JEN HARMAN RAISES OVER $300,000 FOR THE NEVADA SPCA

I recently attended the charity poker event of the year, the Jennifer Harman Nevada SPCA fundraiser at the Venetian. Hundreds of players came out to support the event, including Doyle Brunson, Daniel Negreanu, Phil Ivey, and many more luminaries from the world of poker. For the second straight year, Doyle auctioned the hat right off his head as some lucky bidder won the right to claim Doyle's ten gallon hat.

When the dust had cleared, over $320,000 was raised for this fine charity, tournament winner Seth Dupre won himself a seat into the Main Event of the 2008 WSOP, and everyone had a really good time.

MANILA POKER PREZ ESCAPES BOTCHED KIDNAP ATTEMPT

Philippines newspaper The Tempo reports that Hermie Philipson Chua, 34, president of the Philippine Poker Players Association, escaped a recent abduction attempt. Chua's vehicle was stopped by a beggar and then stormed by three armed robbers. Chua later picked a moment to make an escape from his Ford Escape by jumping from the moving vehicle. One of the robbers then shot him while he was lying in the street. Chua was transported by tricycle driver to the Bernardino Hospital in Caloocan. His vehicle was later recovered, but a briefcase containing approximately $12,000 along with 11,000 in local currency was not.

WPT WOMEN'S EVENT RAIDED BY THE 'TILTBOYS'

WSOP bracelet winner Rafe Furst was in the field at the recent World Poker Tour ladies event, held at the Bellagio, and benefiting the Susan G Komen Foundation. Unlike some recent women's event, where men have showed up insisting to play, the Tiltboys-including Furst, fellow bracelet winner Perry Friedman, and others-showed up in drag, paid the $1,500 entry, and promised 100 percent of their winnings to the title charity. Everyone took the joke in the positive way it was intended, and the event played on. None of the men in the field threatened to make the final table, but their outfits threatened to set gender relations back 100 years.

HOW LOW CAN YOU GO?

This report from an eyewitness at a recent event on the poker circuit: A pretty young woman was having a meltdown of epic proportion at the casino cashiers cage, which was right next to the tournament floor. The woman was screaming at the cashier behind the cage because the cashier refused to honor the chip the woman had presented for cashing. After some investigation, it turns out the young woman was a "professional" who had been paid for her service ... with a tournament chip. When the woman returned to the tournament floor, her "client" was long gone, and she was left with nothing but her dignity. Well, almost.

PPA TOPS MILLION MEMBER MARK

The Poker Players Alliance, the self-described grass roots lobbying group formed to help forward the interests of American poker players, has reached its long-stated goal of 1,000,000 members. The PPA announced the milestone as it announced several other initiatives.

Among those other initiatives, the PPA announced the creation of PokerPAC, a new political action committee designed to further poker players' interests in Washington. Prominent player Annie Duke has already agreed to serve as an honorary member of the committee, which will be chaired by PPA head D'Amato and vice-chaired by former Congressman Toby Moffett.