Remember those crazy pants worn by the Norwegian curling team at the 2010 Winter Olympics? They were designed by Loudmouth Golf, a company whose intention was to liven up golf-wear … when a few Norwegians saw them and thought they might also work wonders on the often too-stoic ice. (Norway went on to win silver in Vancouver.)

Now the makers of “The First Argyle Pants for Men in the World!” are expanding into poker, looking to brighten a game where a typical player’s fashion proclivities lean toward drab hoodies, dark ball caps, and Vitamin D deficiencies. Representing the new Loudmouth Poker … none other than Team Pokerati captain Tom Schneider, who will be wearing his new 97 percent cotton, 3 percent spandex duds during the WSOP.

The occasional WSOP star joins Loudmouth’s team of representatives, which includes golfer John Daly, professional long driver Bobby Wilson, rock legend Alice Cooper, and NFL Super Bowl QB Jim McMahon.

“Loudmouth has been looking at a variety of expansion directions such as skiing, skating, tennis, kids, etc.,” says Larry Jackson, CEO of Loudmouth Golf. “With the opportunity to connect with poker players and fans through our Loudmouth friend Tom Schneider at the WSOP, we all saw the opportunity immediately. The WSOP and poker in general is filled with a variety of interesting characters and that is fertile ground for Loudmouth.”

It’s generally good to see new, non-poker entities getting into poker, especially when they’re snazzing up, not scuzzing up the WSOP. Where would we be, after all, without Jack Link’s Beef Jerky, Milwaukee’s Best Light, Mr. Peanut, or Levitra in our world?

Before and After: Loudmouth pants may spruce up Tom’s WSOP wardrobe, but will they spruce up his game?

Says Schneider of his newly sponsored style: “I’ve always dreamed of being a fashion model since I was a little girl. Now, thanks to Loudmouth, that dream has been realized. I just hope I can win a few more bracelets to go with my pants so I can serve as an inspiration to non-descript 50-year-old suburban men everywhere.”

Ha ha, nice, Tom. And while we like to give the 2007 WSOP Player of the Year a little guff for being the best player whose game no one respects as much as he does … at least now with his Loudmouth pants on, the DonkeyBomber can lay claim to being the Norwegian Curling Team of Poker.

This shoulda gone up about two-and-a-half months ago … but hey, we were busy with the November Nine and Tiger Woods was busy banging every chick in Vegas who ever said “call me!” … not to mention posing for photoshopped covers of Golf Digest with advice for Barack Obama. No wonder he didn’t have time to be smoking pot with Michael Phelps …

Still, before golf officially decided to go the degen route — or perhaps in preparation for it? — Golf Magazine ran a feature in their November issue about Phil Hellmuth, Layne Flack, Erick Lindgren, and Gavin Smith hitting the Las Vegas links, apparently foreshadowing the concept of risking big-big bucks on every hole:

Golf Magazine feature on High Stakes Poker Players Golfing

Tee times, to be more specific …

I didn’t plan on it, but at the moment I’m following a Las Vegas golf match between @barrygreenstein and @RealKidPoker. Pathetic, I know … surely there’s something better to stare at on this here wall. But I’m semi-intrigued … first, by how they’re golfing and how they’re betting it; and 2 — think how funny these two guys must look twittering down the fairways. It’s extra funny on twitter, too, because Greenstein’s avatar is him in a Robin Hood costume.

Strange new world?

Negreanu says he’s playing the best 9 he has in months.

Clearly not that closely related.

Hmm, all this time I thought …

Padraig Harrington, brother not-the-brother of poker-great Dan Harrington, won the British Open yesterday at Royal Birkdale in Scotland. Congrats, distant-cousin (several times removed) to poker! That’s two-in-a-row at the British Open for Harrington — making him the first European to repeat in more than 100 years. Wow.

Meanwhile, a lot of people have finally read and are talking about the more pokery Harrington’s new(ish) back-to-back cash game books. Supposedly they’re great — that’s what everynone’s saying. I’m starting to wonder if one of the reasons I’m doing so poorly in golf tournaments these days isn’t because I’m one of the few players who hasn’t read his Iliad on tournament play yet.

