Doyle Brunson

Last week there were a lot of pictures and stories about ninety-two time gold medalist Michael Phelps joining up with Doyle's Room. Yes, Mr. Limpet was in Las Vegas and he did ask to meet Doyle Brunson and there were lots of photos with Michael and Doyle and Todd and all the rest of the Doyle's room gang. Not sure if they had time to get Shannon Elizabeth into a merry widow in time to lure Michael to the cowboy side of online poker.

However, no announcement has been made and for a damn good reason. The fish boy is the hottest commercial commodity out there right now; a veritable Michael Jordan of the waves. He is commanding huge amounts of blue-green for appearances and commercials and quite frankly, Doyle's Room can't afford him. Sure he might make take a lowball deal to be associated with Doyle, but I think his financial advisers are way too smart for that.

What online room has a tennis player, a soccer player, a couple of cricketeers... Need I go on?

You heard it here first (or second if you are reading all the poker forums): Michael Phelps gets the water out of his ears and the cash in his wallet and signs a sponsorship deal to be a Poker Star.

Was that too cryptic?

Macau – China – 28th August 2008 – The cards are in the air at the Galaxy StarWorld Hotel and Casino in Macau as Day 1A of the eagerly awaited APT Macau finally got underway! ‘Godfather of Poker’ Doyle Brunson and the legendary host of the 1970 World Series of Poker Jack Binion joined Asian Poker Tour Tournament Director Matt Savage to ‘Shuffle Up and Deal’ as a world class field took their seats. Jack Binion, standing alongside Doyle Brunson, addressed the players as they took their seats. “This is the future of poker,” said Binion. “This is so exciting and significant - you can see the potential and feel the energy.”

A formidable line-up of players are at the StarWorld for the landmark USD $5300 event. Amongst those spotted include Johnny Chan, Todd Brunson, Liz Lieu, J.C Tran, Kenny Tran, John Juanda, Nam Le, Quinn Do, Steve Sung, Huck Seed, Michael ‘ Chino ’ Rheem, Mel Judah, Mansour Matloubi, Harry Demetriou, Carter Gill, Richard En and APT Philippines champion David Saab.

Amongst those choosing Day 1A include Doyle and Todd Brunson but there was considerable interest on the rail as Saab and JC Tran got drawn on the same table and locked horns. The APT Macau is making history by offering US$1,500,000, the largest guaranteed prize pool ever to be offered in Asia, with the first prize also guaranteed at US$500,000.

On Friday 29th August at 7pm, the Asian Poker Tour will make history again with Asia ’s largest cash game, coverage of which will be televised and distributed worldwide at a later date. The details are simple, minimum buy-in is HK$1,000,000 (US$130,000), starting blinds are HK$3,000 - $6,000, straddling and blinds are raised at the discretion of the players. Even the most conservative estimates suggest that HK$15 million (well over US$1.5 million) will be at stake, more than the guaranteed prizepool of the APT Macau tournament! Amongst those taking part include Doyle Brunson, Todd Brunson, Johnny Chan, Nam Le, JC Tran, Kenny Tran, John Juanda, Steve Sung, Yevgeniy Timoshenko, Waki, Yamazaki, Gary Benson and Bruce Parker. Doyle Brunson has already wired in HK$2,000,000 (US$260,000) and quipped “that’s just the start.”

Chris Parker, CEO of the Asian Poker Tour, will also be taking a seat in the lions den.

“I’m so glad we have such soft tables!” joked Parker. “In all seriousness, we were astounded by the interest in the high stakes cash game – everybody wants a piece of the action. We set the mimimum buy-in at HK$1,000,000 but anybody who knows anything about Macau or the potential of poker in this area of the world knows this will be small stakes by the end of the night. It is going to be something very special – when it airs we predict you will witness record breaking pots! You think the action in Vegas is big, just wait and see what comes out of Macau !”

Two new poker spokespersons were named this week and both were a bit of a surprise.

