Lee Markholt Wins WPT World Poker Challenge, No Longer Confused with Lee Watkinson

For years, Lee Markholt lived in the shadows of Lee Watkinson.

They kind of look the same. They're both from Washington. They're both named "Lee."

But the attention (or lack there of) Markholt received was nowhere near the not-that-much-attention-in-the-grand-scheme-of-things that Watkinson received.

This, even though Markholt had a very respectable $1.4M in career tournament earnings.

It was all about Lee Watkinson in the battle of shaven-headed Washingtonian "Lee's."

And this drove Markholt to the edge of insanity.*

Nightly, Markholt would wake up after having nightmares: "Lee Watkinson made the 2007 WSOP Main Event final table. Lee Watkinson has gotten serious face-time on WPT and WSOP broadcasts. Lee Watkinson wears a hoodie..."

It was almost too much for Markholt to take. He weighed his options. "What if I bought a hoodie, kidnapped Watkinson, and assumed his identity. Al Krux did it to Jason Lester. Maybe I can do it too. Heck, even Poker Pages already has us listed as the same guy. This plan is so crazy it just might work." Markholt thought.

Eventually, Markholt settled on making himself known by winning the WPT World Poker Challenge. Which he did.

Get full results and payouts here.

* Remainder of the post after the asterisk was completely fabricated. Except the part about winning the WPT World Poker Challenge. That's true.

** Images from Poker Pages.

Any Ideas Who This Is?

A high-stakes poker player is being named in yet another New York based high-class call girl sting.

While this was wasn't on par with the Emperors VIP Club bust that featured Eliot Spitzer's sometimes hot, sometimes manly Ashley Youmans/Ashley Alexandra Dupré/Kristen, this one still attracted a slew of horny old rich guys.

According to the Daily News:

"For one high-stakes poker star, $26,450 can amount to one raise at the table - or a few romps in the sack with high-class call girls.

The well-known pro card player is among the high rollers who dropped mega-money on the lovelies in Kristin Davis' stable of high-priced call girls at Wicked Models.

Records obtained by the Daily News show he spent $26,450 for eight dates - including a pair of steamy, seven-hour sessions that were originally supposed to run three hours."

The player is not named in the report. But one would assume he's based in the New York or Atlantic City area.

Any ideas on this one? Leave your guess in the comments section.

Read the full article here.

Dancing with the Stars' Shannon Elizabeth Voted for Hillary Clinton

Dancing with the Stars' Shannon Elizabeth is getting famous-er everyday, as evidenced by this recent paparazzi video showing her mundanely walking to and from her car with some uber preppy guy who looks like he just walked off the set of some Reagan-era high school flick.

Because you care about Shannon's politics, one of the paparazzi asked her who she is picking for the next president of US America, and she gives a surprising answer. But you'll have to watch the video to find out who she says.

Or you can read the headline above. That works too.

Related posts:

Shannon Elizabeth Naked

Shannon Elizabeth Survives 1st Cut

Video: Shannon Elizabeth's Dancing Debut

Sarah Larson is Friendly

You may remember Sarah Larson. She's the former promo model from Las Vegas who is currently dating occasional poker-er George Clooney and who may have lipsticked it to Gambling911.com's Jenny Woo during an affiliate convention in Amsterdam two years ago. You may also recall that the UK's Sun published a bunch of photos of Larson back then showing her stuff off for the camera and was seen in one pic cozying up to online gambling publisher and editor Michael Caselli.

Well, more photos of Clooney's girl are popping up online from her "wild" days in Las Vegas, and making an appearance in a couple of shots is RawVegas.tv's hostess hottie Andrea Tiede. You can see Andrea in the shot above on the left standing next to Larson, who looks to be saying hello to a guy friend by simulating getting banged against the wall. It may all seem a bit risque to those outside Vegas but it's quite a common greeting here. Kind of like a hug or peck on the cheek, only friendlier.

