Nicky Whelan Brings You Today's Not Just Poker Links

Like fellow Aussie Elle McPhereson, Nicky Whelan is nicknamed "the body." So having the nickname "the penis" is probably a good thing, right? View more pics here(Whelan's body, not Entity penis).

:: Patrik Antonius builds his lead in the Durrrr Challenge. [link]

:: Two words: Wii Poker. [link]

:: The Shamwow guy does chop chop on some prostitutes' face. [linkand link]

:: We all handle bad news in our own way. [link]

:: Kim Kardashian "backs" her sis Khloe by taking a shot at Annie Duke(about 2:30 in), despite Khloe showing about as much personality on Celebrity Apprentice as Kim did on DWTS. Man we watch too much reality TV. [link]

:: The 10 best slip ups in TV anchor history. And let's just say you don't accidentally say "double penetration" unless you've done double penetration. [link] <-- link has been corrected.

:: And finally, who doesn't love a good flowchart? [link]

Aced Wins Dream Team Poker

In case you weren't clear of the origins of the above photo, we got it at PokerListings.com.

Jamie Gold and his girlfriend Ashley Nataupsky (cute blonde here) both final tabled this weekend's Dream Team Poker event, capturing a victory for Team Aced.

Those two plus the other guy will split the team prize of $59,000.

Danny Nelson took the individual title, for a chopped up win of $13,000.

Again, a great inaugural open event by Dream Team Poker. Read more about it here.

Dream Team Poker Girl Photo Dump

While nobody was sure who the cute blonde wearing a PokerVT patch sitting next to Phil Hellmuth was, that didn't stop All-In Magazine founder Casey Thompson from making a $6,000 prop bet that she would last longer than the 11-time WSOP bracelet winner.

No shortage of hotties at Dream Team Poker yesterday. While this doesn't capture all of them, it's enough to get the gist.

The Entities Out of Dream Team Poker

All of the Entities got knocked out between the second level and dinner break at Dream Team Poker on Saturday. They played down to 27, with pros like Tom McEvoy, Thor Hansen, and Jamie Gold still alive.

Pics of the hottest girls at DTP coming later this afternoon. For now, what ended up being our last vlog from the event. Definitely good times though and a really impressive showing by Dream Team Poker. Looking forward to the next one.

Watch Dream Team Poker Tournament Update on RawVegas.tv

Dream Team Poker Reception Party

Pretty sure we were literally the last to register last night at the Dream Team Poker reception party, we still were able to speak with a few of the big names in attendance. Below is our first vlog from the event.

Watch Dream Team Poker Tournament - Opening Night on RawVegas.tv

Follow The Entities at Dream Team Poker This Weekend

We'll be light on posts the next few days and heavy on twitters. Or tweets. Whatever.

The post lightness is due to our participation in Dream Team Poker this Saturday (and hopefully Sunday). We'll be actively updating our twitter feed you see at right during the event. We'll also have some vlogs on RawVegas.tv from the reception Friday eve and tourney Saturday. 

That's all we got. Sign up to follow us on twitter here.

And below is pretty much what will be going through our heads during the entirety of the tournament. Not even remotely kidding, btw, but you probably already knew that.

Introducing Our New Official Pick to Win It: Howard Lederer

Last week or maybe two weeks ago we announced that we were retiring Huck Seed as our "Official Pick to Win It."^TM

For those new to the site, we've basically been picking Huck Seed to win every major event (WSOP Main Event, NBC Heads Up, $50k H.O.R.S.E.) for the past four years, save the 2008 World Series of Poker Main Event when we randomly switched to Chino Rheem.

Now that Huck has captured his big trophy, it's time to move on and annoit a new "Official Pick to Win It."

We offered a hint last week or possibly two weeks ago that had absolutely nothing to do with who we were going to select. Most of you thought we were going with Patrik Antonius. That wouldn't have been a bad choice. However, we feel like there is someone more due, more deserving, more ready to pop back up from under the radar and claim a major crown. So our new OPTWI^TM is none other than Howard Lederer.

When we told Howard of this, he responded by saying:

"I'm thrilled to be your guy. Hopefully it won't take long for me to justify your pick."

Not only are we confident of Howard coming through for us, we're also particularly pleased to add the term "chip lederer" to our lexicon and will use it liberally whenever Bub is near the top of the leaderboard.

Stay tuned...

Las Vegas Hottie of the Month Kimber Ngo

Watch Kimber Ngo - RawVegas.tv Girl of the Month on RawVegas.tv

RawVegas.tv continues their search for Las Vegas hottest girl, this month spinning the wheel and landing on Kimber Ngo.

If you're into the A's, then you'll probably be a big Kimber fan. This one isn't as tame as last month's girl-next-door-hot Dana Lauren, but it's also not as "hey-here's-my-crotch-in-the-face" fantastic as Francine Dee either. Click thumbnails for larger image. Not that you didn't know how to do that already.

 

Scotty Nguyen to Win $4M at 2009 WSOP or Quit Poker

 
Just found this in our archives from 2007. See if you can spot the two things that stood out to us in this pic.

