Pokerati » Michael Phelps

Shaq vs. Poker

Dan Michalski — Mon, 17 Aug 2009 22:33:22 +0000

Even more semi-pokery TV … Shaquille O’Neal is in town, doing some filming at Planet Hollywood for his new Shaq Vs. program, which debuts tomorrow at 9pm ET/PT on ABC.

The concept is that Shaq takes on the best in the world at their own game(s). He’s got some sort of swimming contest set up with Michael Phelps, a tennis match vs. Serena Williams, boxing vs. Oscar de la Hoya, and he’s been taunting David Beckham on twitter claiming the (once) great soccerer can’t bend one past him in goal.

While the entire show seems to be athletic-based — there’s no challenge to Elton John for some dueling pianos, e.g. — poker seems to have slipped in there. (Props to Disney sibling ESPN?) According to @Phil_Hellmuth, he, Mike Matusow, Chris Ferguson, and Erick Lindgren are on set right now filming an episode that we can only presume is Shaq trying to beat the best at Texas Hold’em.

Not sure about the format, but gotta think Lindgren’s got the edge after all his experience on Face the Ace.

Lady Gaga to Play APT Macau?

Dan Michalski — Tue, 11 Aug 2009 16:08:51 +0000

Lady Gaga has a new tattoo. WTF — no spade, heart, club, or diamond?

Not exactly … but like Michael Phelps, she did get a special invite — as the pop singer will be playing a show at the Galaxy StarWorld Casino at the same time. Personally, I’m gettin’ a little tired of being bluffed by muffins, but that’s neither here nor there when you’ve got a chance to make a cameo appearance in Johnny Chan’s forthcoming Chinese-language “Poker King” movie, right?

From EarthTimes:

Dear Lady Gaga,

“I wanna hold them like they do in texas please, fold’em let em hit me raise it baby stay with me.” We certainly hope so and cannot believe the coincidence that you are playing live in Macau on Saturday 15th August while the Asian Poker Tour Macau Festival is in full swing at the Galaxy Starworld.

Your ‘Fame Ball’ Tour has been a huge hit and we are sure the plaudits in Macau will be the same as in Osaka, Tokyo, Seoul and Manila but imagine the reaction if you showed your poker face at the Asian Poker Tour Macau Festival! Not only will the venue be full of the world’s best poker players, the tournament is also the backdrop to the first ever Chinese language poker movie ‘Poker King,’ which people would go ‘gaga’ for if you took on a cameo role. Forget the wigs, keep the bleached blonde hair and think about the exposure to a huge audience!

You are well known for your dazzling array of outfits and admired for your mix of music and independent attitude. You have gone acoustic and proved you have real talent but the bottom line is nobody has actually seen your poker face! We see you with cards and the glamour in the ‘Poker Face’ video but in fairness we don’t know if you can hold’em.

We undoubtedly are trying to spread the word about poker in Asia, and, despite what some poker purists might argue, you have brought the great game to the attention to millions of new people through your worldwide best selling hit. You have a new tattoo that is the big news at the moment but we finally see your poker face… now that is different, that is serious news! ‘Poker Face’ is not about poker and you cannot play cards? Don’t worry, we have got plenty of people that could teach you!

You are in Macau while the premier poker event in the region is on! The festival runs from the 12th – 23rd with the Main Event getting underway on the 20th. We have a special Celebrity event featuring Hong Kong and Chinese language stars on Tuesday the 18th which you would be more than welcome to attend. We have also openly invited Michael Phelps to come along and are waiting to hear back but in fairness you are in the same city while the event is on so come on, all expenses are on us, just dance!

Congratulations on your nine MTV Video Award nominations but do us and the world a favour, come and see us in Macau and show us your poker face! We would be honored.

Best wishes,

The Asian Poker Tour

The Asian Poker Tour Macau Festival will run from August 12-23, 2009 at the Galaxy StarWorld Hotel and Casino in Macau. The Main Event in 2008 was won by 20-year-old US hotshot Yevgeniy Timoshenko, who scooped US$500,000 after emerging triumphant from the star-studded field that featured players from over 40 countries. The Asian Poker Tour Macau hosts over 20 events with 15 official side events – the first four taking place between the 12th – 16th August featuring guaranteed prize pools. Day 1A of the Main Event kicks off on the 20th August. Full details can be found at http://www.asianpt.com/.

