally like change and definitely like surprises, so long as its not a surprise birthday party, because people yelling loudly at us make us angry, and you don't wanna see us when we're angry. We're not suggesting nor implying anything, but let's just say there's a few holes in the desert where people who made us angry by surprising us for our birthday are now buried. Because we killed them. And put them there. Wink wink.

Final table chip counts are: 1) EG Harvin - 4,680,000, 2) Mimi Tran - 2,519,000, 3) Kathy Liebert - 2,500,000, 4) Nenad Medic - 1,281,000, 5) Michael Perry - 682,000, 6) Michael Omelchuk - 533,000.

Post-script: The above picture is of no one at the TV final table, but of seventh place finisher Farhad Sinaei. We only put this photo up in case you're curious what a homeless Kevin Federline will look like in two years. Photo from Poker Pages.

A PSA for Our Female Readers (and Keeley Hazell After the Jump)

Poker Tips for Competitive Women.

As a service to our male readers, after the jump is the award-winning, critically praised video of a topless Keeley Hazell looking ridiculously stunning as she "does" Holly Valance, from Zoo Weekly's groundbreaking "Keeley Hazell Does Hot Female Pop Stars" series. Simply the best we've seen of Keeley, yet. For the other two videos of Keeley from this series, go here (Christina) and here (Kylie).

Three Women Among Final 30 at World Poker Open - Pamela Anderson Not One of Them

The World Poker Finals whittled its field down to 30 players today. Among the final 30 are three women. Pamela Anderson is not one of them.

Anderson, the popular actress best known for 1) being stacked with a nearly flawless surgically enhanced rack, and 2) having sex with an elephant sized penis, just ended her affiliation with Pamela Poker, part of Doyle Brunson's poker network. Sadly, this probably spells the end of Anderson's foray into poker, meaning we will likely never see her playing in a tournament again, which actually doesn't change anything, since we've never seen her playing in a poker tournament in the first place. Hooray for the status quo!

The same can't be said for Kathy Liebert, who 1) we can almost certainly count on advancing deep into poker tournaments for quite some time, and 2) also has a nearly flawless surgically enhanced rack*. Liebert sits sixth overall going into Day 3 play with 684,000 in chips. Just in front of her is Mimi Tran with 768,500. Clonie Gowen is 20th overall with 231,500.

Leading everyone is Erik Cajelais, stacked at 1,163,000. Nenad Medic is second with 1,000,500. Other notables include Daniel Negreanu with 261,500. No one else remaining is notable.

Get full chip counts here.

* Complete, utter non-truth. Thems beauts are natural, baby.

Absolute Poker Affiliate Hijacks Poker Blog

So apparently Tao of Poker, a "poker blog," was hacked and jacked last week by an Absolute Poker affiliate, an "asshole," who was hoping to make a quick buck from people going to Tao of Poker to read one of Pauly's multiloquent missives about poker-ing only to be redirected to Absolute Poker instead and say, "Hey, this looks intriguing, this online poker stuff, and if this site is Absolute Poker it must be the real deal, like no messing around because it's Absolute man, like the vodka but spelled differently. Shit I'm drunk. Why are my pants down?" Anyway, word we have is one of Absolute's affiliates is raking in some serious six figures, almost seven. Sure it's in yen but that is some mad rice cake. Which leads us to ask, unrelatedly, isn't Tao pronounced Dow, like in Dow Jones? And if so, why does everyone call Pauly's blog and the club in Vegas "Tow" as in the word towel without the -el?" Just asking.

Ok, go read Pauly's email letter to Absolute Poker, which "crispins" (street slang for "slaps on the wrist") the poker site for failing to do anything yet about the hijacking.

Over 600 Competing for Title at World Poker Finals, an Event Whose Name Sounds Like There Were a Bunch of Prelims to Qualify for Some Big Championship Finale, But That's Not Really the Case

First, let's be generic: The WPT's World Poker Finals kicked off at Foxwoods yesterday with 609 players battling it out for a $1.7+M top prize.

Daryn Firicano, whose first name spelling would make you think that he is actually a she and possibly a pornstar (like maybe something along the lines of Daryn Delicious or Daryn Devine), led everyone when play stopped, stacked at 340k. Daryn finished third in WSOP Event #34 earlier this year, a tourney better known as the "Phil Hellmuth's Persistance Pays Off as He Won Bracelet #10" event.

While he didn't make it through Day 1, a secret to the success of WCP fave Joe Pelton was discovered. To get pumped, the mild-mannered Pelton apparently blares Tool in his iPod while raking in chips. Familiar names joining Pelton on the rail included Phil Ivey, both Brunsons, Shannon Shorr, John Juanda, David Williams, T.J. Cloutier, Dutch Boyd, Mike Matusow, Scotty Ngyuen, Erick Lindgren, and Mark Seif.

