Poker News: 60 Minutes, The Office, WPT + MYSpace,

John Calwell

It wasn’t quite gold for record-setting Olympian Michael Phelps, but it was a nice showing nonetheless. Phelps was spotted recently at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas, playing in the room’s $1,570-buyin event at the Caesars Poker Classic. Phelps, who admits a love for online poker and is now testing his water wings in the brick-and-mortar version of the game, final-tabled the event, finishing a solid ninth in a field of 187 and won $5,213.

The next day, Phelps’ burgeoning love affair with poker continued when he appeared at Day 1a of the World Poker Tour event at the Bellagio. Escorted by Phil Hellmuth, Phelps made a lap of the Fontana Lounge where the tournament was being held, being greeted by eager fans and players alike. Following the meet-’n’-greet yesterday, Phelps adjourned to the nearby Bellagio poker room for some no-limit action, including an unconfirmed stint in the legendary Bobby’s Room.

“60 MINUTES” SEGMENT COMING, LIKELY ON NOVEMBER 9TH

Rumors have begun circulating that the much anticipated 60 Minutes piece offering a look at the Absolute Poker and UltimateBet online cheating scandals is now scheduled to air on November 9th. If this is true, this segment will air right in the midst of the resumption of the World Series of Poker final table, as the field is trimmed down from nine players to two. However, industry watchers are also wondering—given that it’s the first Sunday after the Presidential election—if the Nov. 9 air date will stay solid.

Among industry notables reported to have been interviewed for the piece are Mike Sexton, Greg Raymer, Linda Johnson, Gary Wise, and online poker-forum participants Serge Ravitch, Michael Josem and Todd Witteles, who were involved in varying degrees in bringing forth certain aspects of what began as a player investigation into unusual circumstances.

In addition, other rumors of a lengthy feature article on the same topic, to appear in a major American newspaper, appear to be true. Our sources tell us that the Washington Post will publish a detailed piece on online poker, possibly accompanied by a call for regulation, on that same November 9th date.

‘THE OFFICE’ DOES POKER … SORT OF

It’s true—there’s a bit of online poker in a scene on NBC’s hit series The Office. Sharp-eyed viewers noticed the presence of PokerStars and Bodog desktop icons on the computer screen of character Jim Halpert during a recent episode. On-set characters are rumored to use the computers for personal entertainment as they wait through the repeated shooting of the show’s scenes. So does this mean that John Krasinski, who plays Jim on the show, is an online poker fanatic?

MYSPACE AND THE WPT TEAM UP

Prominent social network MySpace and the venerable World Poker Tour have announced the creation of the first fully integrated poker destination for the MySpace online community. Elements of the new MySpace WPT community include expert tips and tricks, player profiles, video clips, tournament news, and behind-the-scenes videos from the World Poker Tour and new ClubWPT.com TV series. Well known WPT superstars and other original WPT content will also be featured on the site. The MySpace WPT hub will also offer a free multi-player poker game, developed by MySpace online game partner Oberon.

John Caldwell is the Editor-In-Chief of PokerNews.com, a leading poker information portal. He spent 15 years in music artist management, working with Stone Temple Pilots, and Hootie and the Blowfish.

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