Michael Phelps

Michael Phelps Not Playing NBC National Heads Up

Michael-phelps

All right, so a couple of days before the pictures were published of him smoking a bong, we were going to break the news that Michael Phelps was set to play in the 2009 NBC National Heads Up Poker Championship.

Then the aforementioned photos of Michael Phelps smoking a bong were published, and now his "handlers" won't let him even come to Las Vegas for paid speaking engagements, or even worse bang slutty cocktail waitresses. So let's just say the announced field is lacking poker player/Olympian Michael Phelps and acknowledge we won't be seeing him around for awhile.

On the card this year are far more Euros, including Bertrand Grospellier, 12 year-old fem phenom Dario Minieri, Ilari "Ziigmund" Sahamies, Glen Chorny (Canadian but whatever), 2008 WSOP Main Event champ Peter Eastgate, and Ivan Demidov.

For the first time ever the NBC National Heads-Up will have a lesbian contestant in Vanessa Selbst. Not a lesbian but one half of the best lesbian scene in a movie ever (well in a non-hardcore-porn movie at least), Jen Tilly is back on the line-up.

Not making it on the list this year is Dancing with the Stars' Shannon Elizabeth. However, Celebrity Apprentice's Annie Duke will of course be present. 

Finally, Huck Seed is again playing and again our perennial pick to win it all. One time Huck. One time.

Look at the full line-up here.

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It Was Carter 'ckingusc' King's Bong

2008 World Championship of Online Poker Main Event winner Carter 'ckingusc' King has come forward and said it was his bong that Michael Phelps was snapped taking a pull from last November.

King is now facing a marijuana possession charge from South Carolina police.

Says King in a 2+2 thread:

“thats funny cause thats my house my bong and my computer in the background and the only thing that story got right was that its him in the picture. there i said it.“

King also said he did not try to sell the bong on eBay. Read more at Bluff Magazine here.

In related news, Phelps apparently is finding safe refuge in strip clubs now (link). In further related news, below is Bill Maher's take on the Phelps bong story. Thanks to reader Gravity King for the link.

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Michael Phelps' Bong (Briefly) For Sale On eBay

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The bong that poker player/Olympian Michael Phelps was photographed pulling from was briefly for sale on eBay before "authorities" pulled it down.

The bong was listed around $100,000 (or as Phil Ivey likes to call it, "about 12 big blinds") before it got yanked. This is substantially more money than the urinal mint that Jamie Gold pee'd on was going for back in '06.

Between snapping and selling a cell phone pic of Phelps hitting the bong to the highest bidder and actually trying to fetch a brick for the bong itself, these are the most industrious/capitalist stoners we've ever heard of. What ever happened to just selling grilled cheese sandwiches at Dead concerts?

Source: NY Daily News

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Michael Phelps Likes to Gamble

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2009 SI Swimsuit model Lucia Dvorska is a little bit more appealing in a bathing suit than Michael Phelps.

Not unlike his New Year's Eve party companion Phil Ivey, poker player/Olympian Michael Phelps likes to gamble.

Reports NY Post Page Six:

At the same South Carolina house party where he was snapped sucking on a bong, the Olympics hero lost a pile of money betting in a high-stakes session of the drinking game beer pong, in which players wing pingpong balls into plastic cups. "I saw Phelps pull out a roll, a bank-wrapped $2,000. He said, 'I'll match the $2,000,' " onlooker Michael Whitworth told the State newspaper. "Good ol' Phelpsie lost it, too."

Phelps, come on over here. Let's talk. You're a degen. Embrace it. Instead of holding back and just being a poor man's Gavin Smith, come on over to the dark side and embrace being the Michael Phelps we all know you want to be. Leave the whole "swimming" thing to Aquaman. He's got it covered. We know you have it in you, Phelpsie. And if you don't do it for yourself, then do it for the kids. Be a role model. Atta boy.

In related Phelps news, looks like his "people" are trying to keep him as far away from Vegas as possible. Read here

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Michael Phelps Gets the "Really?" SNL Treatment

Not sure if you've heard this yet, but Michael Phelps was caught hitting a bong recently. 

Let's face it, Phelps probably isn't going to go within 50 metres of a bong for the rest of his life (fortunately for him, Dr. Pauly probably has a 50 metre bong, so hook him up good doctor).

Piling on the Phelps bong bashing bandwagon is SNL and Seth Meyers. This "Really?" segment is actually really funny, depriving us of the chance to make the requisite "SNL sucks..." jokes everyone feels compelled to make even though the watch the show anyway.

Get cougar Michele Lewis take here.

