When poker and non-poker entities collide, it can produce interesting results. Case and point, Jennifer Tilly and Phil Laak – an odd but somehow perfect match.

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.

Poker poker poker poker poker. Is that what you were looking for? Information about poker? So are a lot of people, apparently.

For the third straight year, “poker” was the most-searched term on the ’net, according to the search engine Lycos. Rounding out the top five were “Paris Hilton,” “YouTube,” “Golf,” and “Sarah Palin” (you betcha).

Soon after comes 2003 American Idol runner-up “Clay Aiken” in 7th, by which search one might also find news about 2008 WSOP bracelet winner Phil “OMGClayAiken” Galfond, I suppose. And despite the fact that her online poker site was shut down in late ’06 and her marriage to poker player Rick Solomon was annulled early in ’08, “Pamela Anderson,” somehow remains popular on the intertubes, coming in 9th.

See the rest of Lycos’ top 50 search terms here.

Brace yourselves – celebrities have not been playing poker and talking about it lately. The gossip columns are too busy watching Brittany Spears flirt with life/career/family disaster to focus on who’s been playing poker. Priorities, people!

Speaking of priorities, the writers’ strike is continuing, and many TV show productions have already shut down. Though there are secret talks rumored to be happening, no clear end is in sight. To find out more about the strike, check out United Hollywood. Keep in mind that without the writers, you’ll get more shows like Dancing With the Stars. Think about that.

The biggest news of late has been the elimination of Jean-Robert Bellande from Survivor: China on CBS. He was eliminated in ninth place but wasn’t put on a plane back to U.S. soil right away; he remains on the show as a part of the jury that will ultimately vote to award one person the $1 million prize. In his exit interview, he says he realized that he may have pushed all-in too early, but he was playing to win. (Writer’s note: Now that Jean-Robert is gone, go James!)

For those who watched it, what did you think of Bellande’s play, aside from the random corny poker references?

Some of you may remember Wil Wheaton from Star Trek: The Next Generation – or even further back from the film Stand By Me, but he has also played a role in poker over the past few years – playing and blogging. Aside from still being active in various TV shows and films, he has also self-published a book called “The Happiest Days of Our Lives.” Reviews are good, and the hardcover was just released with 300 autographed copies available. Get ‘em while you can!

In other news, Pamela Anderson and Rick Salomon are still married. We all know it can’t last long, so the tabloids (and me) are awaiting the filing of divorce papers. Yes, that’s an assumption, and I’m a notoriously bad prop bettor, but does anyone really want to challenge me on this?

Those who have HDTV might be familiar with a show that debuted this year on the MOJO network called “I Bet You.” It’s a 30-minute show featuring Antonio Esfandiari and Phil Laak as they travel around the country and bet on everything. Prop betting gone wild, if you will.

This is a clip from one of last season’s shows:

The show has been renewed for a second season that is currently filming and will be ready for air in early 2008. Antonio discusses many of the bets on his blog.

I talked to Antonio recently for an article to be published in the current issue of All In magazine, and he absolutely loves doing the show. “We bet on everything,” he told me. “I would say that on a daily basis, Phil and I make at least three or four bets in the course of our normal lives.”

There are some clips on the network’s website, and if you have HDTV, the show seems worth a TiVo or DVR setting.

On another note, I was also able to get him to confirm that he had no relations with Pamela Anderson, though we now know that it was indeed Rick Salomon that she did to get out of a poker debt fell in love with and married.

Living and working in Los Angeles, just a few miles of nightmarish traffic away from Hollywood, it’s not difficult to keep up with tabloid journalism news of the rich and famous. And as they make poker news, this reporter is right there to help spread rumors and inconsequential news. You’re welcome.

Let’s start with MTV’s Video Music Awards that took place in Las Vegas last weekend. Sure, the important news was Brittany Spears and her, ummm, interesting performance at the show. But I’m here to give you the poker-related info.

Rolling Stone magazine took the opportunity of the celebrity mecca to Vegas to celebrate their 40th anniversary with parties and the obligatory charity poker tournament. Nowhere could it be determined what charity was benefiting from the event, nor what the buy-in was. It was confirmed that there were 15 tables that played out on Saturday, September 8, and some of the participants included Nelly, Kevin Smith, Joe Simpson, Brody Jenner, Cee-Lo, Ryan Cabrera, John Salley, and Vince Neil.

The winner? Rap superstar Nelly. At the WSOP, he played the $10k main event and donked off his chips in less than two hours. At this charity tournament, he outplayed a bunch of celebrities and won the thing. The best news was that he donated all of his prize money to charity.

How did Nelly go from donkey-status to semi-average poker player? Evidently, he’s been dropping in on home games with Phil Laak and Antonio Esfandiari. Homeboy seems to be serious about being a playa.

Other news at the VMA’s included the high school man-to-man fight between Kid Rock and Tommy Lee over Pamela Anderson, going forward to be referred to as Pammie. (Not that she and I are gal pals, but I like men to think so.) While the boys are fighting over her, she claims to be in love with a pro poker player. She refused to name the person to any source, even Ellen DeGeneres, but reportedly told one source that she was down several hundred thousand dollars in a poker game, and the player offered to take care of it in return for, ummm, take a guess. “I paid off a poker debt with sexual favors,” she said, “and fell in love. He took advantage of me… He’s a good guy.” And on the Ellen show, she confirmed that much and concluded with, “It’s so romantic. It’s romance.”

Awww.

The tabloids have put her statements together with some recent sightings of Pammie and Rick Salomon, infamous Paris Hilton sex tape entrepreneur, on a Malibu beach on Labor Day weekend, so rumors are running rampant that Rick is that poker player. Here’s a tip for Pammie and everyone else: Rick Salomon is not a professional poker player. Trust us.

But the Pammie rumor mill is not out of juice yet. According to the Las Vegas Magazine blog site, insiders are saying that Pammie’s new boyfriend is actually poker pro Antonio Esfandiari. Voila! That would be magical, wouldn’t you agree?

Speaking of Antonio, he’s made the tabloids lately with his recent Cristal-off. He was reportedly at the new nightclub Blush at the Wynn on the Vegas Strip, and he and NBA pro Kobe Bryant were each trying to buy more Cristal champagne than the other. Kobe ordered approximately 15 bottles – cheapskate! Not to be outdone, Antonio ended up ordering 26 bottles and spent nearly $35k for one night out. Then he told TMZ about it. Nice hand, sir.