Click to enlarge: Melanie Iglesias has her panties in a wad over something related to her break-up with the WPT.

Undercleavage: This stylish lingerie not available at K-mart offers a new way to look at Lacey Jones’ right boob.

Pot-committed: Survivorist Jim Rice found a more legal way to earn a living than online poker by selling weed.

Tenacious P: Jack Black is still kinda sorta into poker.

Baller beware: No TV show ever came of an idea about bar-bill wars between Kobe Bryant and Antonio Esfandiari.

A little poker gossip because sometimes in serious times we like the petty …

Melanie Iglesias vs. WPT (and QuadJacks?)
The guys at Quadjacks have called it “Flushgate” — and reportedly have received quite a bit of wrath from non-poker types over “the abrupt resignation of three Royal Flush girls” — 2010 Maxim Hometown Hottie winner and now MTV personality Melanie Iglesias, Michelle Banzer, and brand spankin’ new RF girl Mica Javier, who had only been on the job for a few weeks. The purging all went down last month right around the time of press announcements for the World Poker Tour’s new Season X … ooh, juicy! You could almost be certain somebody was gonna cry, if not more formally cry foul.

Catpacking in AC
We can only imagine how cut-throat that world can be — where looks absolutely are tied in with your success. Call us old-school here at Pokerati, Melanie is great and all, but she’s still no Lacey Jones, who recently did a lingerie photoshoot with power-model Katerina Van Derham. Meanwhile, here’s a new video featuring Lacey and Maria Ho helping Christina Lindley pick out a dress for her birthday party at the Borgata in Atlantic City this weekend … and New Jersey celeb-hunter Michael Berman interviews this threesome, being dubbed “the Cat Pack” here for the kickoff of WPT Borgata, where there may or may not be openings for three new Royal Flush Girls.

Auction Player?
Speaking of old school, Phil Hellmuth appeared last week on the A&E show Storage Wars — advising a group about strategy in their game of swag auctions, which apparently involves a combination of luck and skill. Not too familiar with that show … when do we get to hear someone say to Phil, “Going, going, gone!?”

Dealer’s Choice: From Poker to Pot
A relatively unknown poker player named Jim Rice is representing poker (whether he likes it or not) and pot on Survivor 23: South Pacific. Supposedly a pal (and business partner?) of Paul Wasicka’s, the 35-year-old from Chicago is now a medical marijuana dispenser in Colorado (woot!). His most recent cashes include a 3rd and a 23rd on the Heartland Poker Tour, this year and in 2008, respectively. And now with online poker more illegal than selling weed (in some US jurisdictions) … makes you wonder if certain poker pros would rather be Jim Rice or Jean-Robert Bellande.

Jack Black Rising or Falling Poker Celebrity?
There’s always new Hollywood celebrities getting in on poker — and hosting a charity tourney is often their first foray into niche hero-status and/or business opportunity around their personal poker addictions. Could Jack Black be the latest? The last-place finisher in the WPT’s 2009 Hollywood home game is hosting a charity tourney next month at the Commerce Casino in California, but otherwise still has much to prove before he becomes the next James Woods, whom you may recall back in 2004-05 kicked off his effort to become the Adam West of Poker.

Vegas Living: Closing Down Blush
The luxe but laid-back “boutique” nightclub Blush, at the Wynn, is closing after a four-year run. Ahhh … I remember this “ultra lounge” as the site of multiple VIP poker parties and the place where upon moving to Vegas I met a guy who explained to me the process of importing women to the US for a life of hooker-dom before having to excuse himself to go sell coke. But perhaps more famously, Blush is the place where Antonio Esfandiari “lost” a game of who’s got bigger ballers to Kobe Bryant — with the NBA star supposedly racking up a $21,000 champagne bill that had celebrity and sports media mocking some poker player being called “the magician” … even though he somehow got Kobe to pay for the last 15 bottles of Cristal.

Meanwhile, @KobeBryant’s Twitter account got suspended last week, and @MagicAntonio’s, who had a surprisingly similar number of followers, did not.

Buy clever/corny poker T-shirts at Les Shoppes du Pokerati.