The rest of the photos show Larson at Rehab last summer prancing around in her bikini, showing off her phenomenally perfect backside, getting down on all fours and sand wrestling some other half-naked chick. Again, it may appear somewhat salacious, but Sarah actually is a bit of a prude compared to most chicks at Rehab. Like the eyes-closed-drunk girl we saw last summer being dragged away by security with her thong down to her knees as she mumbled "C&ck, c#ck, I want some c@ck." It was like she was in the desert for days and was in desperate need of water. Except this was the Hard Rock Hotel and she wanted c%ck. We really hope someone helped the girl out.

Check out the photos of Sarah (Andrea is in the first one) below and after the jump, and to see less modest girls doing their thing at Rehab go here (NSFW), here (NSFW), here (NSFW), here (NSFW) and here (NSFW). Btw, don't click any of those unless you're an adult and are prepared to hate yourself for spending last summer in Des Moines or Sandusky or whatever boring town you live in that isn't Las Vegas.

WPT World Poker Challenge Final Table Is Boring

With only 10 remaining, the WPT World Poker Challenge was shaping up for an all-timer final table, as Phil Ivey, Michael "The Grinder" Mizrachi, Chau Giang, and David "The Dragon" Pham* were all in contention.

Then, disaster struck.

During play, a monkey showed up carrying an Ebola-like contagious virus called Motaba. The monkey was brought to the U.S. Americas to be sold illegally in the underground pet trade market. The monkey began spitting on everyone's faces, infecting them all. Will the virus kill humanity? And just how far will the U.S. American government go to stop it's spread???

Wait, turning off Outbreak...

Phil Ivey was eliminated in 10th ($46,832), Chau Giang in 8th ($65,565), and The Grinder in 7th ($74,931), leaving only David "The Dragon" Pham** as a "name" at the final table.

Pham is stacked at 406,000, fourth overall. He trails the big-boned big-stack Jason Potter (1,156,000). No word yet if Potter is the Blue Diamond Almonds Bold Player of the Day, but if so, wethinks that year supply of almonds may be just as important of a prize as the first place money.

The rest of the televised final table includes: Lee Markholt (1,137,000), Bryan Devonshire (674,000), Zach Hyman (285,000), and Jeff DeWitt (249,000).

Get live final table blogging from the WPT website at 5pm PST here.

* Not a real dragon.

** Not a real dragon.

Krystal Forscutt Busting Out of a Bikini Brings You Today's Poker News

There's really no excuse for us not featuring 21-year-old Aussie model Krystal Forscutt here on WCP more often. The ex-Big Brother-er ranks right up there with the best of them in the perfectly bodied department and is the undisputed champ when it comes to wearing bikinis that don't come anywhere close to fitting. Enjoy some clickalicious pics of Krystal below and here. And just in case you didn't see it below, there are some links to poker news.

:: US American troops now get to play cards and kill terrorists thanks to custom poker table maker Randy Ying who shipped some felts to that sand lot they call Iraq (Click here)

:: Legendary leg spinner Shane Warne says poker and family will keep him from returning to the pitch at Hampshire (Click here)

:: Crazy Bitch Tiffany Williamson, a woman, somehow managed to donk and chop her way to a nice cash at the Foxwoods Poker Classic (Click here)

:: Claim that Brandon Cantu stiffed dealers at Bay 101 leads to lengthy tipping etiquette thread led by Matt Savage (Click here)

:: Finally, a NorCal Poker Tournament Player of the Year ranking system!!! (Click here)

:: Ex-talk show host-er and prescription drug peddler Montel Williams will play for the stars and stripes at the Poker Nations Cup in Wales (Click here)

:: Online poker software licenser GigaMedia is confident Amercia Jr. won't enact a UIGEA-like law (Click here)

Libertarian Poker Night with Jesus and Bloch this April Fools' Day

The freedom-loving, free-thinking, free market-ers over at Reason.com are hosting a "poker night" on Tuesday, April 1 with special guests Chris "Jesus" Ferguson and Andy Bloch. The evening will include some card playing and an open discussion on politics and poker moderated by the well-reasoned online poker advocate and CATO-er Radley Balko.

Says the site:

"On Tuesday, April 1, please join the staff of reason at our D.C. offices for a short panel discussion about the great American game of poker. What's behind its massive recent surge in popularity? Why did Congress ban online poker? Why are local governments sending in SWAT teams to bust up private games?

