Girl on Girl at the 2008 WSOP: Gloria Balding

The below is WCP contributor Michele Lewis' latest interview in her "Girl on Girl" series at the WSOP featuring interviews with some of the coolest, hottest girls in poker. Check out Michele's blog at michelelewis.com.
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As the 2008 World Series of Poker goes from serious to seriously serious this week, I somehow managed to get in a few minutes with Bluff's super busy producer and occasional on-air talent Gloria Balding. A regular fixture at the WSOP and tournaments around the world, Gloria got her start in the poker world after a chance visit to Las Vegas to see this year's The Last Woman Standing^TM Tiffany Michelle during the 2006 WSOP. That trip landed her an administrative job with Bluff, which evolved into production.

Don’t fret if you’re unable to catch Balding on the floor at the Rio as you can find her on ESPN 360, Bluff and the World Series of Poker site. In our chat, Balding shares how WSOP commish and famed blogger Jeffrey Pollack busted her checking out Wicked Chops Poker's Girls on the Rail, and why she's qualified to be a cougar.

Hump to the jump to read more about Gloria Balding in this series of Girl on Girl at the 2008 WSOP

One Week Until 2008 WSOP + We're Off Memorial Day Weekend

Barring some crazy breaking story, Wicked Chops Poker will be off Memorial Day Weekend. With the 2008 World Series of Poker just a week away (meaning six straight weeks of unrelenting poker coverage), and 2/3 of the Entities in Ireland right now, and 1/3 of the Entities staggering drunk for three-days, let's be honest, not much is going to get done.

But to get in the mindset for the 2008 WSOP, here's some recommended reading from WCP coverage of WSOP's past.

2005 WSOP
Before going down on Dancing with the Stars' Derek Hough, Dancing with the Stars' Shannon Elizabeth went down in four-way action.
Wily Brit Barry Baskin smelled like shit.
Whatever happened to Johnny Rockets from Daytona? That guy seemed to have the total package.
Brad Garrett was urinating and so dork had an Elmo head.
The longest massage ever?
Some dude got real creepy around Greg Raymer.
Tiffany Williamson...that bitch is crazy!

2006 WSOP
Where to even begin? How about some Card Player Like You Were There Moments (TM) here here here here here here and here.
Phil Hellmuth wins a then record-tying 10th bracelet.
Clearly us at our absolute most bedlam ensuing.
Some chick played in a nun outfit which probably blew Gank's mind.
The Milwaukee's Best Light girls need to make a comeback.
Somebody told us that Bill Gates has a regular call girl he sees in France.
Our Sweats did OK in Day 1B.
Mean people applauded when Doyle Brunson busted.
Our mutual love-affair with Anna Benson began.
Joanna Krupa (above) officially became the hottest girl to ever play the WSOP.
Some more hot girls from the 2006 WSOP.
Vaughn Sandman (where ya been, bud?) absolutely toys with "Salty" Joe Hachem.
We were the first to introduce the world to Jamie Gold.
And we were the only ones to get a pic with Jamie Gold and Crispin "Don't Call Me Bruce" Leyser.

No-Namer from the Netherlands Wins LAPT Rio

Julien Nuijten, a 19-year-old total relative unknown from Amsterdam, Holland, has won the first event of the Latin American Poker Tour, held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

Nuijten, who reportedly played the $2,500 buy-in poker tournament on a whim, started final table play as the chip leader and commanded his way to the title and $222,940 payday, which should be enough to buy him some sweet clogs, a field of tulips and loads of hash back home. And maybe a windmill or two. According to the PokerStars folks, Nuijten is a high-stakes poker player online and is a former Magic: The Gathering world champion, thus joining the ranks of fantasy wizard geeks turned cardtossers like David Williams, Noah Boeken, Dario Minieri, Eric "Efro" Froelich and Adam Levy.

Finishing in second for $117,750 was Russian-American Vitaly Kovyazin, who isn't a cab driver like we had assumed earlier but we were right that he is from Brooklyn where he is a "construction manager." So we probably got the Red Mafia part correct too. Which means we'll shut up now.

