First it was Lady Gaga singing “Poker Face” and now it is The Grouch and Eligh singing “All In” in their new single. Where the hip hoppers have scored is that they have roped in Lacey Jones in an unusual and unlikely role of a sucker. The video tells an interesting story. The scheme is to make a lot of money at a poker game by ripping off an unsuspecting player.

The target is Lacey Jones – Renowned Poker Professional. The dealer is “Gift of the Gab” and the hit will be made by The Grouch. The video begins with the hatching of the conspiracy. Then the players get dressed for the big game. There are shots of Lacey at her dressing table in lingerie applying make up. The players then move to the table. Some like Wicked Chops Poker (WCP) say that Lacey is still wearing lingerie. Others may disagree. But the fact is that whatever she is wearing is as revealing as lingerie. It seems that like a man eating tigress, Lacey has got a taste for lingerie after her Bluff Magazine shoot and cannot get it out of her system.

Coming back to the video and the poker game there is plenty of card dealing and chip shoving punctuated with the words “to be all in”. Then The Grouch makes a signal to the dealer by rubbing his ear. The flop comes up and an obviously well stacked Lacey goes all in. The river is dealt to reveal the king, jack and ten of hearts and two inconsequential cards. Lacey is overjoyed. She turns up her cards – the ace and deuce of hearts – a flush.

But her happiness is short lived because The Grouch has the queen and nine of hearts – a straight flush. Lacey knows that she has been ripped off and leaves. WCP got one thing right though. “Way too much random rapper guy staring at the camera rapping the whole time and not nearly enough Lacey Jones standing there looking hot.”

And what better birthday present could there be for Lacey that the release of this video. She has responded to the occasion through her blog at “Lacey’s Aces …a peek into the life of fashion model, poker player, and tv hostess Lacey Jones.”

Lacey began the blog by thanking those who wished her. “First I’d like to thank everyone for all the Birthday wishes and love sent via Email, Facebook and Twitter.” Then she becomes sentimental, something everybody has a right to be on their birthdays. She thanked everyone who had stood by her during her troubled times. She admits, “I’m still not where I’d like to be at the ripe ol age of 30…” but she is grateful that she has made it to thirty because “Some sick gut feeling that I would never see 30 would repeat over and over in my head especially as a teenager.”

She has written this blog on her way to see her BFFF (Best Fucking Friends Forever) Alex Lee Behan. She writes “I couldn’t even think of a better birthday present. If you’ve read my previous blogs you’d know how excited I am and that I really wouldn’t be here today with out this amazing woman in my life.” So the video was not the best birthday present after all.

Chip Reese’s son, Casey, passed away less than two years after his father died. Casey was 20 years old. When Chip passed away in December 2007, Doyle Brunson had said, “He’s certainly the best poker player that ever lived.” Little did he realise then that he would have to say something at Casey’s death. And Doyle did speak up at his blog in Doyle’ Room. The full text is reproduced below.

“It seems like yesterday when my nephew called and gave me a message that made my blood run cold, “I think Chip just died” he told me.

It happened again yesterday, only this time it was Chip’s only son, Casey Reese. Casey was found in his apartment from an apparent overdose of prescription drugs. I had seen Casey a few days ago and he looked great. He was very handsome and extremely personable. I will always remember the closeness between Chip and Casey.

My deepest condolences to the Reese family. I feel like I’ve let Chip down but I don’t know what I could have done to help Casey.”

Trust Doyle to speak up when required to. The Reese family will take comfort from his words. Chip had died in his sleep statedly from the effects of pneumonia. However Doyle believed that the death was caused by a blood clot resulting from an earlier gastric bypass. Chip and Doyle were close friends. Chip had contributed to the Seven Card Stud section in Doyle’s famous book “Super/System”. At that time Doyle had described Chip as one of the two finest young poker players in the world and the best Seven Card Stud player he had ever played.

This praise was totally justified. 1n 1991 Chip became the youngest living player to be inducted into the Poker Hall of Fame. He won his third WSOP bracelt in 2006 in the inaugural $50,000 H.O.R.S.E. event. From 2008 the winner of this event at WSOP will be given a trophy named the “David ‘Chip’ Reese Award”. Unfortunately Casey was not able to attend the unveiling ceremony of that trophy.

Another player to express anguish at Casey’s death was Daniel Negreanu. At the forum in Full Contact Poker he posted, “I was at Bellagio last night when we all got the news. Very sad. Everyone took it pretty hard. Kid was 20 years old, an incredible baseball pitcher, super smart, good looking kid… very sad.

Chau was a very good friend of both Chip and Casey and while he came down to play poker he just couldn’t do it. It was a shock. People were both sad, and also pretty angry at the same time.” At that same forum someone heartlessly asked. “Daniel, was Casey into drugs before Chip passed away?” and Negreanu rightly replied. “I’m not going to answer any questions like that, what does it matter now…”

It had always been a question of “when” and not “if”. And the when has arrived. PartyGaming has reached a non-prosecution agreement with the U.S. Attorney’s Office (USAO).

As a part of the deal, PartyGaming has irrefutably agreed that it had offered real money online gambling services to players in the United States from 1997 to October 2006, when it withdrew from the American market. PartyGaming has also agreed that transactions from American customers intended for PartyGaming were processed by third parties, which was also against the law. PartyGaming has also agreed not to enter the American online gambling market under current legislation.

For these violations PartyGaming will pay $105 million over a three and a half year period from now till September 30th 2012. On its part the USAO will not prosecute PartyGaming or any of its subsidiaries, including PartyPoker and PartyCasino for the aforesaid violations. Nick Batram of KBC Peel Hunt opined that the deal was a good one for PartyGaming. His organization had expected the fine to be around $150 million.

Commenting on the deal, Jim Ryan the CEO of PartyGaming, said, “The resolution of our position with the U. S. authorities marks an important day for PartyGaming. It has been a long and complex process, but we have reached an amicable solution with the USAO that makes commercial sense for our business and is in the best interests of shareholders.

We are now well-placed to seize organic as well as strategic opportunities that previously were beyond our reach.” The strategic opportunities referred to by Ryan are possible merger and acquisition deals. Companies in the online gaming sector need to consolidate in order to cut costs and remain competitive. But with the U.S. liability pending no one would have touched PartyGaming. That the agreement was in the best interest of the shareholders can be judged from the 13% increase in stock price. The shareholders of PartyGaming’s competitors were also joyous.

The stock of 888 rose by 8% and that of Sporting Bet rose 10%. These two companies are also in negotiation with the USAO and their agreements could be making the news any time now.

Industry experts now feel that PartyGaming co-founder, Anurag Dikshit, panicked and gave in to the USAO, when he settled with them in December 2008. Had he held on he would have got a better deal. Dikshit will be paying $300 million, almost three times than PartyGaming. Also when his sentencing will come up next year he faces a jail term, while PartyGaming got a non-prosecution agreement.