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Getting The Feeling that Michael Phelps Won't Be Seen From Much Anymore

Less than a week after pictures surfaced of poker player/Olympian Michael Phelps hitting a bong, he's already lost a major sponsor (Kellogg & Co.) and is now serving a (mostly symbolic) suspension U.S. America Swimming.

Says Phelps about the suspension:

"I have nothing to say, but if that's they want to do, that's their choice. It's something that USA Swimming came up with. It's fair. Obviously, for a mistake you should get punished."

The bigger story here completely overlooked by the mainstream media is: what will this all do to Phelps' poker career? After final tableing a Caesar's event, and palling around with terrorists Phil Ivey and Jeff Madsen, many expected a run at some major tourneys in 2009. Can't see his handlers letting him hang with a bunch of degens now--well, unless he's managed by Jamie Gold's old PR team.

Below are a bunch of talking heads belaboring the same tired points about Phelps over and over again.

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Daniel Negreanu's Take on Michael Phelps Hitting the Bong

There seems to be two general consensuses (consensi?) forming on the Michael Phelps monster bong hit photo: 1) Who cares? He's a 23 year-old kid give me a break, or 2) If you had $100M in endorsements lined up, why risk it by smoking weed? Really?

Daniel Negreanu opts for #1, which isn't really shocking, but he is at least the first poker pro we've heard speak out about it.

Watch Daniel Negreanu Talks About Michael Phelps on RawVegas.tv
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Daniel Negreanu Is Just Killing .02-.05 Online

After a long hiatus, Daniel Negreanu is back with another (few) vlogs. In this first one we catch him grinding it out at the .02-.05 tables, where he's padded his bankroll $9 today. Which means he's about $3,530,009 better this month than durrrr.

He also gives his out his thoughts on the 2009 WSOP schedule.

Watch for his thoughts on Michael Phelps and the Gus Hansen vs. Theo Jorgensen boxing match shortly.

Watch Daniel Negreanu is Enjoying Life on RawVegas.tv
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Michael Phelps Admits to Marijuana Use, Truly Is An Online Poker Player

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Michael Phelps making Cyprus Hill proud. Credit: News of the World

Poker player/Olympian Michael Phelps' mission to sabotage a surefire $100M+ in endorsements is almost complete.

After admitting to being a big online poker player (no big deal, but still, you wouldn't see Tiger Woods revealing that one), then dating what could best be described as a "dime-a-dozen" (albeit legit hot) Las Vegas cocktail waitress/semi-nude tramp stamped model, it's now come out that he doesn't mind blazing up every now and then too.

Wow, he really is an online poker player. Fits right in.

On Sunday, a British tabloid called News of the World, published a photo (seen above) in which Phelps is hitting a bong.

Says Phelps in a statement released by his management agency (who wishes he'd just stay home for a few months and get a frigin' Netflix account already):

"I engaged in behavior which was regrettable and demonstrated bad judgment...I'm 23 years old, and despite the successes I have had in the pool, I acted in a youthful and inappropriate way, not in a manner that people have come to expect from me. For this, I am sorry. I promise my fans and the public -- it will not happen again."

Listen, we don't want to be too hard on the guy. We did things yesterday at 23 that would've made Mötley Crüe in the mid-80's look like pussies. But when we see someone who came from the same upper-middle-class-suburban streets like us as Phelps did, we want to see them make it. Because when he makes it, we all make it.

Read the full story here. Read Phelps' full apology here.

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Michael Phelps and Phil Ivey Partying in Las Vegas Over New Year's

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All right. Ok. Now we get it. Poker player/swimmer Michael Phelps probably wasn't a stud growing up. As in, if it wasn't for that swimming hobby of his, he might not of been the coolest guy. No shame in that, but it is what it is.

So he's really relishing being cool right now. And he should. Because with 8 gold medals on his belt after the 2008 Summer Olympics, Phelps is doing one of the best, "Yeah I have 8 gold medals and $100 mil coming my way the next few years, so suck my d--- world! Yo DJ, pump A Milli again so I can grind on my hot Asian girlfriend..." that we've ever seen.

Over New Year's, Phelps was seen (yet again) in Vegas partying this time with Phil Ivey. Phelps already seemed to have some wicked poker chops before hanging with Ivey et. al., so if he's getting any tips (likely at a ridiculous hourly rate), watch out 2009 WSOP (if he plays, as predicted upon here).

View the full Phelps/Vegas gallery here.

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Wicked Chops Poker Predictions for 2009

(This column is running in the current Bluff Magazine. Funny thing is if we had waited a month, we would have altered some of these, but whatever.)

As any regular reader of our site knows, the Entities who comprise Wicked Chops Poker have a truly sick ability at making accurate predictions. Our call on Chino Rheem on Day 1 of the 2008 WSOP Main Event solidified our status in that respect for awhile.