Alex Brenes, the brother of the insufferably annoying Humberto Brenes, finished fourth, earning $62,800.

The results from the final nine below:

1st -- Julien Nuijten (Holland) -- $223,000
2nd -- Vitaly Kovyazin (United States) -- $117,750
3rd -- Nikolai Senniger (Germany) -- $86,350
4th -- Alex Brenes (Costa Rica) -- $62,800
5th -- Oliver Kugler (Germany) -- $47,100
6th -- Eduardo Henriques (Brazil) -- $31,400
7th -- Rafael Pardo (Colombia)  -- $23,500
8th -- Juan Carlos Burguillos (Venezuela) -- $15,700
9th -- Severin Walser (Switzerland) -- $11,775

The next LAPT event is in San Jose, Costa Rica, scheduled for May 22-24.

Gratuitous Brazilian supermodel above is Raica Oliveira, who famously dated soccer star Ronaldo before he was into the whole transvestite hookers thing See lots more of Raica here.

Jamie Gold's Personal Videographer Pissed, Will Auction 'Negative' Footage on eBay

Rae Valentine, the videographer who followed Jamie Gold around pretty much everywhere the WSOP Main Event champ went for several months before, during and after his controversial win in the summer of 2006, is set to auction off all of the video footage he has of Gold on eBay which he claims will "validate some of the negative imagery surrounding the life of Jamie Gold." Says Valentine on a website he created recently: "On August 10, 2008, the 2-year anniversary of Jamie's World Series Of Poker 2006 win, I will end a 5-day auction on Ebay providing the winning bid with all video content associated with the Jamie Gold Project, in its entirety. Maybe this day will prove to be lucky for me. I truly hope whomever ends up with this content has the same passion I once had of making a compelling movie documentary, even in it's moments of controversy, as interesting and entertaining a story, I know it to be." Valentine claims that he was hired by Gold per a "gentlemen's agreement" (Jamie's good at those) to produce a behind the scenes movie documentary and had followed Jamie "through airports and hotels, limos and casinos, from Los Angeles to New York." Valentine alleges that their friendship soured after Gold's win and that he has lost "an estimated $150k" because apparently Jamie no longer wishes to use the footage for a documentary, which we can't really blame Gold for considering how sucky poker movies are doing at the box office. According to Valentine: "A majority of the footage shows Jamie as an arrogant, paranoid, at times over-the-top individual who through all of his imperfections can be quite entertaining as he plots strategies (while in the comfort of his hotel bed with two plain clothes security guards posted just outside his door) on how he will defeat each of his opponents in the final days leading up to his poker world series victory." Arrogant, paranoid, at times over-the-top, and with security guards? No, not the Jamie Gold we know. No way. Check out all of what Rae has to say on his website, including a few transcripts from the footage featuring none other than our good pal Crispin Leyser, here. In related Jamie Gold eBay auction news, no one paid $5,000 for Jamie Gold's urinal mint. Semi-relatedly, Jamie Gold thinks Wicked Chops Poker is "awesome."

NewPoker Poker News

:: Old man Mel Molnick, the CEO of Home Gambling Network and all-around pain-in-the-asser for online gambling sites, is reportedly the guy behind the swiping of Bodog's domain names in connection with a default judgment 1st Technology LLC obtained on Aug. 1, 2007. [Gambling911, Points-Spreads] :: In related news, looking at Poker Site Scout just a second ago, Bodog poker players seemed to have made the transition over to newbodog.com just fine. [PokerSiteScout] :: Maxim's 2007 Hometown Hotties is down to its Semifinalists and we're picking Catalina (photo, far left) from Ft. Lauderdale as the early favorite. No, make that Erin from Port Orange. Or maybe Ashton from San Francisco. Yeh, let's go with her. Ok, Jennifer from Toronto is going to win. [Maxim Online] :: Apparently Canadians don't just watch hockey while eating maple syrup flavored beavers at the curling rink. They also play poker in industrial malls and get busted doing so. [Toronto Star] :: Candice Swanepoel is our favorite model from South Africa, today. [Horny Oyster] :: Poker is going to the dogs in Florida as residents in Orange Park, a nice town near not-so-nice Jacksonville, are looking to add a poker room to its kennel club. [News 4 Jax] :: If Heidi Klum is what you should look like after giving birth to three kids, WCP fave since puberty Elle McPherson is what you should look like when you're 43-years-old. [WWTDD] :: "Could any girl be hotter than 22-year-old Aussie actress Isabel Lucas?" is the Wicked Chops poker rhetorical question of the day. [FHM]

