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Any list of the sexiest poker players is always welcome, and if the list is of the sexiest poker babes then the delight is even greater. Bleacher Report has just released a list of the 25 hottest female poker players of 2012. The list took four months in the making because the competition was tough and the choices were difficult. Many of the women on that list feature regularly in the columns of Fuzion Poker. Here is a look at some of them.

Clonie Gowen is number 25 on the list. Clonie has been in the poker world for more than 30 years but is still as fresh as a daisy. Unfortunately she was the last in the news in 2011 when a federal Appeals court accepted her plea against the owners of full tilt poker. Today the owners are in big trouble for a different reason, but Clonie and her lawsuit have disappeared from the news. Hopefully she will make a comeback now that this list is out.

Tiffany Michelle is number 22 on the list. Over the years Tiffany has worn many different hats. Apart from being a poker player, she has been a tournament hostess, brand ambassador for an online poker site and a participant in a television reality show. She has often shared the Fuzion Poker columns with close friend Maria Ho.

Evelyn Ng is number 18 on the list. Evelyn is smoking hot, loves to watch sports and movies, plays X box and is a good poker player. She should have been much higher up on the list, but this prerogative lies with the makers of the list.

Lacey Jones is number 14 on the list. Poker Barbie, as she has been nicknamed by her colleagues, is one of the most daring poker babes around. The photographs of her in nothing but strips of paint (see picture) still do the rounds of online poker forums. Lacey got married almost a year back and has been missing from action since then.

Tatjana Pasalic is number 12 on the list. She has a definite connection with poker being the brand ambassador of Bodog. She has written poker columns for Playboy and hosted poker tournaments. But Tatjana is most known for her legs crossing impersonation of Sharon Stone.

Readers please keep your eyes peeled on this column for the next installment of the sexiest poker babes.

Her contract had expired but female poker professional Jay Tan and Bodog Poker were made for each other. Jay therefore renegotiated and will continue with Team Bodog till the end of the year. She said, “Becoming a sponsored player has always been a dream and to do so well in my first year was an unexpected bonus. I feel very at home with Bodog and look forward to carrying on where I left off.” The money details of the transaction are not known.

Bodog Network President, Jonas Odman explained how Jay fits into the online poker room’s plans. The first thing he said was the she was a natural in front of the camera. This is hardly surprising because all Bodog brand ambassadors have been great models. Evelyn Ng, Amanda Musumeci and Tatjana Pasalic come immediately to mind. Odman was quick to add that Jay is a natural at the felts as well. She finished 7^th at the Aussie Millions Main Event and took home $157,745. However, the real story is that Bodog is pushing for the Asian online poker market. Odman claimed that they have the only Network made in Asia with the emerging Asian player in mind.

Jay has a Masters Degree in business and was pursuing a banking career with Goldman Sachs in Hong Kong, when she watched poker on a late night TV show and fell in love with the game. She could not get rid of the craving for poker so she got rid of her job. Hong Kong is regarded as one of the biggest untapped online poker markets in the world. Jay elucidated, “It’s still growing but people are starting to get really passionate about poker in Hong Kong.” But when Jay wants to play at the tables she has to take a ferry to Macau, where poker is booming. Her biggest win prior to the Aussie Millions Main Event was a 5^th place finish in a Macau Poker Cup event for $40k.

The present Team Bodog consists of Tatjana Pasalic and Jay Tan, probably the sexiest duo of female players. Move over Tiffany Michele and Mario Ho.

The final of the 2013 NBC Heads Up was fought between two of the biggest braggarts in the industry – Mike “The Mouth” Matusow and Phil “Poker Brat” Hellmuth. This $20,000 invitational event was played from January 24 to January 26 at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas. It will be aired over six weeks beginning from March.
NBC could not have hoped for a better final, not only because of the telecast value of the two players, but also because it ran to the wire. Matusow won the first match and Hellmuth fought back to level the score. The third match was invoked, which Matusow won quite easily. The clashes before the final were on a single match basis. Matusow exuded confidence right from the start and even had proclaimed on Day 1 that it was “his time”. The heads that he scalped along the way included Michael “The Grinder” Mizrachi, Viktor “Isildur1” Blom, Barry Greenstein, John Hennigan and Scott Seiver. In due course “The Mouth” may brag about his victory over “Poker Brat”, but on the day he was uncharacteristically emotional. In the post match interview he said, “It means a lot to have Phil alongside me. All you hear from the young kids is ‘Mike and Phil used to be good, but they can’t keep up with us kids, with our generation.’ But where are they standing today?” Hopefully this NBC Heads Up win will bring forth a resurgent Matusow. The Mouth was a member of the old Team Full Tilt, and was taken aback by the accusations leveled against the online poker room. He has been playing less poker since then.
Matusow has taken home $750,000, while Hellmuth has increased his considerable tournament earnings by another $300,000. The losing semi finalists received $100,000 each. The losing quarter finalists won $50,000. Players who cashed with $25,000 included Antonio Esfandiari, Vanessa Rousso, Barry Greenstein, Phil Ivey and Tom Dwan. Some of the big names who went home empty handed were Doyle Brunson, Shaun Deeb, Jonathan Duhamel, Jason Mercier, Michael Mizrachi, Chris Moneymaker, Daniel Negreanu. They also included poker babes Liv Boeree, Jennifer Harman, Maria Ho and Jennifer Tilly.