After a discussion and audience Q&A moderated by reason Senior Editor Radley Balko, we'll shuffle up and deal specially embossed free reason playing cards. Drinks, light snacks and poker paraphernalia provided."

A poker night in DC held on April 1st with famous poker players and a bunch of UIGEA-opposing Libertarians? We smell an April Fools' Day hoax coming saying the event got raided. Or maybe we'll start it ourselves. And if we do, hopefully you'll forget we just said that.

For more about the event go here.

Related posts:

UIGEA Critic Wayne Allyn Root Was College Classmate of Barack Obama, a Poker Player
eBay Wants You Arrested For Playing Online Poker
Greg Raymer to Run for Vice President of the U.S.?

"Salty" Joe Hachem Turned Down Dancing with the Stars

As many of our faithful site readers may have figured out over the past few weeks, Shannon Elizabeth is on this season's Dancing with the Stars.

However, what you may NOT have known is that 2005 WSOP of Poker Main Event champ "Salty" Joe Hachem was invited to be on the popular show but turned it down.

In a recent 2+2 forum post, 2004 WSOP Main Event champ Greg Raymer wrote:

"...Joe Hachem was previously invited to be on the show, but declined, because he would have had to stay in the U.S. for the entire 2-3 month period of the show."

Well, if DWtS had some sort of "poker player quota" they were looking to fill this year, well done in getting Dancing with the Stars' Shannon Elizabeth to do so. We like Hachem and all, but Shannon legs can keep a grown man up at night. Dudes used to go to war over gams like that (gams at right).

Read Greg Raymer's full post
Joe Hachem confirming he's not Britney Spears' ex Adnan Ghalib
Shannon Elizabeth Nude for PETA
More on Dancing with the Stars' Shannon Elizabeth
Newly launched WickedChopsDancingwiththeStars.com
Our DWtS Google Page Rank (#2 baby!)

WPT World Poker Challenge: Jason Potter, Jordan Rich (a Ginger), Phil Ivey, The Grinder Lead With 27 Remaining

With Day 2 done at the WPT World Poker Challenge, Jason Potter (at right), the big-boned kid with the big-game who got robbed Down Under earlier this year when his big-appetite led to a late night stroll for a burger, is the big-stack with 357,700.

He's followed by Jordan Rich, a ginger, with 327,900. Rich was actually interviewed yesterday by WCP fave Kimberly Lansing, but the beautiful WPT babe failed to ask him the hard-hitting ginger-related questions that we suggested. Kimberly, we love ya like Jason Potter loves late night hamburgers, but the U.S. American poker playing public wants to know this stuff. Give the people what they want! Watch the interview here.

Some other big names are among the remaining 27, including Phil Ivey (286,100), Michael "The Grinder" Mizrachi (255,900), David "The Dragon" Pham* (195,100), Chau Giang (159,800), and Erik Seidel (138,600).

Get full chip counts from the WPT here.

* Not a real dragon.

Keeley Hazell is Prolific

The way Keeley Hazell pleasures us with one photo shoot after another is a big reason why she holds the pole position as the Official Wicked Chops Poker Girl of 2008.

It's like Keeley is some sort of modern day Józef Ignacy Kraszewski, except instead of writing hundreds of novels in a language that makes no sense to us, she prolifically drops the top for men's magazines around the world on a monthly, if not weekly, basis.

Yeh, we have no idea who Józef Ignacy Kraszewski is either but we're running out of things to say about the world's most perfectly built woman and Józef Ignacy Kraszewski's name is really, really long and we were looking to fill in some space here so the text matches up with the photo you see on the right of Keeley Hazell in the May issue of the UK edition of FHM magazine.

Ok we're good. Now, check out more deliciously clickable photos of Keeley Hazell from the new FHM spread below and here.

Relatedly, find out how you can get interactive with Keeley here, see her in chocolate bikini here and reminisce about her first spread of 2008 here

Jeff Madsen is a Renaissance Man

Apparently, Jeff "Prairie Dog" Madsen isn't just a poker player, cigarette smoker, expert Guitar Hero-er and reality show chick banger. He's also an art connoisseur and interior decorator, of sorts.