Jamie Gold's Urinal Mint from 2006 WSOP for Sale on eBay for $5,000

No shittin' ya, click here to see for yourself.

Starting bid is $5,000.

And you only have five days to act to be the proud owner of this "ultimate poker collectible" that, according to its auctioner "poker-kitty", was "used" by 2006 WSOP champion Jamie Gold "just prior to winning the biggest cash prize ($12 million) in all of sports history."

Poker-kitty, who has a 100% positive feedback rating on eBay and is a 100% douchebag, goes on to say: "The mint in question was acquired (via rubber gloves) from a hotel men's room attendant (close friend of the family; can't disclose his name for obvious reasons), immediately bagged and labeled and stored for safe keeping."

"While this item is DEFINITELY different, that peculiarity and rarity makes it the absolute ultimate piece of poker memorabilia of all time," says poker-kitty. "Heck, you could even use it as a dealer button if you really wanted to, although I'd strongly suggest washing it first!"

There's really nothing we can add to this, except that if this person nabs $5,000 for Gold's piss mint, which is about as likely as it is the real deal, Tao of Poker's Pauly, who loves to write about the pros he whizzes next to at tournaments, has a whole new income stream, so to speak, available to him to pad his bankroll.

Thanks to Michael T. for the heads-up on this one.

The Case for Bombing the Crap Out of IranWSOP Won't Penalize Jamie Gold for Collusion

Editor's Note: Sorry about the first headline. That's for our other blog.

In surprising news that should be surprising to no one, WSOP commish Jeffrey Pollack said in a press release today that the World Series of Poker "will not penalize reigning WSOP World Champion Jamie Gold for two rules infractions that occurred during the 2006 WSOP Main Event."

For a refresher on those two infractions, read our "Forgive Me for Cheating" (aka "Jamie Gold is like herpes") piece here.

According to the press release, which you can read in its entirety after the jump, WSOP officials reviewed video of the infractions and discussed them personally with Gold and concluded that "he did not deliberately attempt to violate the rules and that no penalties would be invoked retroactively for the incidents."

"Not only were we impressed with Jamie's candor and contrition, but we also recognized that tournament officials didn't witness the incidents or take appropriate action at the time of the rules infractions," said Jeffrey Pollack. "We share culpability in this case and are satisfied that the actions in question were inadvertent mistakes. We look forward to Jamie's participation in the 2007 WSOP.

And Jamie of course is looking forward to returning to the WSOP. As he told us in our exclusive interview after the National Heads-Up Championship, "I think I'll make the final table this year. I know you're gonna slam me on this, but that's what I believe. If you don't believe that, then why are you playing?"

Full press release after the jump.

Forgive Me for Cheating, Says Jamie Gold

After getting bounced from Bodog's pro team, settling up his legal shenanigans with Crispin Leyser before he lost even more of his $12 million and repeatedly goose-egging it at major tournaments and on TV since the WSOP, we didn't think we'd hear much from Jamie Gold for awhile, which was pretty foolish for us to think since Gold is basically like a case of herpes, which the game of poker first contracted last August. Disappearing at times only to pop up every so often to remind us how bad it's gotten since those final days last summer.

And so like herpes, or that girl from the Lotto & Groceries store who keeps calling us saying one of us is her baby's daddy, there was Jamie Gold popping up again today, this time chatting it up in a New York Times article about his regrets from the World Series of Poker and how easy it was to settle the lawsuit with Leyser.