A few quicklinks, as I clean off my desktop while getting ready for the pseudo-final stage of the 2010 WSOP, which got started pretty much earlier today …

USA Today declares: WSOP is recession-proof.

Also from USA Today: Emmit Smith has an increasing love for poker, sparked by charity efforts backed by Full Tilt.

Timtern’s got a new Top Tweets column in Bluff. The follow-up editorial is what makes it better than most.

@Pokerati got props in Vegas Seven’s own top-tweets column, called Tweets of the Week.

Lacey Jones profiled in Vegas Seven magazine.

Lon McEachern wearing Tom’s Loudmouth jacket, via the WithLeather sports blog.

Do we have to fear the WSOP-Media event becoming the next ladies event? Technically it’s discriminatory and demeaning to media. But for some reason far fewer protested when Michael Craig’s assistant Shauna took his seat to play her first ever poker event.

Meanwhile, while there are plenty of signs of (Lost) Vegas refinding its economic way, the once luxurious Riviera has filed for bankruptcy.

A review of Monday afternoon’s action:

Ivey, Juanda, Lisandro among final ten in 3k HORSE

Ten players remain in the $3,000 HORSE event, with Ryan Hughes (860,000) leading the field on dinner break. Other notables returning include Bill Chen (700,000), John Juanda (670,000), David “Not Bakes” Baker (450,000), Jeff Lisandro (445,000), Chad Brown (395,000) and Phil Ivey (180,000). Play resumes shortly, see who wins a bracelet at PokerNews.

Mahmood v Schmjekal at it again in 10k HU

Match #2 in the $10,000 No-Limit Heads-Up Championship final is underway, Mahmood only needs to win once more while Schmjekal needs to win two straight to earn a bracelet. PokerNews will be there for the long haul, hoping for a swift conclusion.

Frye cooking the field at 1k NL Day 2

Around 150 players remain on day 2 of the $1,000 No-Limit Holdem with Jeff Frye leading the field with 280,000 in chips as they return from dinner break. Other notables: Ryan D’Angelo (175,000), Scott Montgomery (140,000), Leo Margets (122,000) and Svetlana Gromenkova (73,000). See who’s cashed so far and get updates at wsop.com.

Jetten blasts into 10k Pot-Limit Holdem lead

62 players remain during day 2 of the $10,000 Pot-Limit Holdem Championship with Peter Jetten (605,000) holding the lead, with 27 players making the money which will be reached sometime this evening. Other notables: Tom Marchese (318,000), Jason Lester (290,000), Allen Kessler (245,000), Vitaly Lunkin (215,000), Burt Boutin (142,000) and Amnon Filippi (98,000). PokerNews will be go deep into the night providing updates and chip counts for people to track their favorites.

Shootout draws plenty of shooters

The $1,500 No-Limit Holdem Shootout drew a field of 1400 players, with the 140 ten-handed tables playing to a winner for round 1. The 140 winners return Tuesday afternoon, among the winners so far include Michael Binger, Adam Levy, Isabelle Mercier, Bryan Devonshire, Robert Mizrachi, Annette Obrestad, Rob Perelman, Chau Giang, JC Tran and Victor Ramdin. To see who else moves on this evening, check out wsop.com.

Razz draws hundreds to get frustrated

The 5pm tournament on Monday was the $2,500 Razz, which drew a field of 365 entrants starting with 7,500 in chips. Among the early chip leaders: Frank Kassela (14,300), Team Pokerati/Loudmouth Poker pro Tom Schneider (11,200), Dutch Boyd (10,600), and Lacey Jones (8,000). Eight hours of play are on the agenda, and PokerNews will be there to cover the excitement, if it can be found.

Going over the Saturday afternoon excitement at the WSOP:

Boesen leads 1k Ladies’ Championship

Day 2 of the $1,000 NL Holdem Ladies Championship is down to 54 ladies, with newly signed member of Team Pokerati La Sengphet is the current chip leader with 296,000, busting Liv Boeree, who had been third in chips. Other notables in the field: Linda Johnson (104,000), Mimi Tran (67,000) and new Full Tilt pro Lacey Jones (32,000). Among those who’ve already made the money: Jess Welman, Maria Ho Jennifer Cox (Jan Brady in the Brady Bunch movies), and Bryce Daifuku, who has the “honor” of being last man standing. Former Pokerati writer Michele Lewis was knocked out just short of the money. Play will continue for six more levels or the final table is reached, whichever happens first.