Maybe he's drinking again or maybe he's just feeling it because he's Scotty Nguyen, baby, but in the below video, the Prince of Poker (<--seriously how did he get that nickname?) claims that if he does not win $4 million during the 2009 WSOP, he's going to quit poker.

We're not math majors, but basically that means Scotty needs to win the $50k H.O.R.S.E. again plus the new $40k NLH event, or finish first or second in the Main Event. Ok.

In related news, this.

Scotty Nguyen Quitting Poker? from PokerListings TV

Girl On Girl: Michele Lewis Interviews Vanessa Rousso

The following is WCP contributor Michele Lewis' latest interview in her "Girl on Girl" series featuring interviews with some of the hottest girls in poker.

Vanessa Rousso isn’t just hot, she’s smokin’ hot, looks hot in a bikini and lately… she’s tournament hot. Well, hot if you consider defeating poker legends Doyle Brunson, Phil Ivey and Daniel Negreanu all in one weekend.  Seriously, how many people can say that?  Not to mention her recent WPT seventh place finish, GoDaddy commercial and some random magazine men like called Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue.

Just to beat anyone to the punch, Rousso isn’t running around claiming to be a model.  In fact, she’s quick to admit that the Sports Illustrated Issue was intimidating as hell, especially when given three weeks to get in shape.  Furthermore, Rousso has no problem talking about the PokerStars bikini spot, as she’s happy to see poker being viewed more as a sport.

Besides, let’s be honest… it’s not really a big deal she was in Sports Illustrated because female poker players and the girlfriends/wives of male poker players are always asked to pose for the Swimsuit Edition. Ok, not really.  Point being, someone asked her vs. asking a poker playing celebrity like… Paris Hilton.  So, with Rousso sizzling up the poker scene, I got her to confess her alma mater, latest streak (like a Frank the Tank streak) and as I always ask… who she thinks is hot.

Michele Lewis:  Vanessa, so far this year you’ve been in the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Edition, signed a deal with GoDaddy.com, still a star player on team PokerStars and won second in the NBC National Heads-Up Championship.  That’s great and all, but come on… you must be ecstatic to be the new Girl on Girl... woman.  So, how does it feel? 

This Is Confusing

After a long lay-off, Eminem is ready to drop a new album, Relapse. Hopefully it's not a relapse into rhyming about how your mom is a bitch and wife is crazy, cause that shit gets old and kind of silly once you approach 40. But anyway, he was in Las Vegas recently taking promotional pics for the album with Dr. Dre and 50 Cent.

Quick tangent, but when the hell is Dre releasing a new album? Put The Chronic in right now and listen to how well it stands up. Also listen to it because if you think we're sexist, holy shit. And is any rapper more overrated than 50 Cent? If Dre hadn't produced "In Da Club" would anyone even know who he is? Dre even made Nate Dogg sound cool with his "smoke weed every day" line at the end of "The Next Episode." You try singing that line and sound cool. It's not easy. Dre is a miracle worker. Somebody needs to put him on The Economy^TM. U.S. America would be kicking it post-WWII style in about six months. Barack Obama needs to get on that, stat. They probably already know each other too, so it shouldn't be hard.

Anyway, the above photo is kind of confusing. Interscope released it saying that it's (obviously) a pic of the guys playing high stakes cards from Em's first video off Relapse.

However, they're clearly playing blackjack. So why does Em look like he's about to ship his chips all-in style to the center? Does that explain Dre and Fiddy's quizzical looks?

Read about the shoot here. And for old time's sake, watch "Dre Day" here.

UltimateBet Hijacks UFC Sponsorship from Full Tilt Poker

The UFC appears to be turning its back on Full Tilt Poker.

For the MMA fans out there: if you follow the UFC, you've probably noticed Full Tilt Poker logos and patches increasingly taking over the octagon.

Looks like that's coming to an end, at least for a little while.

The UFC today informed some of its business associates (and fighter managers) that Full Tilt Poker is banned from appearing on fighter's trunks, corners, or in the octagon itself.

With the amount of money FTP was dumping into the UFC, some other company had to be taking its place, right? The UFC had to get some sort of a better offer, you'd think.

And where did it come from?

UltimateBet.

Wow. Really? No. Seriously?

UltimateBet?

 

Really?

Read more here.

The Entities to Enter Dream Team Poker This Saturday

We tried to get half Filipina, half Puerto Rican model Justene Jaro as a last minute fill in for Snake, but a little thing called a "restraining order" got in the way. Apparently it's illegal to stand outside someone's window with your pants around your ankles every day for a week. Whatever. View more (some NSFW) photos of Jaro here.

Not sure how it's happened so quickly, but Dream Team Poker seems to be building some pretty big buzz. So...the Entities who compromise Wicked Chops Poker are entering the fray to find out what the big deal is.

Chops, The Addict, and (filling in for Snake) special guest Entity Jason Calacanis (bio here) are forming Team Wicked Chops for this weekend's DTP stop at Caesar's Palace.

The basic gist of Dream Team Poker is each group ponies up a collective $1,500 to compete in a traditional no limit tourney. The team with the best wins. So if you donk off your chips early, you're not out yet, as you can root on the rest of your team and still win.

