As more and more casinos proliferate across the United States, some of the old stalwarts are looking for ways to keep themselves at the top of their region when it comes to poker prestige and casino profits … and the famed Foxwoods Resort Casino in Connecticut has hired semi-accomplished poker pro and ESPN analyst Bernard Lee as their new representative.

Beyond being a landmark deal for himself personally, Lee’s partnership with Foxwoods opens up what may or may not become a trend in US brick-and-mortar poker rooms — hiring poker players with brand-worthy recognition to represent them on the tables, in the media, and possibly even at casino business meetings. Who needs an online site when there are fully legal, long-regulated American corporations trying to compete for gambling revenue share?

Pretty nice score for a guy who had one of his worst poker years ever in 2009, going 0-fer in the last WSOP and booking just a single five-figure cash ($13k for a 23rd-place finish in Misssissippi) since the election of Barack Obama.

Click below for the press release Foxwoods has put out announcing their new marriage:

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So many jokes to be made about BJ’s Guide to Women in Anything … but regardless, he hooked his pal @MariaHo up with a little cheat sheet to help her prep for her appearance on CNN (”Breaking into the Boys’ Club”). Click below to read it all — a glimpse at what kinda study goes into appearing on TV news as “yourself”, and a pretty good breakdown of a minority’s influence on the game.

(BTW, semi-related but kinda an aside … Kathy Liebert, arguably the most successful on-the-tables female in history … is currently in strong chip position at a final table (5 remaining at time of press) in a $2,500 Foxwoods event. While reading the BJ guide, you can follow her ride as we are on Twitter here.)

BJ’s Guide to the History of Women in Poker

By BJ Nemeth

HOW MANY WOMEN PLAY

1.  In major tournament fields (WSOP, WPT, etc.) women usually comprise about 3% of the field. There are no official stats kept.

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Pokerati prides itself on being able to spot trends in poker … and one we see developing: the games in prison are getting juicy! One guy who might end up put in this game, whether he likes it or not, is 23-year-old Philip Markoff, the Boston University med student accused of picking up purveyors of erotic services off of Craigslist, robbing them, and killing at least one of them.

Police have discovered that Markoff apparently liked to keep their panties as souvenirs … and was playing at least semi-frequently at Foxwoods, and therefore they are looking at tilt gambling debts as a possible motive. Markoff was on his way to Foxwoods (with his fiance – poor girl) when he was arrested.

Beyond that, it’s hard to figure out much about his play … but you know how the non-poker media gets when it comes to doing table math:

When Markoff was arrested Monday, he and his fiancée were headed to Foxwoods, and he was carrying a suitcase with more than $1,000 in cash, a police source told the New York Daily News.

Markoff had recently started frequenting the poker tables at the casino, playing as much as $1,000 a hand, the source said, who added that Markoff won $5,300 last week.

Though one would’t think you’d need a whole suitcase to carry just $1k … the numbers they quote most likely make him a 1/2 player, possibly 2/5. That, of course, assumes he’s playing no-limit and not limit … but c’mon, listen to the descriptions of how he liked to prey on the weak and dominate … sounds like no-limit to me.

UPDATE: More of his gambling details here.

Markoff also was active in College Republicans … so clearly not good for the GOP either.

Shamus pointed out in a comment below that poker’s favorite academic, Charles Nesson, of the Global Poker Strategic Thinking Society, may well be the Dr. Timothy Leary of Poker. Hmm … so to see what this Harvard Law professor is really all about, I did a Google search for “charles nesson” MINUS poker and found:

Wow. So obviously he is a total wackjob visionary genius little kooky not afraid to speak his well-reasoned mind. Over at Ivygate they call him “the William Shatner of Academia” … and tag his post with “batshit crazy.” The Center for Cognitive Liberty and Ethics says he’s “one of the country’s leading authorities on evidence law and a maverick in encouraging his law students to go beyond status quo legal thinking, to challenge authority, and to fearlessly innovate.”

But perhaps the most telling assessment of this poker “champion” (not to be confused with, um, a poker champion) comes from a commenter on his youtube vid:

Lumping Charlie Nesson in with the “douchebags” shows how grossly uninformed you are. Have you seen him on Stephen Colbert arguing for including poker in public school curricula? Making chemical companies pay through their nose for polluting people’s drinking water? Openly admitting that he smokes weed before teaching class?

He is a giant among men; you are the douchebag.

Earlier today in Mashantucket, Connecticut, a fire broke out on the roof of the Grand Cedar Hotel at the Foxwoods Resort Casino. The entire 312-room hotel was evacuated, along with the attached casino, and no one was injured.

The Associated Press is reporting that the fire started in a mechanical equipment room near the roof.

This occurs less than a week from the Monte Carlo roof fire.

Conspiracy theory, anyone?