First, the World Poker Tour announced at the L.A. Poker Classic that Antonio Esfandiari would be their first every poker player representative. Duties and responsibilities for this first time ever move by WPT are unclear but there is now a professional face to the WPT other than the corporate image of Steve Lipscomb. Antonio is, of course, well know in the poker world and has fair well in WPT events. Using a professional player as the spokesperson is a new concept for WPT and one has to wonder how Antonio's responsibilities will meld with long time WPT announcers Mike Sexton and Vince Van Patten; not to mention the revolving door of WPT spokes model/eye candy of the past several years.

In an even more interesting move, Absolute Poker has added Liv Boeree to their line-up of players/spokespersonalities. Liz is a 23 year old astrophysics graduate (their idea to include that resume item),as well as a recent player on the European scene. More than just a pretty face or a pretty face who plays poker, Liz has previous experience covering poker. Since August 2005, the London-based model has worked as a TV presenter, writer and interviewer on some of the most popular poker broadcasts including Ultimatepoker.com Showdown, Gutshot TV, Daily Express, Challenge TV, Gala UK Poker Tour, Sky Poker TV, Poker Verdict, Ladies' World Poker Open, and the WSOPE.

Oh and one more item of note. Doyle Brunson, a lifelong Republican has switched parties to endorse Barack Obama for U.S. President, citing Obama's support for free market poker legislation.

Will the pin-up girl of the 90's every leave poker alone?

Do we want her to?

Are you even looking at the words on this page?

Anyways. Moving right along.

Pamela Anderson is back haunting the poker rooms of Las Vegas and apparently living her life according to yet another Hollywood script. Now whether the current script is Indecent Proposal or Honeymoon in Vegas is unclear. Rumors have it (that means Pamela actually say this to some tabloid reporter) that she dropped a bundle (or two?) at a Vegas poker table. A quarter of a million is the first number floated. The story sleazes on that a "famous poker player" offered to cover that debt if Ms. Anderson would let him cover her first.

Fade to black or at least to a gauzey grey as the years creep up on all things silicon. Hmmm, maybe that would be 'creep down"? Anyways, a few days later the happy couple are getting married. Til death do them part, unlike Pamela's relationship with Doyle or Tommy or Kid Pebble. Don't you just love these happy ending stories full of love, romance and commitment; not to mention quarter million dollar debts and borderline prostitution storylines.

Pamela's disclosure came on the Ellen DeGeneres show. Pamela did not name the poker player in question but said:

"I was playing poker one night... and I was down about 250 grand. He said if I made out with him, that would clear the debt." Yada, yada, yada... I paid off a poker debt with sexual favors and I fell in love. It's so romantic."

The Las Vegas Review-Journal speculates that Pam's man is Antonio "The Magician" Esfandiari,look for his bankroll to suffer and for his consumption of oysters to increase. However, insider information suggests that Rick Solomon is the more likely next Mr. Anderson, you remember Rick from the Paris Hilton tapes!

Pamela, herself, is nothing if not an entrepreneur, remember her last foray into the world of poker. Here's hoping her current poker endeavors led to a more lasting union or at least a bigger payday.

A World Series of Poker "Bracelet" Quiz today. See how much you know about the top 'multiple bracelet' winners. For those of you who think you are WSOP history masters, skip down past the break and try to list the top bracelet winners in order--for the rest of us humans--I will ask you questions and give you hints as needed to fill in the arms to wear the bracelets.

#1: If you don't get this one, give up the quiz immediately. Who is the only player with 11 WSOP bracelets?

#2: Name the two players with 10 bracelets each. You need to get the first two questions correct to qualify for the fast money round.

There will be a hint for question #3.

#3: Who is the only player with 9 WSOP wins?

HINT: He won the very first main event.
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ANSWERS: 1-Phil Hellmuth Jr.; 2-Johnny Chan & Doyle Brunson; 3-Johnny Moss. You need at least 3 out of 4 to continue.