More intense than Hold’em and crazier than Badugi, Cowboy Poker requires balls, tenacity and… bulls.

Featured at Rodeos across North America, Cowboy Poker is pretty beautiful in its simplicity: a few cowboys (see: totall bad asses) sit in some chairs around a poker table. A bull is then released down the chute to charge at the table. Last player sitting wins. And, yeah, the bull seems to hate their flush draws more than a red cape.

This past weekend at the Canadian Finals Rodeo in Edmonton, Will Evans took down his third straight Cowboy Poker title and $500 in the process.

In truly awesome Canadian form, Evans compared the bull’s force to being about:

“tens times harder than a real hard bodycheck in hockey.”

I suppose that was approximated, but still. Holy @&$*.

The next time I sit down to an ‘intense’ SnG or cash game, I’ll think of Will Evans and realize onlinePLAYahh82930 isn’t nearly as intimidating as a bull.

For years, poker players only appeared on TV if it was related to the actual game of poker.  However, we’ve recently begun seeing poker players appear in a lot of mainstream television shows and movies.  Daniel Negreanu appearing in the movie “X-Men Origins: Wolverine”, Annie Duke being one of the finalist on “The Apprentice”, and Tiffany Michelle and Maria Ho appearing on the hit CBS reality series “Amazing Race” are just a couple of the latest examples.  Popular poker pro Erik Seidel added his name to the list this week.

Seidel made his mainstream television debut on the HBO comedy “Curb Your Enthusiasm” which revolves around the fictional life of Seinfeld producer Larry David.  The episode that Seidel appeared in was entitled “Officer Krupke”, and Erik is prominently featured in a shot where Larry and his onscreen wife Cheryl Hines are talking at a restaurant about a Seinfeld reunion.

Many have wondered how/why Seidel was on Curb Your Enthusiasm.  The 8-time WSOP gold bracelet winner explained that he is a huge fan of the show, and had been looking for a way to appear on it.  So basically, being able to appear on Curb Your Enthusiasm was a dream for Seidel since he is such a big fan of the show.

It has also been rumored that another poker pro might be making an appearance on a HBO show.  Daniel Negreanu will appear in an episode of the hit show “Entourage” along with fellow poker player/actor Ben Affleck.  Aside from his role as a poker player in X-Men Origins: Wolverine, Negreanu also recently appeared in the “Body Issue” of ESPN: The Magazine.  Being on HBO’s “Entourage”, which is a drama based on the fictional life of a movie star and his friends, would only further cement Negreanu’s mainstream status.

According to many sources, GSN dumped Benza because they were looking to bring in an attractive female co-hostess.  At the time, rumors were swirling that poker pro Vanessa Rousso was the first choice by the network to fill Benza’s shoes.  Eventually, GSN would state that Rousso was not going to host HSP so former World Poker Tour hostess Shana Hiatt become another name thrown into the mix.

However, we now know that Hiatt won’t be the hostess either since it has been reported that poker pro Kara Scott will become the new commentator on High Stakes Poker.  Scott is one of the rising female professional players since she has earned $453,000 of her $500,000 career winnings in the last years and she’s also finished within the top 250 players in the last two WSOP Main Events.  In addition to her playing exploits, Scott has also done broadcasting work for the European Poker Tour and Poker Night Live.

The only thing that is standing in the way of Kara Scott being officially announced as the new HSP hostess is that she needs to obtain a permit which would allow her to work in the United States.  Without this permit, it would be illegal for Scott to work as the new HSP hostess according to US laws.  But it’s almost a given that Kara Scott will be able to get this permit since GSN is counting on it.

No one in the game has the face, resume and likeability of the Texas Dolly himself. Winner of 10 WSOP bracelets, a Hall of Famer, and an ambassador for the game, I’m sure there was no issue with finding enough content to fill the 372 pages.

Godfather of Poker winds its way through Brunson’s beginnings in poker – far before it was covered by media outlets, legitimized and revered – when games were found in backrooms and were notoriously ‘wild west’. Through his career, Brunson was privy to shocking changes in how the game was perceived and played.

The only constant in poker has been Brunson.

The book’s forward was written by Mike Cochran and features backing from Sexton, Caro and many others in the industry.  Published by Cardoza, you can find this book for $26.95 USD.

If you didn’t make the final table, and I’m assuming you didn’t, there’s no need to feel left out.

You can still make cash on the final table with a little bit of online wagering. Put your money where your picks are and look at the futures list for the winner of the 2009 WSOP Main Event.

These are futures wagers, where you’re picking the winner. It’s not a horse race, so you can’t just bet to show. Pick the first place horse poker player.

