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There is speculation that ace swimmer Michael Phelps may soon become a brand ambassador for UB.com and the reason for this speculation is that Phelps has started figuring a lot in Phil Hellmuth’s Tweets. Hellmuth even has a special name for Phelps, which is MP3. The Tweets do not directly state anything about Phelps joining UB.com. They are about sundry things like Phelps signing a swimming cap for Hellmuth’s deceased sister, Miss USA contestants walking into Phelps, Phelps beating Hellmuth at golf and Phelps being a gentleman and warrior.

Hellmuth wooing Phelps is nothing new. The same scenario was played out in 2008 after Phelps landed in the US of A with a bagful of gold medals. Among the things Hellmuth then said was “… he’s a 14 time Gold Medal winner. I’m an 11 time gold bracelet winner! Marry me, Michael!” At that time Hellmuth was having competition from Doyle Brunson. Brunson was seen escorting Phelps to all the Vegas hot spots and it was even rumored that Brunson had introduced Phelps to his special girl friends, but Phelps did not bite. With his own girl friend like Caroline Pal why would he. Phelps even took Caroline to meet his parents but the wedding bells are silent so far.

UB.com and Michel Phelps would make a perfect pair. UB.com likes brand ambassadors who are always in the news and Phelps likes to be in the news, even if it is for the wrong reasons. Soon after his record breaking stint at the Beijing Olympics he was caught smoking marijuana through a bong. Daniel Negreanu, who has strong views on everything, surprisingly said that Phelps smoking pot was no big deal.

Whether Phelps does join UB.com remains to be seen, but what is signed, sealed and delivered is Blanca Game’s purchase of the Cereus Poker network. Cereus Poker includes UB.com and Absolute Poker. It is surprising that such a scandal ridden network finds buyer after buyer, but undoubtedly Tokwiro must have been glad to get rid of it. Stuart Gordon, the CEO of Blanca games, said that the target market for him is players in their 20s and 30s and this is where Phelps comes in perhaps.

Two female brand ambassadors associated with the online poker room UB.com have been in the news this week. Both are completely different from each other, have different roles to play and have been in the news for completely different reasons.

Trishelle Cannatella is the poker babe face of UB.com. Known as a “hot tub three-way specialist” it is her role to bring the punters to the UB tables. This is what she is doing in UB.com’s Online Poker Championship Series, which guarantees over $4 million in prizes. On Tuesday she hosted several events, which had about 500 players each. They were vying for a share of the prize pool but were also there to “hang and chat” with the vivacious Trishelle. UB player Discomonky will never forget the evening because he succeeded in knocking out Trishelle, something he could only do at the poker table, and winning the bounty. Players at UB.com will be missing their poker babe for a few days because she has decided to spend time with the seals in an Alaskan cruise. But in her last post before signing off she said, “Hope to see everyone playing the UBOC million dollar championship on Sunday.”

The other UB woman in the news is Annie Duke, who represents the professional face of the poker room. Her spat with Daniel Negreanu, in which he called her a f****** c***, seems to be splitting the poker world into two groups. Negreanu is the brand ambassador of rival poker room PokerStars. When some women players at PokerStars spoke against Negreanu, the poker room stood up for their ambassador. Katja of the support team responded to the protests by stating that there is bound to be some friction between outspoken poker players. The response went on to say, “Although Daniel Negreanu is a Team PokerStars Pro, he is an entity to himself and as such will always be encouraged to express his views and speak his mind as he would otherwise do so, PokerStars Pro or not.”

Annie was not amused. Her response to the matter earlier had been a dignified one, but she really let fly at PokerStars in an open letter. She pointed out that the words “f****** c****” were not a view or an opinion but an “abusive epithet”. The least that PokerStars was expected to do was distance themselves from Daniel Negreanu’s remarks. She also drove home the point that a Nike sponsored NFL footballer would have been thrown out by both Nike and NFL for using such language at a female reporter.

Daniel Negreanu, known as “The Kid”, has always had strong views and has never shied of expressing them. Some time back he referred to some poker players as cheaters. But he has never, till now, crossed the limits of propriety in addressing his fellow poker professionals no matter how much he hates them. In an interview to Poker Player Negreanu hurled a childish invective at Annie Duke that can give a new meaning to his being called The Kid.

The issue was the perennially hot topic of women’s only poker. Negreanu was commenting on the Ladies Event in WSOP 2010 in which men like Shaun Deeb were allowed to participate. He pointed out that he found men using tampons as card protectors and dressing up as women very irksome. Negreanu had a very unusual reason for the continued existence of ladies only event. He said, “…I’m thinking, there are 1,000 women who love to play poker with each other, and don’t want to have to deal with guys burping, farting and using tampon card protectors and stuff like that.”