Evidently, there is a televised golf game today. I know this because the TV screen that typically shows chip counts was just showing golf. Not only that, but there was a massive crowd gathered around the screen. More people were watching golf than gathered to watch the NBA Lakers/Celtic game the other night.

Suddenly, out of nowhere, cheers erupted throughout the Amazon Room. Evidently, Tiger Woods made a putt. And though half of the crowd dissipated after the big whoop-tee-doo, many stayed behind to watch the replay of the ball inching toward the hole and sinking. One of the tournament directors even came over the loudspeaker to announce that Tiger advanced to the next round of something-or-other.

I knew golf was popular – and gaining popularity with poker players – but this was an interesting scene to watch.

Here are some pictures snapped at the WSOG, by yours truly in between rounds at the tasty complimentary buffet organizers had set up inside. Mmmm, ribs.

[flickr album=72157605136451317 num=11]

So the WSOG has been a really cool event … it grew this year from 60 players to 80 players, probably only 30 of whom were poker players. I hope it continues to grow to the point that poker has only a minor connection to it … because when they can get the Charles Barkleys and Michael Jordans competing in it, then I gotta think it would be a huge TVmajig. (Currently it will be airing on CBS as a time-buy, paid for primarily by Full Tilt.)

Here’s an article about the WSOG in USA Today. What I find most fascinating are the comments it has gotten — comments not by staunchly pro- or anti-poker people … but by run-o-the-mill Americans who have a slight interest in reading a not-so-prominent article about a quirky variant of golf. They give a lot of insight into the challenges that poker faces in the future (on TV and otherwise):

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Part of my master plan for covering the 2008 WSOP has already gone awry …

Last year, you could make a $1,000 charitable donation for access to a VIP Players lounge across the hall from the Amazon Room. Inside was a pool table, putting green (where Phil Ivey $5,000 putts became a semi-regular occurrence) and food catered by Del Frisco’s. Oh, and free booze, too, I think. Yum. So this year, Pauly and I were gonna pony up the G. After all, we spend nearly a thousand bucks on food being at the Rio for 6+ weeks anyhow, so why not do it in a feel-good, tax-deductible way that would provide extra-comfortable seating, superior meals, and super-premium access to top players shooting the poker and non-poker shizznit … off-the-cuff but plausibly on-the-record while the rest of the media is locked down in the media kennel being fed terrible $8 hamburgers and occasional free sandwiches that lose their flavor after about Day 2.

Alas …

Informed sources tell us plans for the 2008 “V-VIP lounge” are still being finalized, but based on feedback from last year’s VIPs (those who got in before lounge access was sold out) that it wasn’t as exclusive a getaway as they had hoped for, this year the price of admission will be a $7,500 contribution to the Nevada Cancer Institute. Supposedly the whole experience will be much more high-end. Not sure yet about what that entails, but the big-dollar pros can at least be confident that it won’t include a couple of bloggers sitting with them drunk and shirtless begging for autographs.

Charles in Fort Worth writes in wanting to know how to donk off his bankroll without chasing straights and flushes:

Hi Dan,

I have an idea for a sports bet and since you are my connection to the world of gambling I thought you could give me some help on who and how to place it.

I want to place a $500 bet on Tiger Woods breaking the record for the most majors won. He currently has 13 and needs 6 more to break the record. I want to bet $500 on him breaking the record within the next 8 and 10 majors. Who could I contact to get the odds and place the bet with. Please let me know what you can find out or where I can go to make the bet. Thanks

GoodChuck

More…

New episode of Beyond the Table is up.

Click here to listen.

