From Vegas, our correspondent (I went to school with him), reports that more than 6,800 Main Event entries began their pursuit of first place cash totaling $8.71 million on July 12.

Worldwide, 75,672 entries in 58 different tournaments makes this year’s WSOP the biggest ever.

Sponsors are loving it.

He’s a fairly well known poker player…but his days of playing (at least as a free man) are probably over.

I saw a news item recently about Fanelli. Apparently, he is now undergoing psychiatric evaluation after confessing to murdering and disposing of the body of Sweetheart Bar hostess Wanpen Pianchai in Thailand.

He disposed of the body in a particularly gruesome way.

Fanelli was arrested back in July for what he described at the time as “a horrible, horrible accident.”

Now I have to question the accident part of this because the woman was stabbed several times, before being stuffed into a travel bag and dumped by a remote Phuket roadside.

The poker player nicknamed “the Mad Yank” on account of his volatile temperament, has now had legal proceedings against him put on hold until he completes a psychiatric evaluation at Suan Saranrom Hospital in Surat Thani.

So we’ll see.

Fanelli, 37, has been undergoing a psychiatric examination there since early September and will only return back to Phuket Provincial Prison once staff are able to assess whether he remains sane enough to stand trial.

People who know him say the nickname was just a joke.

But now I’m not so sure.

Meanwhile, I hear that a concerned group of online poker players have already raised around 30,000 baht (US $1,000) for Ms Wanphen’s family and are hoping that figure will rise to 100,000 (US $3,350) in the future.

It’s a strange case and we’ll keep our eyes open on Thai web sites to see what happens.

But this story irked me.

A pretty good quarterback, Middle Tennessee State quarterback Dwight Dasher has been suspended by the University and the NCAA indefinitely, and will miss the season opener against Minnesota on Thursday.

And all because he accepted money to play poker.

What the hell.

“He has been humbled with this situation, and he knows he made a mistake,” remarked MTSU head coach Rick Stockstill during a news conference prior to the weekend.

“That is part of your responsibility as a coach to help these players grow as people.”

Dasher must now wait to be reinstated by the NCAA if he is to play this season.

He is a damned good QB too, throwing for 2,800 yards and rushing for an additional 1,150.

“Both (parties) have said the reason he got the loan was because he was a football player,” said MTSU athletic director Chris Massaro.

You gotta give these kids some slack. C’mon…what did he get… and how much does his play on the field make the University. And get this…he BORROWED the money.

It’s an old story. These kids play for their college, fill up their stadiums and bring in a lot of revenue.

I believe college players should get the right to make some money for their play.

This incident continues to bring to light certain benefits that an athlete may receive simply because they are an athlete.

More evidence of this is the recent discovery that former Memphis basketball player Antonio Anderson remarked by way of Twitter that during his college days he did not have to pay for many meals.

Dasher is not under investigation for anything other than playing in poker games with money that he borrowed.

In case you hadn’t heard…

You know…the Chilean miners trapped underground, thank God still alive…but unlikely to be freed for a few months are passing the time playing poker.

How cool is that? Our game is saving lives.

Well, it seemed like a miracle when a group of miners were found alive after an accident in a gold mine in Chile last week.

Still a massive ordeal for the miners, especially with the prospect of having to spend a further four months stranded in a tiny underground chamber before they can be rescued.

So what are the miners doing to keep mind and soul together?

Playing a whole lot of poker it seems.

According to the daughter of former Chilean football international Franklin Lobos who is one of the trapped miners, the men are getting a serious number of hands in. In an interview in the Daily Mirror, a U.K. newspaper, Carolina Lobos revealed her confidence in her father’s ability to survive saying, “”It will be difficult, I’m sure, but I’m not worried about him. I know he is happy and content down there because he is playing lots of poker and cards. It is good for his mind.”

The trapped men are receiving a steady supply of water and medicine, as well as letters from family members via a six inch wide hole.

Experts are hopeful that they will remain in decent physical shape while the rescue tunnel is built.

UNbelieveable: If you love France (and playing poker), as I do…  this might be the time to consider a trip to Cannes.

The end of August will see one of France’s largest live poker events being played, as the Partouche Poker Tour (PPT) takes place on the French Riviera.

The event will be held at the Palm Beach resort in Cannes, between the 28th of August and 6th of September.

If you would like to participate, please be advised that bwin is already running qualifiers since earlier this month.

Now, a lot of you might be wondering, what is bwin. [you can google it, of course, as I did.]

bwin (formerly betandwin) was founded in 1997 and is one of Europe’s biggest sport betting agencies.

The company is based in Vienna, Austria.

The Ongame network is the world’s 5th largest with an average of 3,000 cash game players online. As many as 6,000 players can be found in the evening hours. No Limit players can find a table day or night in anything from micro to mid to high stake games. The micro to mid limits ($5/$10) are particularly appealing to Fixed Limit players. There are also plenty of SnGs in the low to mid limits ($50).

bwin is considered to be a very profitable place to play, mostly because many gamblers (and poor poker players) make their way to the tables.

The guaranteed prize pool for this event is €3,000,000 (euros), and the first place finisher will be cashing €1,000,000. There are two ways in which you can gain entry to the Partouche Poker Tour Final:

$15,000 Partouche Final: every Sunday at 19:00 GMT until the 15th of August, bwin will host a $300+$20 tournament, where the winner will get a $15,000 tournament package. Satellites for these tournaments are running more than 20 times a day, starting from $2.

$160,000 Partouche Final: on the 15th of August, 18:00 GMT, bwin will host a $93+$7 tournament where 10 of these tournament packages will be up for grabs. On top of that, the runner-ups will get a share of an additional $10,000 in prize money. Qualifiers are already running around the clock and they go as low as $1.

Good luck.

I hope to be there to report on the action.

And watch the girls on the beach.

The $15,000 Partouche Poker Tour package consists of the following:

$10,500 entry buy-in

$1,300 for travel and spending

Accommodation at hotel 3.14 from 28.08. to 06.09.2010

bwin Team hospitality & activities