Calling the Clock: Pammie, Paur and Promotional Porn

Calling the Clock: Pammie, Paur and Promotional Porn

Lee Davy airs his views on a week in poker that saw the World Poker Tour live up to its name, Pamela Anderson claiming that her husband Rick Salomon was one of the biggest winners of 2014, and PokerStars hiring an ambassador that will certainly divide opinion.

I don’t confess to know much about Japan.

I know they get a lot of earthquakes, they didn’t fuck about with their prisoners of war, and they have a really cool flag.

Calling the Clock: Pammie, Paur and Promotional PornSo when PokerStars announced they had signed Japanese model Yuiko Matsukawa, as their new brand ambassador, I had to turn to Google to learn more. What did she model? Overcoats? Umbrellas? Japanese gadgetry?

It seems Yuiko Matsukawa models school uniforms.

Only you wouldn’t want your daughter following her lead.

And how old is she anyway?

Is she old enough to promote a poker site?

She barely looks 16.

This move angers me. It goes against my values. Then I am hit by the reality of the business that I am in. This is the poker industry. It isn’t Whole Foods. Yes, we send aid to Vanuatu – like PokerStars did this week – and according to Mike Sexton, we are the number one sport/game when it comes to giving money to charity. But Whole Foods we aren’t. There’s nothing very conscious going on in our industry when we are signing deals with a drink that increases your risk of heart disease (Stars signed a deal with Red Bull this week), or young girls who like to partake in schoolgirl porn shoots.

Girls, Girls, Girls

“See them walking hand in hand across the bridge at midnight, heads turning as the lights flashing out it’s so bright.”

It seems poker likes ‘Girls on Film’ as much as I do (the song of course). Three people have been fortunate enough to earn a few extra bucks by signing a deal with a poker brand this week. I use the word fortunate because sponsored pro contracts are like rocking horse shit these days.

We have already talked about the rather risqué signing of the young lady who likes to suck on corn whilst spending a day at the seaside. But two other females did good this week.

PokerStars signed the Russian online player, and former video game professional, Liliya ‘Liay5’ Novikova, as a member of Russia’s Team Online, and the Southern Hemisphere poker tour organizer Poker SA snapped up 888 Poker’s Jackie Glazier to represent them as brand ambassador.

Did Rick Salomon Get it Quietly?

The femme fatale angle doesn’t stop there.

In a recent home game I asked one of the new players if he had a girlfriend.

“Pam.” He replied.

“Pam who?” Thinking I may know her.

“Palm of my hand.” Came the rip-roaring response.

Rick Salomon doesn’t have to settle for a tommy tank. He has the real thing in the form of the 1990s wet dream of many, Pamela Anderson. Well, he did…that’s kind of falling apart at the seams. The pair has been married, and divorced, more times than Elizabeth Taylor, and their most recent split is getting downright dirty.

Salomon called Anderson a ‘slut’.

Anderson said that Salomon tried to smother her with a pillow during sex.

Salomon said that Anderson ‘once ate fish.’

Anderson said that Salomon once won $40m playing poker against Andy Beal and she wants half of it.

As you can tell, he isn’t winning the war of words.

If Salomon did win $40m from Beal, talk about getting it quietly. Although, considering that Salomon was the star of the Paris Hilton porn flick: One Night in Paris (was he really in?), I’m not sure that, ‘getting it quietly’ is really his style.

If Anderson’s assertion were correct, then Salomon would be the most successful poker player of 2014.

That would be second best behind Dan Bilzerian.

Alex Dreyfus, get them in your rankings.

Brayden Fritzhall Wins the Sunday Million $9m Special…But How Much Did he Win?

It was a day that every poker player had in their calendar.

I am, of course, talking about the 9th Anniversary Sunday Million special. PokerStars guaranteed $9m in prize money with a million for first. I put it in my diary. It fell smack, bang in the middle of my wife’s only stay in my home in between flights from Vienna to California. I’m sure she did it on purpose. I felt like smothering her with a pillow and making her eat fish, but she refused to take off her school uniform and get into bed.

50,432 people didn’t have my problem, and the $9m guarantee was easily beaten, giving us a solid chance that the 10th anniversary will promise $10m in prizes.

The winner was Brayden “BRAYDEN93’ Fritzhall, but he might have a story to tell that’s more tilting than Pammie telling the world that Rick Salomon has won $40m playing poker and is trying not to pay his taxes.

I heard on Marvin’s grapevine, that Fritzhall only had 10% of his own action in the $215 buy-in event. He won $600,000, and so $60,000 is still a good night’s work…but…where’s the bucket…there it goes.

The final seven players split the dough with the Greek player kelly_koulis taking the lion share of that with $725,267.

And the wheels of the online poker bus keep on turning. Head to Full Tilt to take place in FTOPS XXXXVVVVIIIIIXXXXVVVVIIIIII or PokerStars for MicroMillions 10. The latter is more attuned to my pay packet.

The World Poker Tour Getting Jiggy Wit It

The World Poker Tour (WPT) has dominated the news this week, and there wasn’t a kinky schoolgirl in sight. Two deals were announced that would give them added exposure in the European market, and three more WPT Champions Club members were etched into the biggest trophy in the world.

WPT and Tilt Events announced plans to hold three events in Italy. Two of them will take place in Venice, and the third will take place in San Remo. All three of them will be National Events. It’s the first time that the WPT will host an event in San Remo.

In another first the WPT will be heading to Amsterdam. Potheads will be happy as Larry as they become the first member of the Big Three to host a gig in European’s version of Sin City.  The WPT Amsterdam Main Event will begin 11 May, and they will return to Valkenburg in Sep for a National Series Event.

The deal is exclusive and lasts for four years.

Last week, Mike Sexton accused the WSOP of devaluing the WSOP bracelet due to the sheer number of events that they now host. This week the WPT crowned three new champions, and nearly had back-to-back champions for the second time in less than a fortnight. Come on Mike. I love you man. But get a grip.

Konstantinos Nanos made it a great week for Greek poker. We have already talked about the PokerStars Sunday Million special donating most of that $10m to the Greek economy; Nanos and Sotirios Koutoupas also added to that this week. Former EPT Champion Koutoupas finished sixth at WPT Vienna, and Nanos won the lot.

WPT Champions Club member, Thomas Bichon, made that Viennese final table, but was unable to win a second title after finishing in third. The Frenchman wasn’t the only player with the chance to win two titles this week. Taylor Paur and Ravi Mathis Sundar also got that opportunity.

The first time the pair clashed was at the final table of the WPT Bay 101 Shooting Star event. Paur eliminating Sundar in sixth place before going on to win the tournament outright for $1.2m. Then the pair butted heads again. This time it was the final table of WPT Rolling Thunder and Sundar eliminated Paur, in third, on his way to winning the $266,857 first prize.

Time, Ladies and Gentlemen.

Someone has just called the clock.