Plenty of "name" pros were among the 171 survivors, including Hoyt Corkins (132k), Jeff Madsen (92k), Tuan Le (86k), Kathy Liebert (80k), Joe Tehan, whose last name sounds too much like Tehran for our liking (65k), Cliff Josephy (50k), Clonie Gowen (46k), Barry Greenstein (42k), Chad Brown (39k), and Daniel Negreanu (38k).

Check out BLUFF Magazine's excellent live updates for continued coverage.

Friday Night Parting Shot: Ariadne Artiles

The name Ariadne Artiles sounds more like a muscle you'd pull playing basketball than an absurdly gorgeous, brown-eyed, 24-year-old, Spanish/Venezuelan supermodel we swear is hotter than Gisele Bundchen, but unusual names have somewhat been par for the course for Friday Night Parting Shot Girls. Olga Kurylenko, Doutzen Kroes and Raica Oliveira to name a few.

It's like, remember in Anchorman when Ron Burgundy said: "Oh, I'm storming your castle on my steed, me lady." And Veronica Cornerstone responded in Spanish saying: "Oh, mi corazón. Es en fuego! Julio, fuego, fuego, fuego!" To which Ron replied, "Wait, stop. Stop talking like that. I can't understand you."

Well that has nothing to do with this, but it made us laugh a lot.

Ok, after the jump, loads of photos of Ariadne Artiles and a video of her in a Spanish Axe commercial. Oh, and if you missed our last Friday Night Parting Shot Girl, Melissa Theuriau, do yourself a favor and acquaint yourself. She just may be the most bea-u-ti-ful girl in the world, besides our current/first wives that is. We love ya sweet honey bunnies.

Tao of Poker Now AbsolutePoker.com

As CJ commented on the below post, Tao of Poker now strangely directs you to Absolute Poker, which reminds us of the time we ran into one of the guys who runs Absolute Poker and asked him if he read our "Intern with Absolute Poker, Marry a Costa Rican, Get Herpes" post, to which he responded: "My wife is Costa Rican."

Woops.

Anyway, Absolute Poker is home to some of our favorite pros, including Lacey Jones, Casey Kastle, the Grinder and our favorite favorite, Mark Seif, who we love [fist double-pumping chest-area] but he may not like us anymore because he's been representing Crispin Leyser and we recently said that Jamie Gold's lawyers made a compelling legal argument, as high dollar sharky shysters are known/paid high dollars to do.

This makes us sad, so after the jump, a Bennetts Babes video to cheer us up...

What Happened to Tao of Poker?

A reader just alerted us that Tao of Poker is down. Actually looks like it's gone. Anyone? Could just be a domain registration problem. Tao of Pauly is still up and running. Apparently he's in Amsterdam now sucking down hookers and hash.

After the jump is a photo of Pauly telling us that he thinks Wicked Chops Poker is number one, or at least that's how we took it.

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.

Keeley Hazell Does Christina, Kiley and Britney Like a Champ

We have to admit that when we first heard that Keeley Hazell, the Official Wicked Chops Poker Girl of 2006, had done a photo shoot in which she acted out raunchy videos of famous pop stars like Christina Aguilera, Kiley Minogue, and Britney Spears (who may or may not have a sex tape - ridiculously NSFW), it was kind of spooky. Like someone had read our dirty minds at their most perverted moment, well except that they missed the whole monkeys and midgets on the bed bit as Michael Jackson sang "Thriller" in the corner of the room next to poodles jumping through flaming hoops while President Bush and his cabinet, sans Rumsfeld, were dressed as cheerleaders and cheered us on wildly like we were a football team about to score from the one yard line, except this wasn't football we were playing, this was sex...with Keeley Hazell...and with monkeys and midgets on the bed.

But yeh, Keeley did a series of shoots in which she acted out raunchy videos of famous pop stars, and you can see one of the videos after the jump. Think Christina a la 'Dirty' but Keeley and topless. Also, see wallpapers of Keeley doing Kiley, so to speak, over at Zoo Weekly. Keeley looks really pretty. Really. She's so pretty.

P.S. File this under "Reasons Why We Could Never Run for Political Office."

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

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

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

A Rolodex?

People still use Rolodexes? That's fantastic!

Did they use a suànpán to do their accounting?

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

A WCP Public Service Announcement: Vote Today

We here at Wicked Chops Poker love Election Day. It's the one day of the year that truly reflects who we are as a mass population (i.e. a bunch of uninformed, apathetic, take the freedom that we have for granted kind of people, way to go!)