“Tex” has Texas-sized lead in $1,500 PLO

2005 WSOP Main Event final tablist John “Tex” Barch leads the $1,500 Pot-Limit Omaha final table with four players remaining. Barch holds 2,025,000 in chips, while Trai Dang (830,000), Nenad Medic (765,000) and Klinghammer Thibaut (315,000) make up the remaining field returning from dinner break shortly.

Pietsch leading Stud final table

Christine Pietsch leads the remaining five players at the $1,500 Seven Card Stud final table with 610,000 in chips. Darren Shebell (471,000), Dan Heimiller (416,000), Owais Ahmed (216,000) and Richard Ashby (86,000) are looking to re-energize themselves on the dinner break in the hopes of overtaking the leader. Sorel Mizzi, who started as the chip leader at the final table, finished in 6th.

Meinders leading limit 6-max as bubble looms

The remaining 47 players in the $2,500 Limit Holdem 6-max event are returning from dinner break shortly, with the money reached with 36 players remaining. Brian Meinders currently holds the lead with 172,000 in chips. Notables looking to cash include: Chris Vitch (109,000), Rafe Furst (94,000), Michael Binger (85,000), Dutch Boyd (75,000) Phil Gordon (70,000), and Justin Bonomo (64,000). David “Bakes” Baker’s win in the 10k NL 2-7 Lowball event last night meant Bonomo won on his prop bets that a Panorama Towers resident would win a bracelet at this year’s WSOP.

Donkament #3 underway

Day 1a of the $1,000 No-Limit Holdem event drew a field of 1,931 this afternoon, with around 600 returning from their 90-minute dinner break. The reported chip leader is Alex Kamberis with 22,000, with notables Alex Jacob (15,000), David Sklansky (10,000) and Tom McEvoy (8,700) among the dinner break survivors. The field will either play ten levels or around 280 players left in today’s field.

10k Omaha 8 or Better Underway

The 5pm tournament today was the $10,000 Omaha Hi/Lo 8 or Better World Championship, which drew a field of 212 entrants. The top 27 make the money, with first place earning over $488,000. The early chip leader is Allen Kessler, taking his 30,000 starting stack to over 46,000 in early action. Among the numerous notables in the field, Scott Clements (41,800), Jennifer Harman (40,000), Mike Sexton (34,500), Matt Savage (33,000) and Tom Schneider, looking stunning in his Loudmouth Poker jacket (20,000). Eight levels await the field this evening.

Follow all the updates during the evening over at PokerNews and www.wsop.com

Last Saturday, according to the Donkdown forum (some images NSFW), Lacey Jones let Brian Micon and Todd Witteles know she is no longer a part of Absolute Poker. Lacey will be appearing as a presenter for Full Til’s Doubles Poker Championship, airing in mid-July on GSN. Further details weren’t available, but I’d think they mention this news on DonkDown’s Cold Call show, airing Wednesday night around 7:30pm PT.

Fugk! I know I shouldn’t bemoan someone else’s success, but I just read about Steve Lipscomb and Lyle Berman’s new venture, an energy company called Voyager Oil & Gas. (Seventh item down.)

Back in November, when I first learned about the WPT’s imminent sale to PartyGaming, I bought up as much WPTE stock as I could, assuming it would blow up, or at least be converted to Party stock in a highly profitable way. Much to my disappointment, when the new shares showed up in my online account, they were for Lipscomb’s new company, Ante4, which had no plans just a bunch of cash. They were trading at less than a dollar a share.

Believing I had seen this repeatedly while chasing penny tech stocks in the late ’90s — almost always these companies available on the cheap gave me hope briefly before descending on an asymptotic curve towards zero — I quickly sold all I had just bought of ANTF and dumped it into PRTY.L. If only someone had told me to hold on to it! Now, just six months later, the new Lipscomb-Berman joint that I got (and got rid of) at 90something cents is trading at $3.44, for a YTD increase of 222 percent.

Why do I think for all the grief I’ve given Steve Lipscomb over the years, he’s sitting in a very happy place right now, laughing … at me?