We'll be going up against defending champs Team Bluff (???), Team Yo Mama (Tiffany Michelle, Maria Ho and Lacey Jones) and Team Favorites (Phil Hellmuth, Mike "The Mouth" Matusow, and Los Angeles Lakers owner Jerry Buss), among others.

This tour stop actually sold out already, so you'll have to wait until the next one to enter your own team.

More to come...but look for updates on WCP later this week and when the event kicks off on Saturday at noon PST. Read more about this weekend's event here and check out the DTP website here.

American Idol Bikini Girl Katrina Darrell Might Do Playboy

Watch Katrina Bikini Girl Darrell Host Hawaiian Tropic Zone Party

 

We're American Idol junkies. We've never been shy about that. Last thing you want to do right now is start a convo with an Entity about anything relating to Danny Gokey (total douchebag), Scott MacIntyre's [lack of] singing ability, the premature booting of Alexis Grace, or how the judges seem to be rigging this season a bit.

Anyway, we posted pics of American Idol "Bikini Girl" Katrina Darrell back during the audition episodes, and she was in Las Vegas last night to host a party, and above (or here) is the interview. So if you're into pretty flawless female bodies or are an AI junkie too, worth a view. Plus it sounds like she's gonna do Playboy. Nothing like stretching that 15 minutes as long as you can with a little nudity. Win-win for us all.

The WPT Bay 101 Shooting Star Tournament Hates Women

Two years ago, J.J. Liu, a woman, almost became the first woman to win a WPT open tournament by almost capturing the WPT Bay 101 Shooting Star event. Then last year, Jennifer Harman, a woman, almost became the first woman to win a WPT title by almost capturing the WPT Bay 101 Shooting Star event.

This year, it was Kathy Liebert, a woman's turn.

Liebert was chip leader with only three remaining. But after a grueling heads-up match (eventually breaking the record for most hands played all-time at a WPT final table), Liebert, one of the all-time greatest female players, succumbed to middle-of-the-road pro Steve Brecher. Draw your own conclusions about it all if you'd [ here ].

For the win, Brecher banked $1,025,500. Liebert took $550,000 for second.

Get full payouts here.

Laura Leigh Siani Is The Friday Night Parting Shot Girl

Our Friday Night Parting Shot Girl this week is 21-year-old model Laura Leigh Siani of Staten Island, N.Y. Siani is on the ABC reality show True Beauty, or maybe she was on it. Have no idea if this show is still airing, or what it's about, which is a shame because Laura is insanely hot and has a killer body so we'd probably watch it. Oh wait, we just read that Tyra Banks co-produces the show. Hate Tyra Banks. She used to be fun to look at when we didn't know she talked but now she's like Kryptonite to our super powers of watching insanely hot chicks on TV. We all have our weaknesses. America's Top Narcissist is ours.

Learn more about Laura over on her Mahalo page or check out her website. Click away at the photos and video below.

Kathy Liebert, A Woman, Goes For First WPT Title (For The Sixth Time)

Unless someone at the final table is blind and only got there through sympathy votes and we're not aware of it, the only real storyline we're following at the WPT Bay 101 Shooting Star now is if Kathy Liebert, a woman, can win her first WPT title and become the first woman to ever capture a World Poker Tour title.*

This is Liebert's sixth WPT final table. Phil Ivey got the monkey off his back last year at the LAPC, will Kathy do the same this year?

She'll be third in chips entering play, stacked at 1,180,000. She trails overall big stack Tony Behari (2,046,000) and Steve Brecher (2,016,000) who is making his second WPT final table and we guess some people consider a "name" pro but let's face it, who gives a shit.

Get full chip counts here.

* For all of you dorks who keep pointing out non-open WPT events, we're talking about open WPT events.

In wildly unrelated news, below scientiests discover the world's first sexual predator.

Paleontologists Discover Skeleton Of Nature’s First Sexual Predator

A Bunch of Non-Stars Lead WPT Bay 101 Shooting Stars

They're in the money at the WPT Bay 101 Shooting Stars, with a friends and family^TM leader board going into Day 3 play. Only four so-called "shooting stars" remain.

Michael Kamran has the chip lead, stacked at 570,500. He's followed by Tony Behari (553,000) and Chris Moore (539,500).

Notables still alive include Kathy Liebert (385,000), Paul Wasicka (297,000), Steve Brecher (151,500), Hoyt Corkins (124,500), the hotter than a really spicy dish of Indian food Vivek Rajkumar (124,000), and Joe Sebok (116,500).

Get full chip counts here.

Another MMA Ring Girl Search Because Why Not

Watch MMA Fix Presents MMA Ring Girl Search 2! on RawVegas.tv

We're pretty big fans of girls in bikinis, so since there's nothing else really going on today other than the WPT Bay 101 Main Event (updates here), above is another MMA Ring Girl Search at the Hawaiian Tropic Zone covered by MMA Fix/RawVegas.tv.

In related girls-in-bikinis news, the aforementioned RawVegas.tv will be interviewing WCP fave American Idol "Bikini Girl" Katrina Darrell on Friday. If you're really lonely, look out for that video this weekend.