Gary Thompson, WSOP Players Committee May Be Smoking Something

Gambling911.com, the gambling news site we love for having hot chicks as journalists, is calling BS on WSOP director of communications, Gary Thompson, after an interview he did with PocketFives.com.

In the interview, Thomspon remarked:

"As in 2005 and 2006, Harrah’s will not be accepting third party registrations from online poker sites (.com’s) that do business with U.S. residents. PokerStars.com and PartyPoker.com could not register players directly last year because they did business with American customers. Ladbrokes could because it wasn’t doing business with U.S. residents.”

"Not true!," says Christopher Costigan, the man in charge over at G911. "PartyPoker practically sponsored the event with its logo prominently displayed on the sidewalk outside The Rio Hotel (host of the 2005 and 2006 WSOP events) and on nearly every taxi cab in Vegas. The fact that PartyPoker and its competitors all used a .net derivation is pretty much a non-issue."

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.

We So Busy

We're so busy here at Wicked Chops Poker--like taking showers, combing our hair, closing the door after we open it kind of busy-ness--that we haven't really posted much the past few days.

Sorry.

We have poker stuff on our minds. It's just hard to find the time when you're busy putting on your shoes and stuff to get a quality post up. So until we do, entertain yourself with the pretty pic after the jump of a girl who is either 18 or will get you 18.

8,773 X $10,000 = $90+ Million?

So apparently there's some controversy about the number of chips in front of Jamie Gold at the end of the Main Event, and surprisingly the controversy has absolutely nothing to do with Jamie Gold (although conspiracy-minded folks may imply otherwise). No, this one--which involves an extra $2 million worth of tournament chips in play that weren't there when the Main Event started---rests squarely on the shoulders of the suits at Harrahs, who run the Main Event like a daily tourney at the Gold Strike rather than the multimillion dollar property it has become.

It's understandable though, or at the least, expected. In most businesses, the operations side generally lags behind everything else, and the WSOP is no exception. How much longer they can ignore their gross incompetence remains to be seen. Based on the conversations we're hearing, probably not much longer.

To break down the numbers for you, there were 8,773 players who started this year's WSOP Main Event, each ponying up $10,000 and receiving $10,000 in tournament chips in return. Thus the total dollar value of chips in play would be...hold on, ok, wait, that's four zeros and 1 x 8,773 is...fuck we hate math. Math is dumb. Let us get one of them calculator thingamajigs.

[several minutes later]

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:

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?"

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...

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.

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).

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.

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.

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

What Part of "Don't F*CK With Jamie Gold" Didn't You Understand?

Didn't we tell you not to fuck with Jamie Gold?

Gold is knocking out players like Muhammad Ali. If Muhammad Ali played poker. And was the greatest ever at it.

The Team Bodog member has recently KO'd do-gooder David Einhorn, Luke Chung, and William Thorsson.

At almost 30M in chips now, he's lapped the field. Allen Cunningham is second overall, with around 14.5M.

Only 12 remain. And Jeffrey Lisandro isn't one of them. He was knocked out in 17th.

Everyone remaining now are millionaires, except for Gold, who already had crazy mad the entities that comprise Wicked Chops Enterprises kind of money.

Don't F*CK With Jamie Gold

Because he will call you. And flop a straight.

On what turned out to be the final hand of Prahlad Friedman's 2006 WSOP, Jamie Gold raised from middle position for 400k. Friedman moved all-in for his remaining 1.3M with A-3o. Getting 2-to-1 odds on the hand, Gold calls. With 7-8o.

The flop: 4-5-6.

Don't fuck with him.

Gold goes into the break now with around 18.2M. Charging and closing the gap is Allen Cunningham with 13.4M. Next closest to them is Dan Nassif with 6,200,000. With the elimination of Atlanta's Dustin Holmes, only 18 remain.

UPDATE: After the break, the 18 remaining got new seat assignments. Uh, let's just say the 9 that didn't get stuck at the featured table lucked out. For the first time of the 2006 WSOP ME, Jamie Gold and Allen Cunningham will share a table. Joining them include William Thorsson, David Einhorn, Leif Force, and Jeffrey Lisandro, among others.