Poker pro Daniel Negreanu, aka Kid Poker, will appear in the sixth season of the Bravo reality series “Millionaire Matchmaker” in which Patti Stanger runs the Beverly Hills Millionaire’s Club to assist wealthy men looking for partners. Negreanu is perfect for the show. Having won over $16 million only in live tournament earnings definitely qualifies as a millionaire and the 38-year-old divorcee is the most eligible bachelor in the poker industry. Giving a hint of what was to come, Negreanu had Tweeted in November, “Watching Millionaire Matchmaker and thinking how embarrassing but fun it would be to do that show! The 2 drink rule would be broken for sure.”
Negreanu’s episode of Millionaire Matchmaker is appropriately entitled “Trying to Play the Cards Right”. Very little is known of what actually happens on the show, but Patti sends the poker player to a psychic to help him find his soul mate. In a video promo Negreanu says that he has had bad experiences with astrologers in the past. But he seems to be okay with the one on this reality show. Perhaps the astrologer has figured out Kid Poker’s penchant for Asian women and sets him in that direction. Negreanu has had an off-and-on relationship over the years with fellow poker babe Evelyn Ng. This will not be Negreanu’s debut in front of the camera, even if one discounts the self shot video blogs that he posts with regular frequency. Negreanu has starred in the movies Lucky You, The Grand and X-Men Origins: Wolverine as well as the Katy Perry music video Waking Up in Vegas.
Negreanu will not be the first poker pro to star in Millionaire Matchmaker. That honor goes to poker babe Beth Shak. Beth starred in the third season of the show soon after her divorce from Dan Shak. Beth’s standing in the poker world is nowhere close to that of Negreanu. But Negreanu’s pet hate Annie Duke can easily claim equal standing. Annie performed commendably well in another reality show – Celebrity Apprentice. Negreanu will definitely want to draw more mileage than Annie. Season 6 kicks off on January 10. Details about Negreanu’s episode are not yet known.

The poker babe Maria Ho has a list of achievements as a first or the best of her gender in the world of poker. She has added another one by being the first woman to join the Heartland Poker Tour (HPT) broadcast team. The ninth season of HPT has been announced with Maria replacing Chris Hanson. She will join Fred Bevill behind the desk to analyze each final table of the tour.
Maria was thrilled at being given this assignment and was looking forward for the work to begin. She said. “As a player, I am flattered they are welcoming my poker expertise. As a woman, I am grateful to HPT for being the first poker show to offer a strategist position to a female.” Ho has been on television before, though as a participant on The Amazing Race along with good friend Tiffany Michele. Maria said that broadcast journalism was an area she had considered before becoming a poker professional. On why she would be adept at this new avatar, Maria explained, “I have a good idea what the general poker viewing audience wants. I can bridge that gap between people who are recreational players looking to get better and the poker professional that wants to watch programming that has a little more substance to it.”
HPT Director of Operations Jen Mastrud was all praise for Maria. He said, “There is no better candidate than Maria. As a winning player she has a lot to offer in her analysis. Other poker shows have hired women to appear on camera, but never as a resident expert of the game.” Clearly Maria will be more than a poker babe on the show. Bevill, with whom Maria will be working said that she has a presence on camera. Maria will get the respect of the TV audience and add some glamour to the show.
In one of the events in WSOP 2011 Maria took home $540,020, which was the largest prize won by a woman in any WSOP event ever. The hen party to celebrate this event was equally awesome. She has been the last woman standing in the WSOP 2007 Maim Event and in the WSOPE 2011 Main Event. All this everybody knows. Maria said, “Most people don’t know I graduated from UC San Diego with a degree in Communications.”