Poker news and gossip from around the world
Tony G for MEP
Larger-than-life poker gobshite Tony G is taking a step back from the game to run for the European Parliament as a candidate for Lithuania’s liberal party. The Mouth from Down Under (via Lithuania) is certainly well qualified for such a move having spent a lifetime mingling with liars, deviants and borderline nut cases at poker tourneys around the globe. His hiatus from poker will be sorely felt, but we can’t wait to see him lock horns with lizard-faced cretin Nigel Farage or get the tricycle out for boss-eyed bigot Nick Griffin. It’s just a shame cartoon slaphead Godfrey ‘Bongo Bongo’ Bloom has quit Brussels. That is one meeting of political minds we’d pay to see.
Big Tony’s move has left us thinking which UK poker pros we’d like to see enter politics. Chris Moorman in the Treasury? Liv Boeree and Vicky Coren adding glamour and intellectual spark to the cabinet? Just picture the scene: it’s the last night of the party conference and after a year of riding out a catalogue of scandals that would make Berlusconi blush, a pissed up PM, the Right Honourable Dave ‘Devilfish’ Ulliott takes to the dance floor for one more swivel-hipped rendition of Gold Digger. Things can only get better.
Poker fakes
The second-in-command in charge of America’s nuclear weapons forces has been fired after being caught up in an alleged betting scam. Navy Vice Admiral Tim Giardina was suspended, and subsequently fired, after allegedly using counterfeit poker chips at an Iowa casino. An investigation is still being carried out, but it is reported that the fake chips represent a ‘significant monetary amount’. First it was John McCain surreptitiously playing mobile poker in the Senate and now this? What is it with high-ranking us officials and poker? what’s next, Barack Obama caught developing a poker bot in the Oval Office?
Gross tat
Every month we hear tales of poker chumps taking on inane prop bets and crazy forfeits, making the Jackass crew look like the Tory cabinet. Step forward Jeff Gross who revealed to PokerNews a gay pride rainbow tattoo on his back, the result of a $550k prop bet. Gross said the deal was made with high-roller friend Bill Perkins in the sober surroundings of an Amsterdam ‘coffee’ house.
He agreed to have anything tattooed for the six figure sum. But Gross clearly has some standards with a ‘no private parts’ and ‘no swastika’ rule. Despite the bet whiffing of homophobia, Gross spoke out in favour of gay rights and seemed relatively chuffed with his new ‘fruity’ back stamp. ‘There’s a price for anything’, he said. Unless it involves cocks and swastikas of course.
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