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Today we hit up a revealing new interview with Jonathan Duhamel, a must-listen interview with Jamie Gold and an overlooked candidate for the “Hottest Girl in Poker" title.
1) Duhamel: Thought They Were Delivery Men
2010 WSOP Main Event champ Jonathan Duhamel has given his first interview since the vicious home invasion he suffered before Christmas.
In the revealing interview with the Canadian Press, Duhamel said that one of the suspects posed as a delivery man which is why he opened the door as he was expecting Christmas presents he'd ordered.
“They took me by surprise," Duhamel said.
"At first I thought he was the only one, but then the second [man] came by my back and I never saw him and he just kicked me in the head.”
Duhamel said the robbers tied him up and punched and kicked him while threatening to kill him and his parents.
They also knew exactly where to look for his valuables, so he suspected someone close to him tipped them off.
He confirmed one of the accused, Bianca Rojas-Latraverse, was a former girlfriend and went with him to the WSOP this summer, but they broke up earlier this year under "relatively normal terms."
More from the Globe and Mail here.
2) Gold: "Poker Can Actually Save the World"
As the new namesake for the Tropicana Poker Room in Las Vegas, Jamie Gold has seemingly popped up everywhere over the last few weeks.
He appeared on DonkDown Radio with Bryan Micon om Wednesday and the result was a must-listen interview.
Gold spoke candidly on controversial topics from his 2006 deal with Crispin Leyser to dumping $50k online a day to how much he really lost on High Stakes Poker.
If you don't like him more than you used to after listening, you're probably dead inside.
Also of note were his comments about the generosity of the poker community and how little credit it gets for its charitable contributions:
“People put poker players down. And they think that we basically just suck money out of the economy and that we’re completely selfish and self-centered and it’s actually not true.”
“I’ve worked in several different businesses, I’ve been in Hollywood, I’ve been in politics a little bit ... and I’ve never seen a group of people like I’ve seen in the poker world...
"Every time I call somebody nobody’s ever said no to me ... If I ask them to donate money, to show up, anything. It’s really incredible and I feel like the poker community as a whole deserves a hell of a lot more credit for the amount of work that it does.
" ... Poker can actually save the world, I’m convinced of it.”
Listen to the full interview here (starts at 67 minutes).
3) Gaëlle Garcia Diaz Hottest Girl in Poker?
Still somehow under the radar despite being in the business for over a year, Belgian Playboy model and TV presenter Gaëlle Garcia Diaz offically staked her claim as hottest girl in poker in 2011.
Based primarily in Brussels and covering the EPT and Belgian Poker Series for PokerStars TV (in Flemish no less) has kept her low profile, but it's only a matter of time before she starts topping the ubiquitous "HGIP" lists.
Her story: In 2010 she was doing some modeling and had her own TV show in Belgium when PokerStars called her to be in a commercial.
Soon after she was the host of the BPOC, the Belgian Poker Open Championship, and covering the EPT for PokerStars TV.
As of December she’s still the host of the Belgian Poker Series (the renamed BPOC) and will be at the PCA in the Bahamas in 2012.
Her interviews still leave a bit to be desired, but that's probably not why you'll watch them.
Watch her blooper reel below and look for her in our upcoming PCA coverage:
Bonus 4-Bet: Black Friday on LA Times “Stories That Grabbed Us” List
Turns out a lot of mainstream readers are also interested in what happens with online poker.
The LA Times lists its Black Friday piece as its fourth-most popular story this year.
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