AllInmag.com reported today that the two-time WSOP bracelet winner is "involved" in an effort to update the Bellagio Poker Room with some art.

Explains Jeff on his MySpace blog:

"Me and my artist friend Jen Ashton came up with a plan to renovate the look of the Bellagio poker room. The artwork in there seems outdated and the place could certainly use a new feel. Soo, because she is so good at portraits and is involved in the poker world we came up with a plan to be able to donate artwork to the poker room. The first step is to form a 'committee' of some sort, basically anyone who is willing to donate money to this cause will have a say in what portraits Jen will actually paint. Once we get enough in donations for her to paint, she will work on a portrait of whichever figure in poker the committee has voted on. I feel like this is a great way to do this because the Bellagio poker room will eventually have a better look and the art will be 'by the players, for the players.' We will certainly do Chip Reese as a first portrait once we get this rolling. I will give an update when the project is officially in motion, but I just wanted to present it so we can start getting some attention behind it. Let’s fill the Bellagio with poker legends!"

Online Gambling Hasn't Increased Rate of Addiction, Says Really Smart Guy

Harvard prof and online poker advocate Charles Nesson recently posted a video of fellow smartie Howard Shaffer (who's the director of the Division of Addiction at the Harvard School of Medicine) talking about the effect online gambling has had on the rate of pathological gamblers in U.S. America.

It's been long thought that the increase accessibility to gambling because of online gambling sites would proportionally increase the amount of gambling related problems. Indeed, that kind of thinking has been the rallying call for anti-online gambling moralists for years. Like remember when hooker banger Eliot Spitzer said that online gambling has "enabled gamblers to wreak sudden financial devastation on themselves and their families."

Well, in actuality, according to Shaffer, it hasn't.

In a study he conducted, the percentage of Americans who have a problem with gambling has actually decreased over the last 30 years, even as it's become more accessible.

As Shaffer points out, the reality is that "an overwhelming majority of gamblers online gamble in a very moderate and mild way."

Watch on YouTube here.

Tip: BillRini.com.

Phil Ivey Leads Yet Another WPT Day 1

Only 261 players showed for the WPT's World Poker Challenge, indicating that many of the world's finest were not up for the challenge (nyuck, nyuck).

As has been a trend recently, and by "recently" we mean the last six or so years, Phil Ivey finds himself atop the leaderboard after Day 1 play, stacked at 179,900. Ivey won last month's LA Poker Classic.

He's closely followed by Eli Elezra with 178,800. In third overall is Jordan Rich, a ginger, with 131,300. While a fixture on the circuit since 2004, Rich exploded like a red fire-ball on the scene last December with a fifth place finish at the WPT Bellagio Five-Diamond Classic. Since then, Rich, a ginger, has racked up almost another $100k in tournament earnings, including two first place finishes in prelim LAPC events.

On a side note, if we worked with the WPT's awesome live tournament reporter Kimberly Lansing, we'd have her ask Rich if being a ginger gives him a competitive advantage since the other players would have a hard time reading him because gingers have no soul. (cough cough)

Other big stacks remaining include but are certainly not limited to Hasan Habib (110,300), Bill Edler (93,300), Erik Seidel (88,100), Erick Lindgren (81,900), Peter "Nordberg" Feldman (60,300), and Michael "The Grinder" Mizrachi (52,800).

Other big-name-not-so-big-stacks remaining include David "The Dragon" Pham* (50,200), this guy who looks like he just escaped from prison (39,300), Ted Forrest (36,900), and our perennial pick to win it, Huck Seed (33,500).

Get full chip counts from the WPT here and video updates here.

Also, quick happy birthday to FOWCP Joe Sebok.

* Not a real dragon.

Watch the below vid, btw.

Shannon Elizabeth Survives 1st Cut on Dancing With the Stars

In news likely to piss off anyone who's tired of us talking about Shannon Elizabeth being on Dancing with the Stars, Dancing with the Stars' Shannon Elizabeth and her ridiculously perfect legs have made it past the first cut and will continue on to the next round of the hit show, which has become a ratings monster for ABC (17 million viewers last week) despite its improbable premise as a show about ballroom dancing and starring celebrities you either don't know or forgot about a decade ago.