Instapoker: Legal Matters, Malaysian Ladies, and Phelps’ Vices

California Jen — Wed, 13 May 2009 14:56:40 +0000

Been gathering a few gems over the past week…

Lawsuits are so easy and fun. Well, ask Clonie and she might deliver a different response, but that hasn’t stopped the lawyers in other cases from filing some very poker-centric lawsuits.

Gambling Times Inc. has filed suit against Scott Lazar, executive producer of Deal, the almost-embarrassing poker movie that flopped (pun inevitable) in movie theaters in 2008. According to super reputable tabloid TMZ, Gambling Times Inc. was promised prominent product placement in the film, and for the lack of it is suing Lazar for $1 million, about ten times more than what the movie garnered in revenue.

High Stakes News is reporting that Betfair is suing the Dutch government because new laws there have restricted online gambling and the Minister of Justice ordered banks to block payments to sites like Betfair. While this suit may sound like a long shot, the European Union is already going after the Dutch government because of possible breaches of the EU Treaty regarding gambling monopolies.

In Malaysia, when arrested for illegal gambling, just ask for the “senior discount.” Twelve grandmothers arrested for playing Chinese poker in a private location faced fines and imprisonment for their crime of playing cards, that was until the legally unrepresented ladies asked for discounts in their sentences because of senior citizen status. It worked, according to the Malaysian news site The Star, and they paid their fines.

Finally, Michael Phelps never ceases to entertain. Looking to obtain true degenerate status (always strive to be the best!), the Olympic gold medalist has been cavorting with strippers of late. Not only that, but he didn’t treat them well enough to keep quiet about the get-togethers. Evidently, he’s a solid performer in bed but not so much of a romantic or a one-stripper man. Theresa White has gone to the tabloids and started spilling details that include a rather severe chewing tobacco habit and a serious infatuation with online poker.

Well, Michael, you’re always welcome in the poker world. We may clobber you with interview requests if you show up at the WSOP this summer, but we won’t tell your dark secrets. That’s how the poker media rolls, homie.

RE: National Heads-Up Championship Line-up (2)

Dan Michalski — Thu, 26 Feb 2009 21:04:19 +0000

Wicked Chops reports that Michael Phelps was supposed to play, but his anti-bong-smoking handlers won’t let him get anywhere near Vegas or poker-playing, 420-friendly degens.

Festa al Lago UnderwayWith Phelps and Schneider out, there will be no Pokerati patch at the final table

Dan Michalski — Tue, 21 Oct 2008 02:14:46 +0000

Early reports from the $15k main event of WPT Festa al Lago (at Bellagio) … Michael Phelps showed up ~~to play … he’s out~~. And our favorite Donkey Bomber also just got bombed … he got it all-in with Aces only to have his opponent flop quad Queens.

Yikes, when I said “Feel My Pain,” I didn’t mean it so literally.

I’m following the so-so coverage not-so-closely via CardPlayer.com. A lotta pros … looks to be smaller than last year. Big-name pros playing mostly today (Hellmuth, Brunson, Negreanu, G.Smith, et al), probably because they’ve got the big premier of their poker musical (The Real Deal) at the Venetian tomorrow night.

Olympian Michael Phelps Asks to Meet With Doyle BrunsonCan we talk, legend to legend?

California Jen — Mon, 08 Sep 2008 23:45:16 +0000

Michael Phelps made history at the 2008 Beijing Summer Olympics by winning a record eight gold medals. And his comments to the press about wanting to play some poker in the future garnered much attention from the poker community, as in offers from the Asian Poker Tour and Betfair regarding the WSOP Europe. Neither offer was accepted.

It seems that the swimming legend does things on his own terms. Phelps recently traveled to Las Vegas with some friends as guests of the Palms, and one of his wishes was to meet Doyle and Todd Brunson and Hoyt Corkins.