Seriously, I can’t believe they let people gamble this way on the internet! But it’s just so hard not to with those cute baby ads making it seem like any kid with access to a computer and a credit card can do it!

More…

For those who forgot to tune in Wednesday night for the debut of “Poker 2Nite” onFSN, or it didn’t air in your area, the show featuring Scott Huff, Joe Sebok, Lacey Jones and Dana Workman is now available online. Part 1 is embedded below, followed by parts 2 and 3 on the next page.

More…

That’s not really the point of this video, but hey, when Lacey Jones talks for 15 seconds about the business of getting naked, people listen.*

The Absolute Poker/Zizzazz girl’s latest spokesmodel gig is with Ksino.com (a gambling-themed clothing line by the people who helped set standards for douchebag- club-culture fashion with Caffeine).

The vid gives a little behind-the-scenes peek at her signing the deal, and then follows her as she hits the streets of Manhattan, where she runs across at least one New York City underground player who offers a glimpse of how the games work there. She also explains how above-ground casinos handle the shark-whale relationship, and eventually starts dressing dudes she meets on the streets … which is kinda like undressing them, but not quite. Special appearance by Spongebob Squarepants.

* listening props: @AlCantHang

Bless her heart and fantastically painted ribcage …

via @LaceyJones:

Hey, on a serious side … I carry a couple packets of Zizzazz in my blogger’s backpack … because it tastes good and you just never know!

The Day 1c field has returned from its dinner break a few minutes ago, with two more levels to play today. The difference between this field and the first two Day 1’s is that the field as well as tomorrow’s field will play 5 two-hour levels. When Day 2a commences Tuesday, they’ll also play 5 two-hour levels, while the Day 2b field will play 4 levels. A field of 1,697 were registered today, and there’s a possibility that Monday’s Day 1d field could be sold out. If not, it will certainly be the largest Day 1 field with well about 2,300 already registered.

Notable names already eliminated: Annie Duke, Daniel Negreanu, Evelyn Ng, John Caldwell, Lacey Jones, Chino Rheem, and Jamie Gold. The unofficial leader at this time is Jeff Lisandro, looking for his 4th bracelet this year, leading the field with 132,000 in chips. Other notables with stacks include Hevad Khan (94,000), Joe Hachem (88,000), David Singer (78,000), Justin Bonomo (56,800), Brett “gank” Jungblut (51,000), Scotty Nguyen (49,000), and Dan Harrington (47,500). Other chip counts and live updates can be found at the wsop.com site here.

More updates later this evening from Team Pokerati, and another update from me in the morning recapping who’s left at the end of the night.

As two final tables, four ongoing tournaments, and loads of cash games and satellites raged on at the WSOP in the Rio, many eyes were firmly fixed on TV screens around the rooms as the Penguins beat the Red Wings in a nail-biting Game 7 of the NFL finals. With many a sports bettor looking to win or lose a buy-in or two a friendly wager, there were sighs as well as cheers when the Penguins took it down.

Some of the poker media members took a break to watch the game in the Rio sportsbook, while others of us went to support friend and UB blogger Gene Bromberg as he rooted on his Pittsburgh home team. And just as Mean Gene was in full celebration mode, Bluff Magazine managing editor Lance Bradley whipped through to the sportsbook to let us know he won quite the impressive futures bet placed in February on the Pens.

Condolences to the lovely Lacey Jones, whose Red Wings lost despite her tremendous cupcake distribution effort on behalf of her team. (Lacey makes a mean cupcake!)

Meanwhile, WSOP Commissioner Jeffrey Pollack paid close attention to the game and the Stanley Cup presentation because, well, his half-brother, Gary Bettman, is the Commissioner of the National Hockey League. (Two commissioners in one family? Rigged!) And just after the game, Pollack twittered:

Pittsburgh wins! Time for GBB to present the Stanley Cup — which may make an appearance at the WSOP next week!

Sure, the Stanley Cup will make its way to Las Vegas for the June 18 NHL Awards at the Palms, but will someone tote it across the street to the Rio? Seems like the brothers might discuss it and give the WSOP players a glimpse of hockey’s version of the WSOP gold bracelet.