Gone from DwtS tonight is former tennis-er Monica Seles and Penn Jillette, the poker-ing magician whose sidekick Teller wagered $5,000 on to win despite 30-1 odds.

In related news, hey Stuff, FHM, Maxim et al...get off the shnide and get a new photo spread going with Shannon Elizabeth. It's been 9 frickin' years since the poker playing, American Pie top dropper got naked for Playboy and about 3 or 4 since a decent men's mag shoot. We thought that was the whole purpose of Shannon doing the show. It was for Stacey Kiebler and that other chick whose name escapes us right now but there are videos of her all over YouTube playing strip poker.

While we wait, below and after the jump are some old photos of Shannon Elizabeth that may or may not be new to you, including one quasi-NSFW pic we're not sure what to make of and shots of Shannon doing her best Danish chick in men's underwear impression as a Pussycat Doll.

Annie Duke was a 'Prize' on Deal or No Deal Last Night

Dancing with the Stars' Shannon Elizabeth, who you may know as one of the contestants on Dancing with the Stars, wasn't the only poker playing chick appearing on a hit show last night.

Annie Duke, a woman, made a surprise appearance on NBC's Deal or No Deal, the game show featuring Howie Mandel and 26 super hot models holding briefcases with varying amounts of money in them.

Apparently the contestant last night was a female poker player, and in the middle of the show, Annie came up on stage to offer a "deal" that included $133,000 in cash and a free trip to Annie's WSOP Academy ladies poker camp, 4 private poker lessons and some other stuff that was valued at a total of $25,000. The contestant's husband encouraged her to walk away with the Annie Duke lessons and the money, but she went against his advice and said, "No Deal."

In the end, the chick wasn't stupidly greedy like every other contestant on the show. She made it down to two cases, one had $25,000 and the other $1 million, and when she was offered $341,000, she took the deal.

So what was in her case? The million bucks.

We missed the actual airing but we were sent a video of Annie's appearance on the show and we have to say she's looking rather fit and trim. We guess all that marathon training is paying off for her. Or maybe it's Adderall. Works for us.

In case you are wondering who the hot blonde is in the photo above and what she has to do with this post, her name is Brooke Long, the Deal or No Deal model who holds case #15 every week on the show. We met her at the WPT Invitational a few weeks ago where she showed us some sick photos of her busted up big toe. It was good times. Below are more clickable photos of Brooke playing poker at the WPTI, and if you missed our Kimberly Lansing shots from the WPTI, do yourself a favor and go here.

Worst News Ever? Oral Sex and Pot Linked to Forms of Cancer

In what has to be the most crushing news ever to players at ReeferPoker.com and dudes all around the world in general, Johns Hopkins University is releasing a study next week revealing that pot consumption and oral sex are linked to certain forms of cancer.

Aw come on wtf.

Specifically, the Johns Hopkins study cites that smoking pole and smoking weed are linked to certain types of head (uh-huh-huh) and neck cancers:

"Head and neck cancers that were positive for HPV 16 were associated with having more oral sex partners and smoking more marijuana."

"Head and neck cancers that were negative for HPV 16 weren't linked to sex or marijuana. Instead, they were tied to smoking tobacco, drinking alcohol, and having poor oral hygiene."

Why ruin everyone's day with this, Johns Hopkins? What good can you possibly accomplish? Why not just sit on this one? And what other studies do you have up your sleeve? Watching SEC football makes you impotent? Having unprotected sex with crack whores may spread HIV? Go ahead, ruin all of the fun.

Read the article here.

Jeff Madsen is a Good Smoker

RawVegas.tv stopped by Evelyn Ng's condo in Las Vegas the other day to shoot her and Lacey Jones rocking it out Guitar Hero III, except replace "Lacey Jones" with Jeff Madsen and that's what you'll see in the video below. You'll also see Jeff Madsen, who looks like a prairie dog to us, pulling a Miss Teen South Carolina (jokingly) when he rambles off continents like Asia, Africa and Europe and calls them cities. Throughout the video, Madsen is for some reason smoking a cigarette in what can best be described as an awkward manner. Seriously, we know 7 year olds who look cooler smoking cigarettes. Sure we have to buy and light the cancer sticks for the rugrats but once they get puffing, they look cool. Because smoking is cool. Unless you're Jeff Madsen.

