Slowly getting angrier every year since 1996.

For a $1,000 buy-in, you shouldn’t have to play poker with Sally Jessy Raphael. Fortunately, Montel Williams is stepping in to take care of all your former-daytime-talk-host-turned-celeb-tournament-organizer needs Friday at the Golden Nugget.

Williams hosts a 600-person tourney with half the prize pool going to benefit the Montel Williams MS Foundation. Williams was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in 1999.

Walking the red carpet at 5 p.m. prior to the start of the tourney will be entertainers Nathan Burton and Gordie Brown, actress Robin Givens and poker pros Daniel Negreanu, Scott Fischman, Allen Cunningham, Jamie Gold, Gavin Smith, Kirk Morrison, Melissa Hayden, Dan Fleishman and Thomas Keller. Our money is on Givens to rampage her way through a series of all-ins that cripple Cunningham, Smith and Negreanu in order.

By Jason Scavone

Anna Naroznaja is not Hawaiian, nor is Estonia tropical. Somehow, this still works. (via HawaiianTropicModels.com)

It’s just a week away until the gaping void left in our hearts by the departure of the Miss USA pageant is filled, when the Miss Hawaiian Tropic International Model Search celebrates its 25th anniversary at the Golden Nugget.

Running from May 6-10, the contest will pit representatives from dozens of countries against each other as they try to crack the top 10 for a share of $25,000 in cash and prizes and a chance to take the crown that Miss Hawaiian Tropic 2007, Estonia’s Anna Naroznaja, will be passing on. If the folks at Hawaiian Tropic would listen to us for a change, this will be the year oil wrestling is finally used to determine a winner.

The run-up to the event will include photo shoots, rehearsals and meet-and-greets at the Nugget and Hawaiian Tropic Zone at Planet Hollywood Resort, with the preliminary swimsuit competition set for May 9 and the finals May 10 at the Freemont Street Experience’s First Street Stage. Everclear will perform, and their depressing songs about daddy issues should be a perfect counterbalance to an otherwise upbeat evening.

By Jason Scavone

The world’s largest synchronized swimming team. (Photos by Scott Harrison)

The ladies of Miss USA cruised north of the Strip last night to pay a visit to Fremont Street where they were treated to a pool party at The Tank at the Golden Nugget as part of the filming for the April 11 broadcast. Whoever it was at the Nugget who saw fit to encourage the contestants to come to the pool clearly deserves a raise.

Miss Alaska Courtney Erin Carroll and Miss Indiana Brittany Mason took a ride down The Tank’s waterslide through the shark tank in a move we can only imagine was reminiscent of Jaws 3. After that, it was on to Gold Diggers to spend another arduous night of clubbing.

Do you think when it’s the pageant off-season these girls do everything together like this all the time? Did like all of them go see Juno together and split a large popcorn? Or do they ride a bicycle built for 51 when they’re cruising around the park? We certainly hope so.

By Jason Scavone

Looks like the Golden Nugget Hotel & Casino in downtown Las Vegas is looking to catch some of the spillover from the Rio’s World Series of Poker this year with its own month-long event, the Grand Poker Series, held June 6 through July 6 at the property’s Grand events center.

Featuring daily tournaments on more than 50 tables, 24/7 cash games, sit-and-go satellites and much more, including three bracelet events, the Grand Poker Series kicks off Friday, June 6 with a celebrity poker tournament, “Cards, Celebrities and a Cause,” hosted by Montel Williams to benefit his Multiple Sclerosis Foundation.

The satellite tournaments will be held in the Golden Nugget poker room starting this Saturday, March 1. Players can compete to win a seat at the June 6 benefit, where half of the $1,000-per-person prize pool will be donated to the Montel Williams MS Foundation and the other half distributed to winning players. Click for more words and pictures »

By Pj Perez