We could go on a Nostradamus-esque 500 year run of off-base whack-job vague and ambiguous prognostications now and nobody would care. Our rep is secured. Our track record for accurate predictions in Bluff Magazine ain’t so bad either. Let’s look back at last year’s Bluff column: We predicted that Daniel Negreanu would have a monster year (check), Jerry Yang will fade into oblivion (check), female poker players will continue to prove us wrong and win a few things (check), the UIGEA will not shrink the number of online poker players (check), Shawn Sheikhan won’t be deported (check), then a couple that we got wrong but whose counting? Bottomline is we make the aforementioned Nostradamus look like Neville Chamberlain when it comes to accurate takes on the future.

On with our official Wicked Chops Poker predictions for 2009.

:: The World Poker Tour will stop the bleeding. While we’re not predicting a resurgence and record profits for the WPT in 2009, we actually think they’ll start righting the ship this year. With a partnership in place with Full Tilt Poker, cutting some more events, and staffing itself more efficiently, the WPT may only lost eleventy billion dollars this year instead of four gazillion.

:: The November Nine™ concept will be an unequivocal success. If there’s one thing that Jeffrey Pollack and crew have shown us it’s that they learn from their mistakes and get better and better each and every WSOP. From June to July, this year’s WSOP was the best on the books. But the much trumpeted November Nine™ hostage concept fell flat. There was zero mainstream build-up or appeal. Even hardcore poker fans gave it a big “meh” for the most part. Not this year though. Look for the November Nine™ to be an actual TV spectacle event in 2009. Or at a minimum, look for it to be a few ticks above the Stanley Cup Finals in the public’s general consciousness.

:: Annie Duke will be in the spotlight. We’ll just keep this one simple. We predict a deep run on the Celebrity Apprentice for the super-smart Annie Duke and a switch of online poker site affiliation away from UltimateBet and to something that rhymes with Bull Filt Moker.

:: This will be Doyle’s last WSOP Main Event. We’ve watched Doyle’s enthusiasm for big tournament poker wane over the years. At the few tourneys we saw him at, he showed about the same amount of enthusiasm as Kim Kardashian did in her sex tape with Ray-J (i.e. not much). So it just feels like he’ll throw his cowboy hat in after completing the WSOP Main Event in ’09. Let’s just hope he has a Jack Nicklaus ’86 Masters run left in him.

:: Michael Phelps will no show. The poker world was in ecstasy after Michael Phelps declared his love of online poker in 2008 and showed up at a few tournaments. “Hey, look at us world! We’re legitimate!” Things look even more promising now that he’s rumored to be dating Las Vegas cocktail waitress Caroline “Caz” Pal. “He’ll definitely be in Vegas playing more poker now!” Well, one of two things will happen: 1) Caz will step in and say, “Michael, stop playing so much poker and spend more time with meeeeeeeeeeeee,” which he’ll do because she’s hot and because all women except our current/first wives do that, or 2) his handlers will get a hold of him and say, “Uh yeah Michael, see, palling around with a bunch of degenerate gamblers is kind of like Barack Obama having barbeques with Bill Ayers. We’ve got $100 million in endorsements lined up so can you just stay out of the Rio Amazon Room for six weeks this summer, please?”

:: Either UltimateBet or Absolute Poker will fold. It’s got to happen, right? The fact that anyone still plays on either of these sites, especially UltimateBet, whose co-founder Russ Hamilton is allegedly implicated in cheating players out of hundreds of thousands of dollars (if not more), baffles us. Sure, they’ve come together to form a network called CEREUS, but either mounting public pressure for regulation or hopefully through some form of karmic retribution, one of these sites will go under. If it doesn’t happen, we’re going to go club some baby seals and immediately go buy lottery tickets afterwards.

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Weekend Poker Link Dump Brought to You Vida Guerra

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We've featured Vida Guerra (and a backside) a couple times. Let's just say she's got a backdoor straight we'd like to chase after any day. View more a tribute here.

:: Sorel Mizzi captures his first live tournament title by winning Bellagio Five Diamond Classic event. And no, he did not take over for Chris Vaughn once it got down to three tables. You people are horrible for even thinking that. [link]

:: PokerListings is back with their Run-Good Challenge 2. Hopefully we run better than last time. [link]

:: Some old dude is the final table chip leader at the APPT Syndney. [link]

:: WTF is going on at the LAPT in Mexico? Pauly, get the fuck outta dodge, man. [link]

:: Michael Phelps' girlfriend, Caroline "Caz" Pal, only does "implied" nudity. Reminds us of when Bill Clinton wanted to know what your definition of "is" is. (Caroline "Caz" Pal topless here) [link]

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Not Necessarily Just Poker News Brought to You By Giorgia Palmas

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Everything about Giorgia Palmas is hot. Her name is hot. She hails from Cagliari, Sardinia which just sounds like a place crawling with hot girls everywhere. If she was as skilled as Jeff Madsen's ex Trischelle in the sack...and was mute...she'd probably be close to the perfect girl as you could get. View more Giorgia Palmas pics here.