In related news, we have a crush on Evy.

Evelyn Ng and Jeff Madsen playing Guitar Hero video.

Shannon Elizabeth Looking Good on Dancing with the Stars, But Needs to Show More Leg Next Time

Not sure when this turned into a chick blog, but Dancing with the Stars' Shannon Elizabeth had yet another strong performance on Dancing with the Stars, which Shannon Elizabeth is on this season.

While Elizabeth scored three 8's from the judges (which according to our trusty calculator is a 24), she scored three 2's from the Entities on our "showing leg" chart.

Last week, Shannon was all leg, which was awesome because she's got two really, really nice legs (unlike Heather Mills, who only has one).

This week though, they were all covered up. Wtf? Did a bear try to eat one of them? Were they caught under a lawnmower? When you have a body part that impressive, you show it off. All the time. There's a reason why we seldom wear pants, you know.

Neil Channing, a Ginger*, 'Jamie Golds' the Final Table at the 2008 Irish Poker Open

Neil Channing, a ginger, so he has no soul and may kill you in your sleep if he gets the chance, has won the 2008 Irish Poker Open in Dublin, Ireland.

After working his way through a field of 667 players, the 40-year-old from London entered the televised final table with more than a third of the chips in play and steamrolled over his competitors in a manner reminiscent of the way Jamie Gold dominated the final table at the 2006 World Series of Poker Main Event.

For the win, "Bad Beat" Channing takes home €801,400. Runner-up Donal Norton, the sole Irishman at the final table, walks with €420,000.

The rest of the final table finished as follows: Thomas Dunwoodie (€275,000), Tim Blake (€220,000), Danilo Paulsen (€175,000) and Edwin Tournier (€135,000).

While we weren't there in Dublin to cover the event as we've been banished from the Emerald Isle ever since the naked leprechaun tossing debacle in Kilkenny ten years ago, our pal Owen Laukannen was there and you can read his full wrap-up here.

Speaking of leprechaun tossing, for a video showing what all Canadians do to celebrate St. Patrick's Day besides freeze their asses off, go here.

Photo above of Neil Channing, a ginger, and last year's Irish Open champ, Marty Smyth, also a ginger.

*UPDATE: There's a good chance based on people who have played against him that Neil isn't an actual ginger although he does show some ginger tendencies. Perhaps it was just the photos Owen took that made him look pretty ginger-y to us. Same goes with Marty, although the dude's pretty much bald so it's hard to tell. Regardless, being labeled a ginger is a serious matter and if we're wrong, our apologies.

Spot the Poker Hottie

Watch it at AdGabber

Poker Blog Round-Up: 2008 WSOP Main Event Seats, Trip Reports, Venetian Deep Stack Extravaganza, The Jennicide Prophecy, and More Vikki Blows

This is the second of our new series of poker blog round-ups at Wicked Chops Poker in which we send people to other blogs to get their poker news fix. Ironically it coincides with yet another slow poker news day and the submission of our latest BLUFF Magazine article, meaning we're at a temporary creative lull.

:: The 2008 WSOP is just two months away, and Poker Stars is giving away 1,000 Main Event seats. (Click here)

:: One of our favorite and most underrated poker bloggers, Kid Dynamite, just got back from another Vegas junket and posted his Trip Report trilogy. (Click here)

:: Potential Official WCP Girl of 2008, Vikki Blows, is still ridiculously attractive. (Click here)

:: The Venetian Deep Stack Extravaganza returns in April. (Click here)

:: We all know Jennifer "Jennicide" Leigh will be posing nude in this coming month's Playboy, but does she have some sort of mp? (Click here)

:: And finally, us linking to Iggy who is linking to other interesting items in a similar link dump post. (Click here)

Got a poker blog and a story, shoot us an e-mail.