Layne Flack on His DUI Arrest

Trust us the last thing we want to do is keep posting images of Layne Flack's toothy mug on this site, but hey, the guy is in the news lately.

Amanda Leatherman got a hold of him at the WPT Bay 101 to ask Layne about his DUI. Leatherman seems like she can barely take the words [that somehow escape his teeth] coming out of his mouth seriously as Flack says he'll "always refuse a breathalyzer test" (so this is something he's done before?) and that he eventually blew a 0.0 a few hours later. 

Last thing we'll ever do is knock a guy who loves life, but after a stint in rehab and a DUI arrest, you'd think he'd take this shit a little more seriously. Oddly and in a weird way though we kind of like his I-don't-give-a-fuck attitude, actually. Maybe Flack is related to Jeffrey Skilling or something.

In somewhat related news, at post time the awesomely named Lars Long leads Day 1B at Bay 101. Chip counts here.

Layne Flack Talks About the Russ Hamilton Ambush Video

Meant to post this last week but sometime a little thing called a weekend meth bender "life" gets in the way.

Layne Flack was a guest on Gary Wise's Rounders Radio podcast where he spoke on the Russ Hamilton ambush video for the first time.

About halfway through the interview, Gary describes how RawVegas.tv "very rudely" intruded on Layne and Russ' "private time" (because, you know, allegedly stealing at least $6 million from your friends and then going AWOL isn't even remotely rude). Layne says that when he saw the cameras, he "knew that wasn't a spot for me to be in."

Layne also said that he knows "for a fact that Russ Hamilton's lawyer said 'don't say a word.'"

Now the one thing we always felt Layne was unfairly skewered for in that video was that he may have just been golfing with Russ because he's a gambler and saw an edge he could exploit. Makes sense. Pretty common. Layne says that that's a "fair" assessment of why he was with Russ that day. Not that we were expecting him to say something else though.

But then Layne completely discredits himself by saying, "If [Russ] took all of this money...how can one man do this without being caught?" to which Gary said, "That totally makes sense."

Yeah, kind of hard to believe how Russ could get away with something like that with a company that he started and was integral in developing the software for...inconceivable.

Listen to the full interview here.

Aya Fukunaga Micro Bikini Dancing Video Brings You Today's Poker News

Honestly there isn't any real poker news today. Just a few poker-y links below that serve as an excuse to share with you a ridiculously hot video of Japan's Aya Fukunaga dancing around all sexy-like in a tiny bikini and covered in baby oil. There isn't a better 5:40 on the Internet. Pretty NSFW for those who aren't their own bosses but f&#k it, you're probably going to get laid off anyway. WATCH VIDEO AFTER THE JUMP HERE.

:: Zac Efron, the High School Musical kid who makes Dario Minieri look like a man, won some poker tournament in Australia against the likes of Joe Hachem and Kings of Leon. [link]

:: The WPT Bay 101 Shooting Stars got underway today and the WPT Live Updates crew is throwing down some mad tweets. Okay, there's no way to make Twitter sound cool. [link]

:: Celebrity(?) Apprentice's Annie Duke is hooked on the Twitter. Stalk her @RealAnnieDuke so you can read about how small her and Joe "Pretty Boy" Reitman's bed was last night. Okay, maybe don't. [link]

:: Layne Flack seems to be doing just great a week after getting a DUI in Vegas, chumming around with Tiffany Michelle and Maria Ho "on the 50 yard line" of a Sharks hockey game. [link]

:: Amanda Leatherman just got the scoop from the horse's mouth himself (wink, wink...get it? Layne has huge effing horse teeth). Of note, Flack douchery reaches new heights when he reveals he drives a Corvette. [link]

:: Two Canadians brought their "Eh" game to the WSOP Circuit Event in Atlantic Shitty, going one-two. Relatedly, they're still doing WSOP Circuit events? Also relatedly, why? [link]

Celebrity Apprentice: Joan Rivers Calls Annie Duke a "Piece of Garbage" On Today Show

Joan Rivers on Annie Duke

Having watched the first episode of the Celebrity Apprentice, it's no shocker that Joan Rivers and Annie Duke aren't the best of friends. They're both definitely in competition for "Alpha Female" status in the group, with the only problem being that Annie is way smarter than Joan and Joan is creepy as shit to look at. At this stage we're pretty sure if you put a heat lamp on Joan her face would melt into looking something like this.

Anyway, apparently Joan and Annie didn't get along very well in their battle for Alpha Female status. In the above interview on the Today Show (yesterday), Joan straight up calls Annie a "piece of garbage." Go about 3 minutes in.

Sandra Naujoks, A Woman, Wins EPT Dortmund Event

This chick just won an EPT event...

All right. Whoa whoa whoa. What's going on here. Is 2009 going to be the Year of the Woman^TM in poker?

First, Vanessa Rousso, a woman, who went to Duke, came in second at the NBC National Heads Up Poker Championship. This after getting a paid-for ad in the SI Swimsuit Issue. Now, Sandra Naujoks, a woman, has won the EPT Dortmund tournament in wherever the hell Dortmund is.

Even more amazingly, both women are...attractive? What gives? How is this happening?

