POKER MAGAZINE PUBLISHER HIRES HELLMUTH AS COACH
AFTER SAYING HE’D TOSS WSOP BRACELET INTO THE TRASH

The “November Nine” player who said he would toss the WSOP main event bracelet into the trash if he wins has picked the top bracelet winner of all time to coach him to victory.

What the heck is going on here?

Jeff Shulman, the second most well-known player to make November’s final table (Phil Ivey being the best known, of course), became the first of the final tablists to announce hiring a coach. He chose the man with the most bracelets, his friend Phil Hellmuth.

Shulman, president of Card Player Media and co-publisher of Card Player magazine, said in a story posted today on his firm’s website: “The simplest reason why I’m doing this — I want to win, and I think it will help.” He’s hoping Hellmuth, who has 11 WSOP wins, can correct some flaws in his game, the article said.

All of that sounds fine until you think back a couple of months when he was building his fourth-place chip stack for November’s finale. With his final-table spot locked up, he commented that Harrah’s, which operates the WSOP, has been bad for poker. To punctuate that belief, he said he would throw the main event bracelet in the trash if he won.

Was he just kidding? It sure didn’t sound like it a couple days later when he posted his own bylined article saying this:

“Look, I love poker and entered (the main event) with the hopes of winning. But, more importantly, I support making the industry stronger and better for the players, and to do this, there needs to be some major changes to the way the World Series is run at the highest level. Hopefully, by doing something like this (tossing the bracelet), people will start talking about those changes. I am going to stand by my commitment, but instead of pointlessly throwing it in the trash, I have come up with a few ideas.”

Those (tongue-in-cheek?) alternative ideas:

* Auction off the bracelet and give the money to charity
* Hold a tournament for all players shut out of the main event and award the winner the bracelet
* Give the bracelet away in a SpadeClub.com tournament
* Give the bracelet to Stephen Colbert

We’ll just have to see how all of this shakes out leading up to the Nov. 7 final table. For now, two things seem certain:

1. Shulman — even assuming he believes his threat was justified for the good of the game — will be perceived as the “bad guy” at the table because he disrespected poker’s greatest prize.

2. He’s telling the truth in today’s story when he clarifies what Hellmuth can teach him: “Let’s just say I won’t take lessons from him on how to treat your opponents or how to avoid going on tilt.”

Thank goodness for that.

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Tiffany Michelle and Maria Ho pause their pokering and partying in Reno this past March long enough to pose for a photo with Ol’ LuckyDog.

TIFFANY MICHELLE & MARIA HO TO ‘RACE’ FOR $1 MILLION

Two of poker’s well-known women players — who also happen to be danged easy to look at — will get serious TV time together starting later this month doing something besides playing poker.

Tiffany Michelle and Maria Ho have teamed up to compete in the new season of the “Amazing Race” on CBS. The first episode airs Sept. 27 and the race winners receive a cool $1 million.

Maria hit the poker spotlight by finishing 38th as the last woman standing in the 2007 main event at the World Series against a field of 6,358. That earned her about $200K and a post-game Internet interview on PokerNews.com conducted, coincidentally, by Tiffany.

A year later, Tiffany’s star in the main event burned even brighter. She battled to a 17th-place finish in a main-event starting field of 6,844 — the best showing ever by a woman against a field that large. She won $334K and a ton of publicity.

Tiffany and Maria became best friends during their main-event successes and, based on the fun I saw them having at the World Poker Challenge in Reno this past March, I’m certain they’ll have a blast on “Amazing Race.”

I also know this: I wouldn’t bet against them!

Here’s a news release about the show from Anderson Group Public Relations:

Announced this morning, Tiffany Michelle, ALL-STAR Professional Poker babe, is teaming up with best friend and poker rival, Maria Ho, to compete as the only female pair battling for the one-million dollar first-place prize on this season of CBS’S Emmy award-winning hit show, “Amazing Race,” set to premiere September 27th!

Tiffany, not afraid of challenging men to a healthy competition, made a huge splash in the 2008 World Series of Poker Championship, placing 17th out of a total 6,844 players, the largest field ever conquered by a female in tournament history. In addition to breaking records, Tiffany has turned heads and sparked a buzz in the male-dominated world of poker as a tough competitor and threat to opponents.

Before her success at the poker table, Tiffany was a regular performer and competitor on stage and in television/film roles. At just 10 years old, the rising star fell in love with the theatre, winning her first award as the Lancaster Performing Arts Center’s “Best Young Performer.”

She dazzled audiences from every stage she stepped onto. As a multi-talented performer, Tiffany’s abilities are limitless, from praise-worthy performances in musicals, stage productions, and sketch groups; she continues to awe audiences from the stage performing acoustically as a gifted singer/songwriter.

The seemingly endless list of first-place prizes and awards recognizing Tiffany’s excellence are a direct reflection of her flare for competition, including conquering the world of speech and debate tournaments and beauty pageants.

Tiffany made her professional poker debut in 2005 after polishing her skills while playing Hollywood house games with fellow actors for several years. Known as “Hot Chips” because of her role as the hottest young female in the poker community, Tiffany is putting pretty aside and is ready to battle it out in front of the cameras.

The instinct, strategy, and aggression needed to compete on the professional poker circuit have Tiffany and her partner Maria confident they can deal with any hand they are dealt.

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I’m 99 percent sure I was the victim of collusion by two players in a recent online seven-card stud tournament. I hate when that happens.

Check out this week’s LuckyDog Poker column for details of the stud tournament incident and see if you agree with my assessment of collusion.

At least the hand in question serves as a good reminder that, as a player, you always must stay alert to what’s going on at the table.

Nevertheless, I still believe that a huge majority of poker games, whether live or online, are played fair and honest. Poker cheats eventually get caught. When they do, they’re kicked out of card rooms and banned from home games. Online cheaters lose their playing privileges, too.

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