So here you go, for people who lovingly care and those who simply might be searching for pictures of Phil Laak shirtless (freaks):

We also happened to learn recently that hospital visits can make for good twittering … a great way to provide friends and family with status updates while sharing what ultimately is like travel. (Think about it … new people in a strange institution, where they have their own language and food … how is that not culture?)

Follow Phil Laak’s hospital tweets here, and later be sure to check out his blog for what he might have to share in >140.

In the meantime, get well Phil, and be sure to let us know if there’s anything we can do to help. Really, anything. Specifically … we’d be more than happy to look after your lovely girlfriend in what has to be a vulnerable difficult time for her.

Tebben defeats McNamara for 1k NL bracelet

The $1,000 No-Limit Holdem final table just concluded with Jeffrey Tebben defeating JD McNamara in heads-up play, winning his first WSOP bracelet. Tebben also earned $503,389, while McNamara earns $310,248. Full results and Nolan Dalla’s tournament report will appear later at wsop.com.

Six remain in 2500 NL 6-max

The official final table has been established for the $2,500 No-Limit Holdem 6-max final table, returning from dinner break shortly. Joe Baldwin will start as the leader with 2,812,000 in chips. Follow the updates at wsop.com.

Maxwell looking to hammer Stud 8 final table

The final table of the $1,500 Stud Hi/Lo 8 or Better final table has also been finalized. Maxwell Troy remains the leader with 755,000 in chips. Notables at the final table include David Levi (565,000), Karina Jett (450,000), and Allen Bari (170,000). Action will resume shortly, follow the split-pot action over at PokerNews.

Cloutier closing in at 2500 PLO

The $2,500 Pot-Limit Omaha field has made the money with 50 players remaining. Bryce Yockey is the current chip leader with 293,000, followed by T.J. Cloutier (232,000), Chau Giang (225,000), Michael Greco (150,000), Joe Serock (114,000) and Adam Junglen (95,000). Play is scheduled for six more levels or a final table is reached, whatever comes first, updates available at wsop.com.

More updates on page 2:

Morris moving up at 10k limit holdem

About 50 players remain in the $10,000 Limit Holdem World Championship with players just returning from their dinner break. Simon Morris currently holds the chip lead with 262,000, among the notables trying to run him down: David Chiu (225,000), Brock Parker (170,000), Mark Newhouse (165,000), Bill Chen (115,000), and Michael Mizrachi (107,000). Catch the raising and re-raising at PokerNews.

Channing chopping up the field in 1500 NL M

A field of 2,394 took seats at the $1,500 No-Limit Holdem event, with less than 700 players returning from dinner break. 243 players make the money, with the winner pocketing a cool $581,851. The reported chip leader is British pro Neil Channing with 55,000. Other notables: Phil Hellmuth (25,000), Jennifer Tilly (19,000) and Nikolay Evdakov (15,000). Updates and chip counts can be found at wsop.com.

HORSE draws a crowded house

The seventh WSOP bracelet event got underway at 5pm with the $1,500 HORSE event drawing a field of 828. The final 80 players make the money, with the winner taking down $257,134. An early chip leader hasn’t been established, but you can see who breaks out of the pack with updates and chip counts at PokerNews.

Names already announced for the cash game include Phil Laak, Jennifer Tilly, Isaac Haxton, Luke “Full Flush” Schwartz, Neil Channing with several other players to be announced over the next few days. Previous “Big Game” broadcasts filmed by Matchroom Sport have been 25-50 NL holdem, with the possibility of the blinds increasing during the session. The final product will first air on Channel Five in the UK, and eventually appear on networks around the world.

Here’s a promo previewing last year’s “Big Game” broadcast, picture this action in a much nicer location:

Pokerati, as you may or may not know, is up for a Bluff Magazine Readers Choice Award — “Top Poker Blog of 2009″. Yippee. And The Poker Beat is a nominee for “Best Poker Podcast”. It’s always nice to see hard work yield some semblance of results. Tao of Poker+Wicked Chops+Poker News Daily=whatever. Other people are up for other things, too. Hey, really, they all deserve it.

Cast your ballot(s) semi-intelligently here.