Sure, had you said something like, "Entities, you know, 2009 is going to be a year in which attractive women excel in the field of administrative assisting and kindergarten teaching..." we'd be like, "Ok, yeah, we can see that."

But poker?

Naujoks beat a bunch of guys with alien sounding names and dolphin-like accents to win the title. She becomes the second woman to win an EPT event, banking €917,000.

Get full payouts and final table results here.

Marisa Perez Is The Friday Night Parting Shot Girl

This week's Friday Night Parting Shot Girl is Spanish actress Marisa Perez. She's just 19 but that is in US American years, which translates to like 25 in Spanish girls years. It's a well known fact that Latin girls mature much faster than other girls, or at least that's what we told ourselves the last time we went to Spain, and by "ourselves" we mean "the judge." If you don't know who Perez is it's probably because you don't live in Portugal where she stars in the TV show Morangos com Açúcar, which apparently has received criticism for picking actors based solely on their looks. We think that accusation is grossly unfair and to prove it we offer this dramatic clip of Perez standing against a door in her bikini. We're not sure what Portuguese version of the Emmy's is but this girl deserves one.

Greg Raymer Tells FOX Business: UIGEA Doesn't Apply To Online Poker

2004 WSOP Main Event champ Greg Raymer appeared on FOX Business News the other day to talk about legislative efforts to regulate and tax the online poker industry. During the interview the former attorney made it clear that he thinks the UIGEA doesn't apply in any way to online poker, hence the headline above, hence why are we writing this post? Warning: if the site of Raymer wearing his Fossilman glasses makes you cringe like it makes us, we suggest forwarding through the first 30 seconds or so. Better yet just skip the video and watch Chloe instead. The girl makes a valid point.

Ria Antoniou Brings You Today's Poker News

 
A gift from God from Greece, Ria Antoniou brings today's poker news. She's also a clue, of sorts, to our new "Official Pick to Win It All." See, now that Huck Seed won a major event, we have to retire him as our official pick, meaning we are naming someone else in the near future. And Ria is a big clue to who that is. See if you can figure it out.

:: The 2009 WSOP is no longer allowing profanity at the tables (#36). Fuck! [link]

:: For some reason this is funny. [link]

:: Erica Schoenberg likes the ecstacy dance scene from Eastbound & Down, which is about the only few minutes from that show that we liked too. [link]

:: Annie Duke and the women are just pwning the Celebrity Apprentice. [link]

:: And lastly, props to the new Up for Poker facelift. [link]

   

Layne Flack Mugshot

Apparently the gang at Pokerati are a little more persistant in trying to get Layne Flack's mugshot than us. With that said, hey look, it's Layne Flack's mugshot!

Huck Seed Wins NBC National Heads Up Poker Championship

Huck Seed is clearly the breast heads up poker player alive.

Huck Seed made relatively short work of Vanessa Rousso, a woman, who went to Duke, to win the NBC National Heads Up Poker Championship.

This was clearly just Seed's time. After four straight deep runs in the event (and four WCP endorsed picks to win it all), Seed finally came through and won it all, defeating Rousso 2-0.

Despite the two matches to nil defeat, to Rousso's credit, she had without a doubt the hardest route to get to the finals, having to defeat Doyle Brunson, Phil Ivey, Paul Wasicka, Daniel Negreanu, Bertrand "ElkY" Grospillier, and the fact that she's a woman.

For the win, Seed will bank $500,000. He becomes the third WSOP Main Event winner to capture a NBC Heads Up title, joining his ex-best friend Phil Hellmuth and Chris "Jesus" Ferguson.

Seed now has an 18-4 overall NBC Heads-Up record, giving him the second greatest record in everything ever, just behind the United States in wars (18-0-2).

Huck Seed, One Other Advance to NBC National Heads Up Poker Championship Final

Well this couldn't have gone any better for GoDaddy.com.

A couple of days after GoDaddy.com named her as a new spokesmodel for their company, Vanessa Rousso, a woman, who went to Duke, has advanced to the final of the NBC National Heads Up Poker Championship.

The fix is in. There is no other explanation.

(kidding, kidding)

No seriously though, is the fix in?

Anyway, Rousso defeated Bertrand "ElkY" Grospellier to become the first female to make it to a NBC Heads Up final table.

In way less shocking news, Huck Seed, our pick to win it all, made the finals as well, defeating Sam Farha to get there.

Huck Seed, Three Others Advance to NBC National Heads Up Poker Championship Semifinal

While Huck Seed (expectedly) advanced to another NBC National Heads Up Poker Championship semi-final, the real story to everyone else will probably be Vanessa Rousso, a woman, who went to Duke, did as well.

Safe to say that as bad as Layne Flack's year has been, Rousso has been the equivalent on the good side. First, the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue. Then the GoDaddy.com commercial (view again below). And now a semi-final run that will surely be the lead storyline when NBC starts editing this all together.

Unlike Shannon Elizabeth's run two years ago, it's kind of hard to call Rousso's advancement a fluke. She's defeated Doyle Brunson, Phil Ivey, and most recently Daniel Negreanu to get to the final four^TM. Now, she'll face the tour's hottest player, Bertrand Grospellier, for a spot in the finals.