Uh Oh. Allen Cunningham Has Chips.

The 21 remaining players did not want to see this happen.

Allen Cunningham has some chips. Many. Over 6.5 mil of 'em. After flopping trip fives and lopping a bundle off Erik Friberg, like presto Cunningham is suddenly the second biggest stack. And he's already using them to push his table around. Not good news for everyone else.

Elsewhere, Leif Force, who almost has the same "endless headline potential" as Jamie Gold, is making a move. Force is a 23 year-old ultimate frisbee player from FSU who used 1/3 of the bankroll he built playing cash games on Bodog (under the handle Jungle Boy) to buy in to the ME. He's currently sixth overall, sitting with 4.6M.

David Einhorn a Better Man Than Wicked Chops Poker

The entities that comprise Wicked Chops Enterprises LLC aren't so much "into" charity as we're "not into" charity.

You may be asking yourselves, "Wait, you guys are worth millions. Why not give a little back, huh?" To which we'd reply, "Well, how do you think we got to be worth millions? Besides our looks, skills, and rich parents, of course?"

We do, however, recognize that charity does in fact exist. And that some people are into it.

Like David Einhorn.

Einhorn, an investment fund manager from New York, is currently third overall in chips at the 2006 WSOP, stacked at 6,905,000.

He's also, apparently, a total do-gooder. Einhorn has pledged all of his winnings from this tournament to the Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson's Research.

A noble cause, for sure. But we're talking about $12M here! That money could go towards another yacht! A white tiger! Or one of the Papua islands!

We just don't get people sometimes.

* Photo from Card Player.

A Homeless Robin Williams Wins $1,500 WSOP Event

Wicked Chops Poker admittedly has very little interest in covering any of the $1,000 to $1,500 buy-in events taking place during the 2006 WSOP ME. Like having to talk to a girl after having sex with her, the events seem totally unecessary and anticlimatic.

However, this all changed when a man going by the pseudonym of "Paul Kobel"--although he is obviously a down-and-out and homeless Robin Williams--won Event #41 ($1,500 NLH).

How will this WSOP victory affect a clearly financially ruined Robin Williams? And how will it affect poker's popularity on a larger scale when the truth comes out? It's hard to say.

But maybe the $316,144 "Kobel" is taking "home" will help get him back on his feet again. If nothing else, the two days he spent playing at the Rio is two less days he'll have to make another Patch Adams or RV. So we can all be grateful. Poker saves the day, yet again.

* Photo of "Paul Kobel" from Card Player's fabulous Daily.

Keeley Hazell Is Not at the 2006 WSOP

Much to the opposite of delight to us and our readers, Keeley Hazell did not pull a Joanna Krupa and play at the 2006 WSOP.

However, thanks to reader Grumbledook at www.chargedcards.com and Zoo Tube, "a bloke mag over here in blighty...a bit like your site, but without the poker stuff" as he puts it, Keeley is not forgotten.

Click here to enjoy these NSFW vid clips.

Day 6 Done Early, Gold Still Dominating

Well, that didn't take long.

After only about five hours, the field narrowed from 45 to 27 and play wrapped for the day.

Jamie Gold of Team Bodog continues to crush the field. He will return again tomorrow with the chip lead, stacked at 13M. Far behind in second is Erik Friberg with 7,735,000.

Other notables include: William Thorsson - 3,765,000, Jeffrey Lisandro - 3,750,000, Allen Cunningham - 2,650,000, and Prahlad Friedman - 1,850,000.

Humberto Brenes busted in 36th, banking $329,865.

Check back tomorrow at noon (PST) for our reports as the field will go from 27 down to the final nine. And head over to Tao of Poker for live updates.

* Jamie Gold photo from Bodog Beat.

Here Comes Cunningham

Allen Cunningham is making a charge on Day 6, moving his stack up to 3.3M.

Which unfortunately for him, is still 10M less than leader Jamie Gold, who is now stacked over 13M. Gold won another monster, this time when his A-K made two-pair to Rob Betts' lesser two-pair (A-J). William Thorsson is second overall, just shy of 6M.