:: Poker player Michael Phelps was named Sportsman of the Year by SI even though he only final tabled one tournament. Erick Lindgren, John Pham, and Daniel Negreanu are like, "Seriously wtf?" What? This isn't just a poker award? [link]

:: While British model Danielle Lloyd doesn't look as good in a bikini as reigning WCP Girl of the Year Keeley Hazell does in this chocolate one, we're not ones to really split hairs over two hot ass super-models in bikinis. [link]

:: The PPA issues its statement on the 60 Minutes/Washington Post pieces on the online poker cheating scandals. It's ok, but just feels like there's some meat & potatoes missing from their message. [link]

:: Read Dr. Pauly's reflective and spot-on take about Las Vegas. [link]

:: Good news! Andrew is still not the father! Our new favorite part is around 18 seconds. [link]

:: National Lampoon opens an online casino. Ok. Why not. [link]

:: What started off as potentially one of the worst threads ever turned out to be pretty damn funny. [link]

:: Man this economy is even hitting Monopoly Man hard. [link]

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Caroline “Caz” Pal, Poker Player Michael Phelps' New Girlfriend

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It's good to be Michael Phelps these days.

Record-breaking Olympic gold medal haul. Glowing 60 Minutes feature last night. Burgeoning poker game. Hot ass girlfriend with the kind of tattoos that let you know way in advance that she'd be good at certain things.

The above/below photos are of Caroline "Caz" Pal, a Las Vegascocktail waitress and rumored to be Phelps' new girlfriend (she reportedly met the fam over Thanksgiving). Read more about it here. View more pics here.

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Michael Phelps Parties in Vegas with Poker Players

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The ho's (or at least Maria Ho) were out in full force with Michael Phelps last night.

Some pics today on tmz.com of poker player/Olympic athlete Michael Phelps partying with poker players. He's been making the rounds with Madsen and the like, so no big shocker there. But good to see how committed Phelps is to the poker lifestyle.

View more here.

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Michael Phelps Making the Rounds at WPT Festa al Lago; Antonio Esfandiari Leads Day 1A

Wptlogo_2After taking a year off while the Fontana Room in the Bellagio was getting a face-lift, the WPT Festa al Lago returned yesterday, brining in 153 players for Day 1A.

While Antonio Esfandiari jumped out to a "redunkulous" (copyright Dr. Pauly) chip lead with 313,000 (nearest guys is Nicholas Sliwinski at 209,800), the main talk all around was Michael Phelps' appearance during level 3 of tournament play.

Phelps showed up escorted by (big surprise) Phil Hellmuth. We imagine the conversation had a very Mark Wahlberg Talk to Animals feel to it:

Hellmuth: "Hey I'm Phil Hellmuth, you know me. So you're Michael Phelps right, what's that all about? You won 8 gold medals. I have 11 bracelets."

Players gawked. Phelps shook hands. Life went on. Rumor is Phelps may sign up for Day 1B. We'll see.

Other notables big stacks include Jennifer Tilly, a woman (195,050), Joe Sebok (142,050), Johnny Chan (138,000), Isaac Baron (116,825), Chau Giang (115,025), Allen Cunningham (105,825), Daniel Negreanu (99,325), Doyle Brunson (94,200), Johnny "World" Hennigan (76,825), and the spectacularly-breasted J.C. Tran (71,550).

Get a full recap here.

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Michael Phelps Cashed at Caesars Palace Poker Tournament

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Michael Phelps was making the rounds in Las Vegas this weekend.

But instead of solely banging the hundreds of skank groupies that throw themselves at him wherever he goes, he spent much of his time at the poker tables.

Phelps, an avid online poker player, final tabled a $1,570 buy-in event at the Caesars Poker Classic (at Caesars Palace). Phelps banked $5,213 for his efforts.

According to Norm Clarke, Phelps was "letting it be known" that he wants to play in the 2009 World Series of Poker. Only question now is will he be wearing a Stars or FTP cap.

In related news, we're working on landing a TOKE interview with him right now. Developing...

UPDATE: So Phelps signed some sort of exclusive deal for vid coverage with...Card Player? CARD PLAYER? What a douche move. Who does that? And Card Player hasn't been relevant for about two years now. Still working on it though...

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