On the other side of the bracket, Huck Seed will go against Sam Farha. Matches are expected to begin around 3:30 PST.

Watch Vanessa Rousso New GoDaddy.com Girl on RawVegas.tv

Huck Seed, 7 Others Advance at NBC National Heads Up Poker Championship

Our perennial pick to win it all, Huck Seed, has become the first/only person to cash in all five NBC National Heads Up Poker Championships by...cashing at the 2009 NBC National Heads Up Poker Championship.

Seed will face last minute scratch entry David Oppenheim in the quarterfinals. Oppenheim replaced Layne Flack and has made the most of it by registering his first quarterfinals appearance.

Also making his first quarterfinals appearance is Daniel Negreanu. In a lock to be the featured table, he'll take on Vanessa Rousso, a woman, who went to Duke.

Phil Hellmuth got a measure of revenge for last year's loss to Tom "Durrrr" Dwan by pretty much pwning him this go around. Hellmuth will face arguably the hottest guy on the circuit right now (performance-wise), Bertrand 'ElkY' Grospellier.

And in the final quarterfinals match, David Williams will face Sam Farha.

Below is an interview with Huck Seed from the draw party Thursday night. It seems like Huck might have cracked the code on how to be successful at HU poker. Maybe Seth Rogan was right in Pineapple Express. Weed does make everything better.

Watch Huck Seed at the 2009 NBC Heads-Up Poker Championship on RawVegas.tv

Layne Flack: Official Statement on DUI

From Layne Flack's reps:

"I attended the Draw Party at Pure on Friday night and then met with my brother, who had flown into Vegas for Heads Up. I was under the impression that I was to play in the last bracket the next evening at around 8 pm. I was pulled over for speeding and refused a breathalyzer test as I have been instructed to do. I have no idea why I was written a ticket for failing to yield to an emergency vehicle. There were no emergency vehicles around, besides the police car. A test, given by the Las Vegas PD, later revealed that I had a blood alcohol content of zero. I also took a blood test, as I have nothing to hide. I was held for the mandatory 6 hours and released. I always go out of my way to not drink and drive. I regret that I was not able to play in NBC Heads Up and hope to be invited next year to play in this prestigious event." 

Ok, this Layne Flack DUI arrest statement is just going to fan the flames. We're really to believe Layne had a blood alcohol level of zero? Sure, maybe if he was sober (as in, kicked the drinking in rehab) we'd be willing to suspend our disbelief just a little bit. But dude was drunk last weekend at the WPT Invitational, so we know he's kicking a few back. We're really expected to believe a guy known for having some alcohol issues was pulled over for driving 21 mph over the speed limit and was subsequently thrown in jail for no other reason? Come on, Layne.

UPDATE: Andrew Robl writes that he did tequilla shots with Layne at the draw party. Hard to believe a few hours later Layne would have a blood-alcohol level of zero. Read here. Thanks to reader Faybarpio for the link.

UPDATE II: Robl for some reason took the part about Flack off his blog. Yeah, nobody saw it man. It wasn't pasted all over the place. You deleted it off the face of the Earth like it never happened! Sly one, that Robl.

Lastly, I was admittedly quite drunk and somehow convinced the legendary Layne Flack to take shots of tequila with me. I was not thinking straight, so it was not the most responsible idea to convince someone who has had his battles with his vice demons to jump back into the hell of temptation. We ended up getting quite drunk and I went home to get some sleep while his night continued. This afternoon, I was alerted to a 2+2 gossip post that revealed that Flack was arrested for a DUI and had to forfeit his tournament entry. I feel pretty guilty about it. As anyone who knows Layne knows he is a super nice and charismatic guy regardless of the mistakes he made.

Huck Seed, 31 Others Advance in NBC National Heads Poker Championship

Round 1 of the 2009 NBC National Heads Up Poker Championship is done. Some notes:

:: Obviously the big story of the day was Layne Flack's DUI no-show. His 2009 so far is the equivalent to Baumer's epic meltdown at the U.S. Nationals. Not good.

:: One story we actually will follow sort of is Vanessa Rousso's "journey." Her profiles was "raised" a bit with the SI Swimsuit pic, and she's actually very relevant for this tournament because of the GoDaddy.com commercial. After beating Doyle Brunson in Round 1, if she can tackle Phil Ivey today and make a deep run, Rousso could be the epicenter of talk for this year's tourney.

:: While it probably won't get much T.V. coverage, one of the more interesting matches today is Ilari "ziigmund" Sahamies v. Bertrand Grospellier. Sahamies because he's not only nuts but one of the best online poker players in the world today, and Grospellier because he's one of the best live tournament players in the world today.

:: The other really interesting match is the other online superstar, Tom "durrrr" Dwan, who takes on Barry Greenstein.

:: Jerry Yang actually won (!) his first round match and plays John Phan.

:: And finally, of course, our pick to win it all, Huck Seed, won again, and will go up against Gus Hansen in what would be a compelling match if Seed ever showed some personality.

Get all of the match-ups here.

Hillary Fisher Is The Friday Night Parting Shot Girl

Hillary Fisher is a lingerie and bikini wearing wunderkind.