Photo courtesy of DoylesRoom.com

According to the most recent post on Doyle’s blog, he received a call and brought his son and Corkins, along with Jennifer Harman and Marco Traniello, to meet Phelps for a dinner at Nine Steakhouse at the Palms. “What a nice kid!” Doyle wrote. “Phelps and some of his friends wanted books so I took Super System 1 and 2 to them and they asked all kinds of poker questions. Michael said all he wanted to do in life, was to eat, swim and play poker.”

Oh yeah… I can already see Phelps with a Doyle’s Room cowboy hat at the WSOP in 2009. Obviously, no deals have been signed at this point and Phelps has not accepted any invitations to play in tournaments thus far, but I can see an NBC National Heads-Up Championship and World Series in the kid’s future. Just a personal prediction…

Another Poker Offer Extended to Olympic Athlete Michael Phelps

California Jen — Thu, 04 Sep 2008 16:16:10 +0000

Maybe one of these days he will accept an offer.

Swimmer Michael Phelps came off an historic Olympics with eight gold medals. And in one of his numerous post-feat interviews, he mentioned that he might like to play in the World Series of Poker. Suddenly, offers were coming from poker tournament organizers like the Asian Poker Tour. Another offer can be added to the list, courtesy of Betfair, the official sponsor of the World Series of Poker Europe.

Even though Betfair worded it with already-overused terms like “human dolphin” and “shark,” the site offered Phelps the chance to play in the WSOPE later this month, even offering to pay the Â£10,000 buy-in to the main event on his behalf. And then the statement on Betfair ruined it with this: “Phelps will be free to wear his famous LZR swim suit at the table although organizers fear it may not give him the same competitive edge outside of the pool.” No word on any response from Phelps.

(Note to poker tour organizers: Quite possibly, refraining from the use of swimming/poker analogies might get your offer taken more seriously. And it might keep writers like me from making fun of you.)

Olympic Gold Medalist Michael Phelps Might Be Sorry He Mentioned Poker

California Jen — Sun, 24 Aug 2008 18:10:53 +0000

The swimmer who stunned the world by setting a new record with his eight gold medals at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing made a statement in one of his post-amazing-feat interviews. Michael Phelps told the Baltimore Sun, “I think it would be cool to play in the World Series of Poker. My game is a little off right now, so I’ll have to start improving it a little bit. But I think that would be cool, and it would be cool to meet some of those poker guys.”

Oh yeah?

Within days, Poker Shrink reported that Phelps was officially invited to play in the 2009 NBC National Heads-Up Championship. And shortly thereafter, it was the Asian Poker Tour, which is gearing up for its Macau stop scheduled for this week. A representative from the APT wrote an open letter to Phelps, which was posted on 4Flush, with sentences like, “Some have said you are a ‘human dolphin’ but we’re keen to know if history’s greatest swimmer is really a fish. You may have feet that can reach angles others cannot to give you the ultimate swimming technique but just you wait until you’ve got sharks like Vegas poker legend Doyle Brunson chasing you. We’ll see how fast you really are then when they smell blood – get some flippers on those size 14′s!” (Really? Fish and shark references? *Sigh.*)

Most likely, offers from Visa are taking precedence over poker tournaments for Phelps, but it will be interesting to see if he takes anyone up on their offers. My money would be on the NBC Heads-Up Championship, but I imagine the guy just wants to go home and have a beer right about now. If he accepts an offer to play in a poker tournament, it would be absolutely huge for the game…

Re: How Many Olympians Have Played in the WSOP? Michael Phelps seeking seat in the WSOP?

Kevin Mathers — Mon, 18 Aug 2008 19:14:24 +0000

As BJ Nemeth’s earlier entry mentions, there’s been a few Olympians who’ve played at the World Series of Poker. But none of them would top the credentials of Michael Phelps (from the NY Times:)

An avid cards player, Phelps said it would be cool to participate in the World Series of Poker. â€œMy game is a little off right now,â€ he said, â€œso Iâ€™ll have to start improving it a little bit.â€