WPT LA Poker Classic: Vinnie Vinh Still Alive, Glum Girl is Here, Benyamine Looking Slim(mer), Negreanu Backing Barack

So we made it to the Commerce today after a night of relatively moderate bedlam that kicked off at the Library Alehouse in Santa Monica and somehow ended up with us at a Laurel Canyon mansion this morning with a group of Venice Beach trust fund hippies who graffiti'd are SUV rental with Obama stickers.

We'll save that story however for our forthcoming 4-part series entitled "How We Spent the Friday Night Before the WPT LA Poker Classic."

For now, the word from the Commerce is that the action got underway almost 3 5 7 plus hours ago and we're finally getting around to writing something and we don't have much to say besides that pretty much every poker player you know this side of the Atlantic is here including Phil Hellmuth, Phil Ivey, Jamie Gold, John Phan, Carlos Mortensen, Are You Really Reading this List?, Paul Wasicka, Vannessa "Went to Duke" Rousso, Grover Cleveland, Layne Flack, Phil Laak, Josh Arieh, Rhahaeid Skaoodo, David Plastik, Barry Greenstein, Dan Harrington, Erick Lindgren, Mother Teresa, Eric Mizrachi, Scott Clements, Haralabos Voulgaris, Still Reading This?, David Williams, Freddy Deeb, We Wonder What We Should Eat for Dinner, Gavin Smith, David Singer, Lee Watkinson, Perhaps We'll Go to Panchos Tonight, Tom Schneider, Mark Seif, This Is Getting Tiring, Chau Giang, Tim Phan and Erick Seidel.

In total, 665 players started today, down considerably from last year's 791, and the total prize pool is $6,374,400, with first place set to take home $1,596,100. In 2007, Eric Hershler walked away with $2,429,970.

Of note . . .

Josh Arieh Looks to Go Wire-to-Wire at WSOPC New Orleans

Atlantan and Team Bodog player Josh Arieh (at 2006 WSOP, top left), who consequently was probably the only person you'd have heard of in the entire field at the WSOP Circuit event at Harrah's in New Orleans, remains the only person you've ever heard of heading into final table play.

Arieh has led wire-to-wire, and takes the big stack to the final table today with 510,000. He is followed by David Fox at 324,000.

Get full chip counts here and live blogging when final table play begins at 2pm EST here.

Photos of Josh Arieh and Joanna Krupa at the 2006 WSOP

Poker News "Iron Drawers" Shaw Would Be Proud Of

:: Our friends at the WSOP Academy are back with another ladies-only poker camp dealt by Annie Duke, a woman. [CardPlayer.com] :: Hey, remember that time we were at the beach and there were 1,010 hot Australian girls there. Well, we finally got the photos back. [WithLeather.com] :: The Treasury Department released its UIGEA regulations and now people can comment on them or something. [CasinoGamblingWeb.com] :: The Hills' Heidi Montag knows what it takes to be famous in Hollywood. [Egotastic.com] :: Is Fristian fascism spreading to Norway, home of WSOPE Champion Annette Obrestad? [PokerNews UK] :: Longtime fave Naomi Watts just celebrated her 39th birthday, unbelievably. [TunaFlix.com] :: Did WPT Turks and Caicos winner Rhynie Campbell get screwed out of a $1 million guaranteed first place prize? [PokerListings.com] :: The main event of that second rate tourney in a dumpy casino in a crap heap town starts today and notably ESPN isn't covering it this year. [US Poker Championship] :: This Maxim Hometown Hottie voting is more competitive than a mid-term election. We're going with Jody now after seeing her self-shot bathroom pics. [DrunkenStepFather.com] :: The maybe-has-a-mild-case-of-Aspergers-Syndrome Vanessa Rousso took 3rd in the WCOOP Main Event, with Josh Arieh online player "nitbuster" taking 6th. [PokerNews.com]

Josh Arieh on Atlanta Poker Busts: "So Ridiculous. They Blow It Out of Proportion"

Atlanta's Josh Arieh chatted it up with Phil Gordon on ESPN's The Poker Edge podcast yesterday and among the topics were the recent poker busts in his hometown. Arieh has played with some of the guys nabbed in the first raid and said that the reports have been blown out of proportion and that the game was a $1,000 max buy-in $5-10 NL game and not a $10k buy-in high stakes game. He also poignantly explained how the media is out to make these poker players, especially in the Roswell raid, seem like the "filth of the Earth," with erroneous accusations about drugs being found.

Also of note, the two talked about Gordon's wedding this weekend and Arieh candidly shared his views on a number of topics, including money management, living in a house full of women, golf hustling, the art of Pot Limit Omaha and how easy it is to win Gavin Smith's money, something Joe Sebok knows a little about.

Check out the MP3 of the podcast here or head over to The Poker Edge. The podcast starts with the illustrious Andrew Feldman reporting the news, followed by a bit on the World Series of Golf, then Josh.

For more pics of Josh and Joanna Krupa at last year's 2006 WSOP Main Event, go here. For interesting facts about ants, go here.