This week's Friday Night Parting Shot Girl is 25-year-old Hillary Fisher of South Carolina. We don't know much about her except that she appears to be some kind of world champion bikini wearer, and on her MySpace page she claims Martha Stewart is her hero so she's probably good around the kitchen, which pretty much makes her perfect. Actually, with a body like hers, she could not know how to boil water and still be perfect. Credit goes to HollywoodTuna.com for turning us on to Hillary. Click away at the photos of Hillary below. For a hot video of Hillary parading around in a bikini, go here.

Layne Flack Arrested for DUI

 

So Layne Flack is having a bad year.

Flack failed to show for his first round match and was replaced by David Oppenheim. Reports Poker News:

Earlier we reported that Layne Flack missed his heads-up match. Producer Mori Eskandani told us it was because Flack was in an accident on his way home last night.

It's unclear whether or not there was any accident, but we can now confirm that Flack was arrested last night on his way home from the bracket-drawing party. The stated charges are driving 21MPH or more over the speed limit, failure to yield to an emergency vehicle, and driving under the influence.

Douche.

Update: Here's the police report.

UPDATE: NWP does a verification of his arrest/bail out here.

NBC National Heads Up Poker Championship Red Carpet Photo Dump

All right, let's wrap this all up with some pictures (below) closing thoughts on the NBC National Heads Up Poker Championship red carpet/draw party last night.

First, job well done to Jon Miller of NBC for growing this event to what it is. This was easily the biggest red carpet crowd with the most excitement around it we've seen in the three years we've been covering it. Plus adding GoDaddy.com as a sponsor brings yet another big name mainstream advertiser into the fold (which = good for the game).

Now some random notes: Not sure if it was because he saw Phil Hellmuth talking to the RawVegas.tv crew or not, but Layne Flack couldn't have exited stage left into the party (and by-passed the video crews) any faster than if his ass was literally on fire and the only bucket of water within a three mile radius was in PURE Nightclub itself. / Congratulations again to Vanessa Rousso for landing a spot in that GoDaddy.com commercial with Danica Patrick. Also congrats on rocking a skin tight outfit that revealed a remarkably clear, um, something that rhymes with "mammal doe." / Speaking of Danica Patrick, while not super-model pretty, in person she's definitely better-looking than you'd think. Kind of "take-home-to-mom" pretty. / Jamie Gold had no problem immediately admitting he screwed up on getting a fake tan. / And while Annie Duke kind of makes sense on why she's not switching to FTP, we're still standing by our steak dinner offer.

Click the thumbs below for larger scale images.

Vanessa Selbst Is No Jodie Foster

The "hot lesbian couple" is kind of like "heterosexual AIDS" in that it's a total myth.

However, there was something oddly hot about Vanessa Selbst showing up with two girls around her arms last night on the NBC National Heads Up Poker Championship red carpet. Maybe it's the thought of the inevitable girl-on-girl-on-girl threesome that was bound to ensue. Don't know. Maybe we're just sickos. You probably just had to be there. Screw off. Anyway, props to Selbst for clearly not giving a fuck and showing up with two girls. That's a solid way to make an entrance.

2009 NBC National Heads Up Poker Championship Bracket

The draw party has wrapped and the pairing are announced.

Not a bunch of "must see" first round match-ups although Daniel Negreanu vs. Chris Moneymaker, Phil Ivey vs. Jennifer Tilly, Mike Matusow vs. Dario Minieri, and ziigmund vs. Gavin Smith should make for decent TV. And Erick Lindgren vs. Howard Lederer and Huck Seed vs. Jonathan Little are very solid pairings.

View the full bracket here. Review our "seedings" on espn.com here.

Look for some red carpet photos from last night, including Vanessa Selbst showing up with not one but two girls on her arm, later today.

Go HERE for all of our red carpet interview from last night.

Annie Duke on Celebrity Apprentice and Our Dinner Bet

Maybe we won't win our (still not accepted) dinner bet with Annie Duke afterall.

After dishing on some cutting-room-floor parts of last week's Celebrity Apprentice, Duke spends some time talking about why she won't be switching affiliation from UltimateBet to Full Tilt.

While her argument makes all the sense in the world, we'll see what site she's with by the WSOP. If it's still UB, then yeah, we're probably drawing dead. N9ne it is!

Watch Annie Duke on the Russ Hamilton Ultimate Bet Scandal and The Apprentice on RawVegas.tv

Jon Miller and Jeffrey Pollack Make for a Good Interview

WSOP commish Jeffrey Pollack and NBC exec (and the man behind this event) Jon Miller walked the red carpet and gave us a really solid interview on the fast Heads Up format and changes at this year's World Series of Poker, respectively. Respect.

Watch Jon Miller and Jeffrey Pollack at the 2009 NBC National Heads-Up Poker Championship on RawVegas.tv

Hevad Khan Is Just Happy To Be Here

Sounds like Hevad Khan maybe knew he was next on the list for the NBC National Heads Up Poker Championship. Also sounds like he won't be screaming like a gorilla anymore either.

 

Watch Hevad Khan is on a Roll on RawVegas.tv

Daniel Negreanu Is In a Good Mood

Right before we interviewed Daniel Negreanu, we just wrapped a good five minutes with our perennial pick to win it all, Huck Seed. While we're not going to post the Huck Seed interview, let's just say that Daniel was definitely NOT smoking whatever Huck was...