If you need help making a decision, here’s Jennifer Tilly with some strong advice:

This was a $500 buy-in event (with $200 rebuys, an auction, and silent auction to boot) … and in the end turned out to be an arguably successful second-annual event — raising more than $58k for the One Step Closer Foundation while bettering its inaugural bar of $44k. Some 91 players competed for an $18,500 prize pool — including yours truly, who was in on a freeroll, but couldn’t resist making a tax-deductible, charitable donation to keep playing at a fun table with a PPA friend, Dennis Phillips, a CP-suffering beneficiary, and Ken Davitian (the fat naked guy from Borat) … especially with Davitian and another actor (whom I recognized but couldn’t name) being the weakest players yet having the biggest stacks as the rebuy period was coming to a close.

Alas, QQ sometimes is < AK just minutes before the break. I shook off the tilt by wandering around with a (shaky) camera to give you a glimpse of All In for CP and the Las Vegas rounders who seem to continuously show up and spur donations via fun-times feelgood poker when called upon:

Notes:

* Darvin Moon is hardly in hiding — and will likely be taking more rides on “big airplanes” to Las Vegas and elsewhere.

* Dennis Phillips continues to love being the non-victorious November Nine Santa Claus — he re-bought 24 times.

* Event hostess Jennifer Tilly knows her poker newsy websites.

* Mekhi Pfeiffer wins.

* Lacey Jones and Joe Stapleton.

It has a $550 buy-in (with $200 rebuys through the first hour). Early RSVPs include the likes of Doyle Brunson and the usual crew of high-stakes Las Vegas charity-circuit rounders, along with Phil Laak, Sam Simon, Jennifer Tilly, and others. Here’s a video invitation from Tilly, with more details about the tournament itself.

This event is put on by everybody’s favorite omnipresent scooter-rider at the WSOP, Jacob Zalewski, and raises money for his One Step Closer Foundation’s fight to make life easier for Cerebral Palsey sufferers like Terrance, featured in the video below:

The current chip leader is Samer Rahman with 325,000 in chips. Other notables: Greg Mueller (223,000), Andy Black (164,000), Tom Schneider (140,000), Vitaly Lunkin (120,500), Jimmy Fricke (105,000), Joe Sebok (94,000), Sam Farha (70,000) and Amarillo Slim (48,000). More chip counts and updates can be found at www.wsop.com here.

Doyle Brunson proved he (or his people) had connections when he first recruited Pamela Anderson to rep for Doyles Room. That was before Doyles Room left the U.S. market and came back complete with Doyles Casino. Since the return, there have been numerous C-list and B-list celebrities lined up for his celebrity bounty tournaments, like Nicky Hilton and Jamie-Lynn Sigler. But this week, the Godfather of Poker has outdone himself. Not only does he have Eve (rapper, sometime-actress, and big deal for hip-hop fans like me) set up as one of his bounties, but he has Mickey Rourke. That Mickey Rourke who just won a Golden Globe for best actor in The Wrestler and was nominated for the Oscar. They will all be participating in this Thursday’s $25K Celebrity Bounty Tournament at Doyles Room.

Doyle wrote about his friendship with Rourke in his blog:

Twelve years ago, through a mutual friend, I met the talented actor Mickey Rourke. His life story should be made into a film because nobody has ever had more ups and downs than Mickey over the past 20 years.

Mickey was one of the hot new movie stars after his hit 9 1/2 weeks with Kim Basinger. Then, because of some personal problems, he walked away from acting to pursue a boxing career.

He boxed from 1991-1995, proving he was indeed a rebel who marched to the beat of his own drummer. Mickey then returned to his first love, acting, and with the completion of his new 2008 film, The Wrestler, he got rave reviews and won every award except the Academy Award. Mickey, who is genuinely a nice guy, decided to try poker. He remembered me, gave me a call and agreed to be one of the bounties in DoylesRoom’s weekly bounty tournament. So come play with Mickey this Thursday at 9:30 eastern in Doyle’s Bounty tournament.

On the other hand, poker doesn’t always mix well with “celebrity,” as Jose Canseco’s accountant can attest to. According to the Los Angeles Times, he dissed the Golden League in 2006 and the subsequent marketing contract he had with them in order to play poker in Reno and attend a party at the Playboy Mansion. Whoops. And for reneging on that contract, he now has to pay $258,750 for his addictions ego choices.

photo: pokergossip

William Hung was the first “celebrity” I noticed, as he arrived as soon as the red carpet was ready for action. And the poor guy was the only one from the red carpet featured by Perez Hilton today, and not featured in a particularly good way.