And it was then that he took on Annie Duke. Annie has always been a strong proponent of the abolition of ladies only events in poker. And she has called herself the best female poker player in the world. This contradiction upset Negreanu. He pointed out that if Annie was against gender discrimination when it came to separate events for women she should not be calling herself the best female poker player in the world. The innuendo was clear – the only way Annie could be best was when she was compared to other women poker players only. It was at this point that Negreanu went into the abusive mode. He said, “So I’m like ‘how offensive are you, you f***ing c***? You want to say you’re speaking for women, yet you claim superiority over all of them.”

Annie’s response was most restrained and dignified, but nothing else could be expected from her. Replying to a fan’s Tweet she said, “Thank you for the support. I was certainly shocked at the language myself. I welcome criticism but not abuse.” But Jenny Woo the aggressive correspondent at Gambling 911 was never the one to take shit from men lying down. She said, “Calling a female that word is the lowest any male can go. When people start calling others those types of names, they completely discredit themselves. Daniel owes Annie Duke an apology for those remarks, irrespective of the other criticism lodged against her.”

In April 2010 the process of selecting appropriate women associated with poker for the Women in Poker Hall of Fame (WiPHOF) had begun. The selection is over and three women will be inducted into this august group on September 3 in a glittering ceremony at the Golden Nugget Casino in Las Vegas.

The first of the inductees is being given the honor posthumously. She is Billie Brown and would perhaps be unknown to today’s poker generation. Her profile at the WiPHOF web site states that Billie pioneered the marketing of tournament poker in Las Vegas during the 1980s. The guaranteed prize pool concept was invented by her. Billie also created the California State Ladies Poker Championship.

The second inductee is Kathy Liebert. Kathy is a well know figure in poker circles but would not exactly fit into the poker babe mold. With a haul of over $5.7 million in tournament earnings, she has won more money playing tournament poker than any other woman in history. Add to this one WSOP bracelet, one WPT win, seven WPT final tables and the distinction of being the first woman ever to win $1 million in a single poker tournament and you have the perfect recipe for a WiPHOF inductee.

The third inductee, Jennifer Harman, is an out and out poker babe. Her poker achievements are many. They include two WSOP bracelets, three WPT final tables and $2.6 million to her credit. She is among the few women poker professionals who participate regularly in the biggest live high-stakes mixed cash games in Las Vegas, and win. But what endear her to the poker loving public are her antics as a poker babe. Jennifer recently flashed a very attractive cleavage in order to get voted into the WSOP Tournament of Champions. She not only was voted in but did not disappoint her fans by cashing in this prestigious event.

Though a regular at Twitter, there has been no reaction to this stupendous news so far from Jennifer. Her latest message on August 3 said, “Hanging out in Italy with my husband @marcopoker. A lot of beach time.” She deserves the privacy and the rest. The kudos can wait till she is back all rejuvenated and tanned.

It was not too long ago that the professional poker player Phil “The Unibomber” Laak broke the world record for endurance poker. His endurance skills will now come into play again because he was just involved in a major accident. The Unabomber had to be hospitalized with lacerations to his right eye and broken bones.

It happened on the way to a camping trip in Oregon last week. Laak and some friends that included poker colleagues David Wells, Brian Rast, Antonio Esfandiari and Alec Torelli were riding All Terrain Vehicles (ATVs). Esfandiari, who accompanied Laak to hospital, explained what happened. Incidentally Esfandiari has been involved in plenty of outdoor action searching for a Poker Playboy for Victory Poker. Esfandiari said, “We went over a sand dune, but there was a drop hidden behind it. It could have happened to either of us, honestly. Phil tried to jump off in mid-air, but he ended up landing on his bike. His elbow is broken and his wrist is all jacked up. His eye is also really messed up. Had it been one millimeter off, he’d probably be blind.”

Thanks to Twitter, Laak was able to keep giving his fans an update on his situation. Immediately after the accident on August 5 he Tweeted, “Atv accident, massive arm injury and lacerations to eye in oregon. Life is good.” Later he was able to see the better side of the accident because he told his fans that though he will have to be stitched up things could have been worse for him and he is really lucky to be in one piece. In the hospital Laak joked with the police and paramedics who were around. Fortunately the stay in the hospital was a short one and Laak was able to go home on August 7 for rest and relaxation in the arms of his girl friend poker babe Jennifer Tilly. He messaged on Twitter, “Jennifer is the best. Cuddling w her is better for the pain then even my perkocet pain medicine.”

Fortunately Esfandiari was not hurt because he has no Jennifer like girl friend waiting at home. In fact he due to play in a Poker After Dark event featuring five other bachelor poker professionals along with him. The episode is being billed as Lonesome Shark Week.