However, let this post serve as a final reminder for those who still feel the sting from the UIGEA and have a Congress(person) or Senator who supported the Act: get out there and let your voice be heard. Sure, your vote may not matter at the end of the day, but at least you'll feel good about yourself while casting that ballot.

And as you set off for the voting booth, please make sure to listen to this catchy little jingle from Bob Stupak, who may or may not still be running for Lt. Governor of Nevada (crank the volume). If you voted for people based on their ability to come up with catchy jingles, Bob Stupak would win in a freaking landslide.

UPDATE: Be sure to check out our friends over at Gambling911.com, who have some great stories on what politicians hate you because you play poker, like Arizona's Jon Kyl. Seriously, Kyl frickin' hates your guts. He told us this personally. Read about some of the efforts to get Kyl out of office, like the Poker Players Against Jon Kyl group that has injected life into a campaign to elect Kyl's opponent, Jim Pederson.

Leyser's Shyster Slams Gold's Shyster, Calls Gold's Claim Absurd, Says Helps Case...Oh and Doogie Is Gay and Scarlett May Have a Sex Tape

In an article in today's Las Vegas Sun, Crispin Leyser's attorney, Richard Schonfeld, called Gold's position that his promise was an unenforceable gift "absurd." Schonfeld goes on to say that the fact that Gold admitted to the promise (something he pretty much had to do considering the voicemail) helps Leyser's claim to the $6 million.

"We're glad they finally took a position," Schonfeld told the Sun's Liz Benston in an interview. "Even though we were extremely confident in our case, we are more confident now that we will prevail."

Read the complete article here.

In related news, poker blogger Drizztdj points out that Doogie Howser is gay. Asked to respond on the Crispin Leyser-Doogie Howser news, Wicked Chops Poker said, "Sorry we're taking the week off. We need to rest up after hearing that Scarlett Johannson may have a sex tape."

IMPORTANT UPDATE: One more photo of Scarlett Johannson after the jump. Think Keeley Hazell meets 1970s Green Bay fan/college girl. Actually, don't think and just go to the next page.

Jamie Gold Makes a Compelling Argument (that Crispin Leyser is Desperate, Super Needy, Annoying + Wrong)

We're not going to suggest that Crispin "Don't Call Me Bruce" Leyser is a few wine coolers away from joining the Clay Aiken fan club or that his "wife" Jules is his "beard." Or that Bob Stupak, Jeffrey Pollack, Lance Bass and Crispin Leyser may all have something in common, not that there's anything wrong with that. To suggest any of this would be inappropriate.

Regardless, we're just saying.

What we will say though is that Jamie Gold's attorneys have finally told his side of the story in the Motion they filed on Wednesday, November 1. And it's compelling; first, in the way that it shapes Gold's promise to share his winnings as a non-enforceable gift rather than a bargained-for agreement, and two, in the way that it makes Crispin Leyser seem like a sad, desperate, overly eager, down-on-his-luck guy who Jamie felt sorry for, that is until he began harassing Gold like an obsessive, needy girlfriend who wants to know everything is fine with the relationship and calls and calls and texts and texts like an annoying bitch girl and then files a lawsuit against you without notice.

Anyway, download a pdf of Gold's Motion to Dissolve Preliminary Injunction here, and draw your own conclusions.

For those who think reading legal documents is, well, like reading legal documents, a summary of the allegations after the jump, along with photos of Crispin's wife, Jules Leyser....

The Blogfiles are Back: Guinness & Poker

Intro: With all the shit that's shaking down in the poker world, a little perspective is needed. A voice of reason, if you will. Someone who has been in the game when most of you were still wearing diapers (we have a heavy 3 year-old reader-base) and is still going strong. Yep, time to bring back the Blogfiles again. And what better way to bring it back than with with poker's Blogfather...Iggy. For many, Iggy and Guinness & Poker is to poker blogs what Dr. Dre's the Chronic is to gangsta rap: the blueprint. We were fortunate enough to catch Iggy in between one of his famous uber-posts and a brief spell of semi-sobriety for a perfect pour of answers.

WCP: When did Guinness & Poker come to be...and why.

Iggy: I started it in Sept. of '03. And it was on a lark - a whim. I had been reading assorted poker blogs and whatnot for quite awhile and usually came away with a, "Hell, I should/could do that." And I'm not sure how but I do remember the actual moment I started G&P. It was late at work and I had just read a post by Mr. Decker and just impulsively went to blogger.com and created mine.

At the time, I thought that the blog would help document my little poker hobby and perhaps clarify some thinking about concepts I was wrestling with at the time. Plus, it would give me an excuse to write a little even though I never really thought that anyone would actually read it, much less to help create the scene we have today.

WCP: When was your first "holy shit, people are reading this?" moment?