On this week’s episode:

• The Arizona State Poker Championship
• Fake Karridy interviewing Fake Doyle Brunson
• Tom goes to Wyoming to golf with drunken naked old men
• Other poker pros opt for Doyle Brunson & Dewey Tomko High Stakes Golf
• Dan comes to Phoenix for intense poker training
• Dan loses his bankroll
• The grow-your-money:lose-your-money time ratio in poker
• Going almost-broke with Brad Booth, Brian Townsend, et al.
• Bankroll management: How to avoid losing $3 million
• Fake Karridy interviewing Fake Brian Townsend
• The Education of a Poker Player: Plunge the Toilet
• Public pooping etiquette and mad plunging skills
• The problem with satisfying your sexual desires at the poker table

Again, obviously, if you haven’t already … click here to audio it up. Or here to get your podcast on and keep it that way.

And as always, feel free to call 888-820-8091 — or email — to let us know what you think of the show, the people on it, and our topics for expostulation. There’s even talk of an “Oops I Won too Much Money” hat for someone.

For now, here’s a picture of Tom in a bathrobe:

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LAS VEGAS–You guys are on your own today. I’m off to play in the monthly “Tournament of Champions” at Binion’s.

Yesterday’s $1,500 No Limit event had some RECORD ATTENDANCE — with 3,151 runners.

ERICK LINDGREN was not one of them … after winning his $340k golf bet:

All the other official tournament coverage for today here. I think somebody’s gonna win.

OK, gotta bolt … and play my historic-venue freeroll ass off.

LAS VEGAS–Pauly has a great breakdown of Erick Lindgren’s $340,000 prop bet against Phil Ivey and others on the golf course. Bold not only because of the amount, but because it was against Ivey, who has done a nice job earning a reputation as quite the golf-time hustler. And Pauly himself had $2,700 riding on the outcome:

Just sitting at home doing a little blog-piddling — you know, because I’ve got a million important things to do — and I’ve got Day 4 coverage of The Colonial golf tournament on in the background. One of the ads — for tourism in Michigan — struck me as rather similar to a Full Tilt ad. Watch below and see for yourself …

Golf

Poker

Both are pretty good, no? Perhaps they were made by the same company? Either way, I gotta think one was inspired by the other — and it’s pretty cool if the golf biz (and a state intertwined with it) sees a similarity between the duffers and donkeys one might want to reach.

UPDATE: Oooh, try watching them at the same time — audio on and everything. Fun!

I spent the last few days playing in the new World Series of Golf, and did I have fun? Hell yes. Each player buys in for $10,000. On the first hole each player antes $100. After each player hits their first shot, there is a round of no-limit betting. Each player can call raise or fold. Then, the players that did not fold hit their next shots and there is a new round of betting. Antes double every 3 holes. When someone accumulates all of the chips, they win. There are a few other minor rules, but they’re not important for this post. Let me first start by saying that this event was a pleasant surprise at every corner. No expense was spared in the treatment of the players, the quality of the parties and food (free beer, they must have called mom), the marketing materials and the media exposure — you’ll get to see some of it next month on NBC, and more of it on the Golf Channel.

I played in a foursome on the first day and went to hole 18 before I beat out Pat Arthur from Texas. He’s one nice guy and an incredible golfer. I then played in a 3-some the next day and went to hole 19 before being eliminated. Before you see it on NBC, June 23rd and 24th, let me say it now very loudly and clearly, I AM THE BIGGEST CHOKER ON THE PLANET. There, now when you guys say it, it won’t hurt so badly.

Why will people want to watch non-pro golfers? They are betting huge sums of money and then having to perform in a sport in which they have never been under this kind of pressure. You will be surprised at how well people rise to the occasion and low they will go into the depths of failure. I experienced both. I had a couple of very important shots, and all I could think about is, “How do you play golf? Why did I eat pizza for breakfast? Wait a minute I didn’t eat pizza. I like Phoenix, it’s fun there, but dry. Dan sure is gay at times. Karridy has a sexy voice. I guess I should swing now that my thoughts are clear.” Trying to be politically correct, I am a mental short person. Funny, I think it’s more offensive that way than saying I’m a mental midget. Oh well, here comes the worst shot I’ve ever hit in my life.

My prediction is that this will be a major event every year and that the WSOG will have $10,000 checks falling out of the sky from people wanting to play in this event. It was really that cool.