Watch Daniel Negreanu at the 2009 NBC National Heads-Up Poker Championship on RawVegas.tv

Mike Matusow Has A Wish For Russ Hamilton

Hey, while we're talking about Russ Hamilton, (not surprisingly) Mike Matusow had some things to say. Matusow is kind of like a (degenerate gambling version of) fine wine...the dude is getting better (and more entertaining) with age.

(    )

Watch Mike Matusow Is Very Angry at Russ Hamilton on RawVegas.tv

Phil Hellmuth Speaks on the UltimateBet Scandal

Let's kick off the first of our NBC National Heads Up Poker Championship red carpet coverage with Phil Hellmuth. We weren't planning on "going there" regarding asking about Russ Hamilton and the UltimateBet cheating scandal, but after mentioning golfing with Layne Flack for a Golf Magazine story, well, it kind of opened the door...

Watch Phil Hellmuth on the Russ Hamilton Ultimate Bet Scandal on RawVegas.tv

Exclusive: Vanessa Rousso and Danica Patrick Star In GoDaddy.com Commercial

A follow-up to our earlier post: big thanks to those involved for giving us access to the new GoDaddy.com commercial today featuring Vanessa Rousso (looking pretty solid on the NBC National Heads Up Poker Championship btw, pics coming soon). Hats off to GoDaddy.com for really getting behind/so involved with the NBC National Heads Up as well. Good sign for poker sponsorships in general.

Behind-the-scenes footage of Rousso and the other GoDaddy.com models below.

Watch Vanessa Rousso New GoDaddy.com Girl on RawVegas.tv

Vanessa Rousso Tapped As New GoDaddy Girl

We ass-ume "I'd like to rear end her" is the IndyCar equivalent of bad "I'd poke-her" jokes.

This post was supposed to be about poker player Vanessa Rousso, who went to Duke and whose photoshop replica recently appeared in the SI Swimsuit Issue, joining IndyCar hottie Danica Patrick as a spokesmodel for domain name registrar GoDaddy.com, but somewhere between reading that news and starting this post we found these photos of Danica and lost our train of thought. The look-from-behind pose has that effect on us.

So...for the story on Rousso, including a quote from Go Daddy CEO Bob Parsons that awesomely works in the fact that Vanessa went to Duke, check out Bluff Magazine's write up here.

For photos of Danica and her impressive bumper, look up and below.

Shannon Shorr Thinks He Should Be in NBC Heads Up, Shaniac Thinks He's "Delusional"

More in line with what we think a "Shannon Shorr" should look like...

Our favorite guy-with-a-hot-porn-star's name Shannon Shorr is "shocked" that he failed to make the 64-person NBC National Heads Up Poker Championship field again.

In his latest blog, Shorr says:

"I will go on record (as I did after the 2006 calendar year) as saying I'm shocked that I don't make the list. After very closely examining the list, Michael Binger, Nam Le, Sebastian Ruthenberg, Michael Martin, Vivek Rajkumar, Amit Makhija, Adam Geyer and Hevad Khan are probably somewhere wondering WTF! as well. No one in the poker tournament industry besides Nam Le, JC Tran, and David Pham has matched my consistency over the last 3 years on the tournament circuit and in that time I have NEVER been selected to play the NBCHUPC."

While Shorr definitely has been one of the most consistent players around, he has gotten virtually no TV time, so he really has no argument here. Shane "Shaniac" Schleger seems to agree, although in more blunt terms than us. Shaniac calls out Shorr's "distinctly delusional blog post" and writes:

"Shannon, get a grip. You should be ashamed for putting yourself in the same sentence as Le, Tran, and Pham, who essentially dwarf the entire poker tour community with consistency and moneymaking."

Read in full here.

UPDATE: Shannon Shorr still not in. Ivan Demidov had to drop out and is replaced by Hevad Khan.

UPDATE II: Got a TOKE coming later today with a bunch of hot models and GoDaddy.com at Caesar's...developing.

NBC National Heads Up Poker Red Carpet, Draw Party Tonight

Quick reminder that the NBC National Heads Up Poker Championship draw party is tonight at PURE in Las Vegas.

There's a red carpet event before the draw party, and we'll be filming multiple TOKE interviews to be uploaded throughout the night.

Check back on Wicked Chops or RawVegas.tv for all the interviews. Below are some of the best of last year.

Salty Joe Hachem Confirms He's Not Adnan Ghalib
Jason Alexander Is a Good Interview
Erick Lindgren Does Not Stand In The Way of Don Cheadle
Don Cheadle Doesn't Like Us

Amir's Bad Beat

We've been following Amir and Streeter's Prank Wars on collegehumor.com for some time now. So we've been wondering when the hell Streeter was going to get Amir back for the fake proposal at Yankee Stadium.

A year and a half later, Streeter figured out a way to exact sound revenge by getting Amir to do a fake $500,000 half-court shot. Hopefully the next one doesn't escalate into one of their own's death.

See more funny videos and funny pictures at CollegeHumor.