Food was excellent as usual, with a random assortment of Asian and Greek set-ups, along with the yum-yum appetizers floating around the room on waiters’ trays.

No DJ in the outdoor area like last year’s event, but it actually made for a more conversation-friendly atmosphere on the patio.

Wicked Chops scored seats in the tournament. I spent way too much time trying to figure out how that happened.

photo: pokergossip

Reports of the demise of the Phil Laak/Jennifer Tilly relationship were evidently untrue, as the two looked typically couple-y as usual – Jennifer in a beautiful outfit, Phil in saggy jeans and a hoodie.

Some celebrities on the “confirmed” list were no-shows, such as Camryn Manheim, Montel Williams, and Nelly. (Yes, I was more than disappointed about one of those absences!)

CORRECTION: Manheim was there, and Jen was still disappointed. -DM

Shannon Elizabeth and Derek Hough are still a couple and just as adorable as ever, with Shannon checking on Derek and his amateur poker experiences throughout the evening.

Contrary to all reports from the tournament, Antonio Esfandiari was not the first person eliminated from the tournament, as Mike “SirWatts” Watson (former WPT champion) was out of the tournament and standing with us at the bar when that announcement was made. Ouch.

New to my social radar were Mike Watson and Shane Schleger, both of whom were introduced to me by Gavin Griffin and Kristin Roberts and very nice to chat with.

Also met Jamie Gold for the first time, who was extremely friendly and psyched about his Aced Poker affiliation, though my question about his possible ownership in the company was met with the standard “details of the contract cannot be disclosed” line. Good brief chat anyway. (His calling card gives him the title “Poker Philanthropist.”)

Mekhi Phifer took the reigns during the rebuy period, grabbing the mic and encouraging players to rebuy (or even just donate) to his charity, The Vine Group, to help educational efforts in Africa. He was a great spokesperson for the organization and raised $78,270 for it, while managing to maintain his usual humble but outrageously sexy demeanor.

A couple pics coming in over the transom from the Empire Casino in London:

click to enlarge

And here’s the cozy 25-table joint where it’s all shaking down:

Righteous kill indeed!

50? Really? Awesome. Wow.

From the always clickworthy good folks at RawVegas.TV

The $500 buy-in tournament (with $100 rebuys for the first 90 minutes) looks to have some famous names in the field, like Ben Affleck, Matt Damon, Mekhi Phifer, Montel Williams, Jennifer Tilly, and Norm MacDonald. It is open to the public. The only poker pro officially on board is Jamie Gold, but it is likely that others will attend, as they often do when charity events are held in the L.A. area.

A silent auction will accompany the festivities, where memorabilia will be up for bid, as well as prize packages donated by Ray Romano and Brad Garrett.

I have family (with two kids) in town this weekend, so I will not be able to attend, but my hope is that others in L.A. will go enjoy a day with the celebs for a good cause. (And if you see Mekhi there, take photos please.) For more info, visit the official website.

Seriously, I sometimes find it hard to believe she even talks to me, let alone hugs/accepts me as a MySpace friend.

Seriously, weird no?

Benjo filling the Outerscope 1 with petrol.

Phil Laak and Jennifer Tilly arriving for the $1,500 Pot Limit Hold’em event.

Check out how their red-carpet vid of a Bluff Magazine pre-WSOP kickoff party at Tao (the nightclub, not “of Poker“) gets a better interview about poker and the fun side of poker lifestyles than anything you see shot in the Amazon room hallways, and even probably what will end up on ESPN:

In this vid not only will guys like Ed get to see a boppity, cleavacious Jennifer Tilly talk about how and why poker players talk about quitting but don’t really mean it, but also they get to hear about Phil Laak’s freak-of-naturely impressive sperm count and how that may or may not lead to strategy-based pillow talk with a cougar.