Got a pick? Hit the comments to let me know.

WSOP 1st Place Finish**:

• Darvin Moon +200
• Eric Buchman +300
• Steven Begleiter +500
• Jeff Shulman +500
• Joe Cada +900
• Phil Ivey +325
• Kevin Schaffel +900
• Antonie Saout +1200
• James Akenhead +1200

It looks like a lot of the public money is pouring in on Ivey, so that’s why the profitability is so low on a guy that’s 7th in chips. Sure he’s good, but his name is even better.

When looking at value, I like Shulman at +500. His family’s been hot lately, and this could be a winning wager. But what do I know?

** For those of you who don’t know, this is how the wagering works: Think of these numbers as being based on $100 Wagers. For example, if you bet $100 on Joe Cada to win, you’d win $900; $100 on Ivey to win it all, $325 in winnings.

Walken is on a British show called Friday Night with Jonathan Ross and absolutely kills the delivery.

Enough talking, here’s the Christopher Walken Poker Face Video:

The bubble has burst for Tiffany Michelle and Maria Ho in the Amazing Race. The girls were eliminated in The Netherlands, cutting the field of competitors down to 5 teams.

Ho and Michelle were eliminated when they failed to make it through a series of Dutch challenges that involved a strength testing carnival game (72 unsuccessful attempts for the girls while most teams did it in 1) and a par-8 version of clog golfing.

At the end of the competition, the girls didn’t finish that leg of the race and were eliminated by host, Phil Keoghan.

Ho and Michelle started this leg of the race in 2nd place, but had these ominous words to say before it began:

“Second place is awesome, but we’ve learned from poker that it’s really easy to get comfortable and get involved in pots that you shouldn’t.”

Foreshadowing! I guess that clog-golf was a pot that the girls should have stayed away from.

With the girls eliminated, I’ll probably stop posting about The Amazing Race, but I will continue watching it… only for the Globetrotters. Those guys are awesome.

Unfortunately for these two, their time on the Amazing Race came to an end after the latest episode.  The episode started with the contestants traveling to Amsterdam where Ho and Michelle took second place in the first leg.  But the pair struggled as the race went on and fell back to fifth place as teams raced to a statue.

After getting their next clue, Tiffany Michelle and Maria Ho played a carnival game called High Striker where they attempted to ring a bell by hitting a mallet.  The two failed to hit the bell after 30 attempts and then went on to a golf challenge.  The golf game also proved to be too much for Ho and Michelle since weather conditions were bad and the golf ball was oversized.

So both contestants went back to High Striker where they again spent numerous attempts trying to ring the bell.  72 unsuccessful tries later, Michelle and Ho decided to go back to the golf course and try to complete each of the 3 holes in 8 strokes or fewer.  Due to the cold wind, and their fatigue from all of the attempts at High Striker, Tiffany Michelle and Maria Ho could not complete the challenge.  They were eventually greeted by the show’s host Phil Keoghan who informed them that their run on the show was over.  Following their elimination, Michelle and Ho ended up taking 6th place out of 12 teams overall.

The article, which landed Ivey on the ESPN the Magazine cover, focuses on a trip with him around the world during the filming of the E:60 segment.  Written by Chad Millman, this feature article discusses how big of a star the 7-time WSOP bracelet winner has become.  From hanging out with Jay-Z backstage at concerts to playing golf with Michael Jordan, it is apparent that Ivey fits in well with the A-list celebrities.

The article also discusses how difficult it is for Ivey to keep his personal life private these days too.  Ivey has long been known as someone who enjoys his privacy, but the celebrity status he has gained is making this preference a lot more difficult to maintain.  Reporters and other media players now hound Phil a lot more when he is out and about.

Ivey did admit that he is enjoying parts of his celebrity status, but he is much more focused on winning the WSOP Main Event above all.  Ivey currently sits in 7th place in the final table chip count and is looking to make some big moves when Main Event play resumes on November 7th.

After escaping Cambodia with their lives (due to the lost passports of that week’s winners – who were knocked out), Tiffany and Maria were in last place again en route to the deserts of Dubai… and the indoor skihill of Dubai.

Relying on another team’s meltdown one more time (and totalling a car in the desert after mixing up drive and reverse) they lived to play another day. As far as I’m concerned, they’ve got one, maybe two, weeks left in this whole thing. Sam and Dan (the gay brothers) will be battling it out with T & M stay out of last.

As you can probably tell, I’m a little bit down on this team. The season in general is a little bit bland aside from the Globetrotters. Flight Time and Big Easy are clearly my faves.

I’m taking even money right now on the girls getting bounced in the next episode. Any takers?