I had been hearing murmurs … and now we get the word from @LaceyJones herself that the hostess of tomorrow night’s WSOP launch party is back with her former backers at Absolute Poker.

Though I haven’t had a chance to ask her about it yet, it’s a curious move … considering she was a disgruntled former face-person for AP with plenty of reasons to believe they may have been a shady operation even before the cheating scandal emerged. (It was the bogus charity popcorn sale at the 2006 WSOP, I think, that really chapped her hide.)

While I suppose it’s theoretically possible that Lacey is such a degenerate poker addict that returning to her former abusers was the only way to get her tournament fix, might it more so suggest that one of the purest poker hotties has re-evaluated the company and concluded that the new-and-improved operations at Absolute are clean and dandy?

Sometimes, even I’m not sure what makes the category of rap music anymore, but this tune called “All In” is poker-centric and the video features the lovely Lacey Jones. What more could you ask for?

“All In” is done by Pigeon John, The Grouch and Eligh, and seems to err on the side of the rap music category. Good tune, actually, as far as poker-related songs are concerned, and far better than the overplayed Poker Face by Lady Gaga.

The embeddable video should be available soon, but in the meantime, click here to view it.

Highish-stakes pro David Plastik, looking to take down a $330 deep-stack tournament at the Venetian.

The 1st of four Venetian Deep Stack Extravaganzae got underway this week … and sure enough, the chance to play a skill-heavy event (deeper stacks, longer level times) for a low buy-in seems extra appealing (at least value-wise) in the current economic client.

I don’t have too many specifics, but I can say the fields seem to be bigger than last time, or at least are staying in the same ballpark. They definitely haven’t shrunk, relative to the world economy, that’s for sure. At this moment, the Venetian poker room and 30-something extra tables set up on the main casino floor aren’t packed, but they are full. Some familiar faces (on very quick glance) about five levels into today’s $550 NLH include Gobboboy Jimmy Fricke and PokerNews expat John Caldwell.

In a few minutes About an hour ago, the final table from yesterday’s $330 got underway. Bryan Micon from Neverwin was there, along with David Plastik, a couple other solid players, and a couple donks (according to Micon, who has since busted). First place: $28k.

To give you another example of the field sizes the Venetian’s 2009 DSE-1 is drawing, Event #1, on Monday, another $330, saw 447 players and a $129k total prize pool. 36 got paid …

1st – $40,117
2nd – $21,029
3rd – $10,353

Some other familiar faces who have been hanging at the Venetian this week: JJ Liu (she hasn’t missed a day), Kenna James, Susie Isaacs, Daniel Alspach, Adam Schoenfeld, and Lacey Jones. Some bloggers seem to be filtering through here, too … just ran into BWOP, and I hear Grubette is on her way.

UPDATE: Also in the $550 hizzouse — Haley Hintze and Mike Laing. Maybe this sorta turnout is nothing new, but it seems to me these events are being taken much more seriously than previous Deep Stacks.

As we can tell from a flurry of new comments on an old post, apparently the creator of the Poker Bowl, John Nightingale, is up to his old plausibly criminal heretofore legally uncontested shenanigans … as some fantasy sports players are feeling a little ripped off, kinda like cash-finishers in the Poker Bowl did until the Nevada Gaming Commission held the Palms’ feet to the fire and made the host venue pay up.

Supposedly all was going to be rectified and the event resurrected under new management … and then we didn’t hear from them for a while — televised poker is hard. But as Mathers points out, there’s a new video from October showing what a fun, different, crazy-but-still-true-pokery tournament the Poker Bowl really was, or could have been. You get to see Lacey Jones doing her thing, Mark Seif (and a happily drinky Scotty Nguyen) wearing an Absolute Poker uniform, and lots of moaning and dancing. Fun video. No audio though … gee, televised poker is hard … (or at least good televised poker apparently is).

Supposedly we’ll be seeing the PB (again) in 2009. But that was posted in October, right around the time financial realities were becoming uber-clear to potential backers, so … we’ll have to see if the Poker Bowl can live up to its promise. Meanwhile, the original creator of the event seems to have nothing to do with it — he’s busy taking in a few months worth of upper-middle-class living expenses while fantasy sports players screams “rip-off!”

Good times.