I’ll also be interested in following RV’s WSOP video blogs from Patrik Antonius, David Williams, Phil Hellmuth, and Daniel Negreanu. These sorts of things have been tried before with moderate success (Negreanu’s were always good), and now that there’s one place where you can find a handful of them regularly with a little party-hearty mixed in — in high-quality video that always seems to work — how could this channel not become Must-See Internet for any serious poker geek following the World Series every summer? [via Wicked Chops]

The 64-player field competing for $500,000 (on a $20k buy-in) this weekend has been set (up) — with pairings drawn last night at a kick-off party at Pure.

Click here to see the full bracket and make your picks. (This bracket-maker is kinda new to me, so not sure whether or not you can see my predictions here.)

Some of the more interesting pairings to me:

Tom Schneider vs. Gavin Smith
Clonie Gowen vs. Jennifer Tilly
Sammy Farha vs. Doyle Brunson
Hooman Nikzad vs. Greg Raymer
Chris Ferguson vs. John Juanda
Chris Moneymaker vs. Jerry Yang
Jean Robert Bellande vs. Sam Grizzle

Today’s action is going to be exciting. Seriously. Phil Ivey is the chip leader right now, though Blair Hinkle (who?) is a close second. Phil Hellmuth is third in chips, with Nam Le not far behind. On the lower end of the chip counts are Jennifer Tilly, Theo Tran, Quinn Do, and my personal fav David Singer. Any of these players have the capability of chipping up or doubling up quickly to get back into contention.

Note to the poker gods: Please, please make this a great final table! One unrecognizable guy is acceptable, but please give us some seasoned and well-deserving pros! *End of plea.*

Here are the official chip counts and seating assignments, courtesy of WPT Live Updates:

TABLE 1
1. Nam Le – 1,254,000
2. Theo Tran – 410,000
3. Mike “SirWatts” Watson – 987,000
4. Charles Moore – 921,000
5. Quinn Do – 285,000
6. Wei Kai Chang – 751,000
7. Jennifer Tilly – 417,000
8. Brian Taylor – 228,000
9. Yury Parad – 214,000

TABLE 2
1. Phil Ivey – 1,543,000
2. Mike Carson – 1,049,000
3. Pete de Best – 291,000
4. Matt Brady – 497,000
5. Jeff Schwimmer – 413,000
6. David Singer – 285,000
7. Scott Montgomery – 386,000
8. Phil Hellmuth – 1,399,000
9. Blair Hinkle – 1,541,000

UPDATE: Singer was eliminated in 18th place. Boo!

UPDATE: Tilly finished in 12th place for $61,610, courtesy of Phil Hellmuth. (Sorry, Ed!)

Sadly, however, Antonio Esfandiari seemed to be on a bad run this evening, then took a hit from Kyle Burnside, and just got eliminated. He’s had a great week with the announcement of his partnership with WPT, but a shot at a second WPT LAPC title would have been icing on the cake. It wasn’t meant to be, but there’s the NBC Heads-Up in a few days, along with the WPT Invitational next weekend. Momentum could take him far if he lets it.

Click below for some semi-gossip-y notes:

Mark Newhouse (eliminated today) is meeting with a lawyer this week to discuss a lawsuit against Dustin “Neverwin” Woolf. Newhouse first discussed his problems on his Wise Hand Poker blog, and it seems that the problems have never been resolved. When I asked him if I should keep the lawsuit information private, he responded, “I don’t give a shit. Tell everybody.” Ummm, ok.

Isabelle Mercier was sporting a blond hair color at the LAPC. I’m not sure if it’s her color, but it’s her head of hair.

Carlos Mortensen was sporting a hot chick on his arm during the LAPC. The divorce has long been done, so why not?

David Benyamine looks markedly thinner. Maybe fiancee Erica Schoenberg teaches him health and exercise while he teaches her poker? She had several cashes at the LAPC, including a second-place finish in the ladies event. I’ve always thought they were a good couple.

Jean-Robert Bellande had a Bodog patch on his shirt and was telling folks that he was sponsored by Bodog. Justin Bonomo also had a Bodog patch. Still trying to find out if Bodog was doing some one-time sponsorship deals or if these are permanent – no press releases from Bodog yet.

Bellande also played WPT video hostess Kimberly Lansing in a heads-up match. The winner will get to choose an outfit for the other to wear at Bay 101 for an interview on camera. Bellande won. Shocking.