36 players now remain...

Jamie Gold Actually Loses a Pot

Day 6 of the 2006 WSOP is underway, and Jamie Gold has actually lost a pot.

As reported by Card Player, on a board of Qd-6c-6h-Ts-Qs and after Jamie Gold fired off a 125k bet on the river, Siddharth Jain of Atlanta, GA makes the call with nothing but jack high. Gold mucks his hand and Jain moves up to fifth overall in chips with 3,465,000.

As of 12:29 p.m., there has only been one elimination, James Routos of Seattle, WA, banking $247,399.

UPDATE: Jamie Gold is back to winning big pots again. On a 9-high flop, Gold moved all-in with pocket aces. Brian Hansen called his last 2mil or so with pocket tens. Hansen didn't improve and was sent packing. Gold is now over 9M in chips.

A Woman Will Not Win the WSOP ME This Year Either

We give up.

No other poker outlet has been a bigger proponent of the ability of female poker players than Wicked Chops Poker.

We are like the poker equivalent of the super-supportive best friend of the hot chick that doesn’t ever get to bang her. We're always stroking the ladies’ egos, telling them how good they are, how nice they smell, what a good read they made, and offering a shoulder to cry on when they bust out. Yet they never reciprocate our kindness by winning a tournament.

So we ask: when will a woman win the WSOP ME? Heck, when will one make a damn final table? Or win a bracelet? Or a WPT event? Or play in the Big Game? Or just earn the respect of one single male peer? When will this happen? We're beginning to think the answer is "never."

Yesterday, the final two women were eliminated from WSOP contention: Annie Duke, a woman, and Sabyl Cohen, a woman. So yet again, no woman will win a WSOP event. Not even the Woman's Only tourney.

We’d go ahead and say, “Wait till next year,” but by now, we know better. It’ll never happen.

Thanks for nothing, women.

Thanks for nothing.

Editor's Note: Wicked Chops Poker loves women and we know they're great poker players and that one woman even plays in the Big Game. Collectively they just need to get off the schnide and do well in the Main Event already.

Card Player Can Tell Time

If the entities that comprise Wicked Chops Enterprises LLC were to teach a class on poker writing, first, we'd hypothetically call the class Techniques in Effective Poker Reporting--which the kiddies would surely shorten to something like TEPR--and second, the very first item on our syllabus would undoubtedly be: The Importance of Accurate Time Stamping in Poker Journalism.

Apparently, Card Player not only took our fictitious TEPR course...a few times...but they obviously retained the knowledge we dropped in it. While we've noted and noticed this many, many, many, many, many, many, many, many, many, many, many, many, many, many, many, many times before, in the latest issue of their fabulous Daily, Card Player provides nearly flawless time stamping during their Day 5 recap reporting. In fact, they time stamp specific critical events eight times in their lead article!

We feel like proud parents. Or maybe like John Keating. Below are some of our lessons, followed by Card Player's practical execution. Crap-e Diem!

Talking Point #1: Nothing tells a poker story as effectively as time stamping the action:

At 3:30 p.m., she was all-in preflop with Ah-3c against Jeffrey Lisandro’s pocket eights, but her hand never improved.

Talking Point #2: Do not be afraid to inundate the reader with time:

By the time the players went to dinner (how on earth could they eat?) just before 7 p.m., the field was down to 65, and the payout scale had jumped to $90,713. Brian Micon was the first to cross the $100,000 prize threshold. At 9:24 p.m., the Main Event lost its last female contestant when Sabyl Cohen, a Full Tilt qualifier from Pleasanton, California, was eliminated in 56th place ($123,699). The next rung on the pay scale was $164,932, and Scott O’Reilly was the first to make it, at 10:15 p.m., when he finished in 54th place; the next eight finishers would receive the same.

Talking Point #3: ALWAYS be precise in your time stamping:

Play continued in the Main Event until 11:31 p.m. when just 45 players were left.

This article was an almost perfect example of the how to effectively use time in poker reporting. It was so nearly perfect, we only found one paragraph that needed some improvement...