Check out this video from "premium gambling clothing" company KSINO featuring their newest spokesmodel, and one of our favorite people, poker pro Lacey Jones. In this video, Lacey makes a revelation that many will find very interesting. After several years of dismissing a Playboy appearance out of hand, it would appear that she has changed her mind and would now be open to posing for the gentlemen's magazine… if asked.

We know what question your asking, but we think Playboy would have to be the ones to ask, not you… or even us. Do notice though that the Bodog logo does adorn her, uh, Playboy-specific parts in one of the photos, which makes us closer than you. Just sayin'.

Margets is stacked well heading into play with 3.65 million in chips, or enough to put her in 18th place overall. Her table draw for today doesn't look to be too tough as she has the second-largest stack at her table. However, the largest stack does belong to CardPlayer's Jeff Shulman, who has a Main Event final table under his belt from 2000.

The hopes of poker pros everywhere in one of their kind taking down the Main Event rest on the shoulders of Fabrice Soulier, Phil Ivey, Tom Schneider, Blair Rodman, Joe Sebok and Antonio Esfandiari.

The curent chip leader is Darvin Moon, followed by Billy Kopp. Ivey is in a very dangerous third place after steamrolling his table yesterday. Ivey with a lot of chips is a scary thing for those at his table and, honestly, the field as a whole.

We'll keep you posted as the day progress and don't forget to check out the 2009 WSOP Main Event live updates page for the latest tweets, posts and photos.

The first matches today will be from the Heart Bracket and will feature some interesting face-offs, including poker old-timers Eli Elezra and Johnny Chan, fellow shareholders Erick Lindgren and Howard Lederer, perennial punchline Jamie Gold and Scott Fischman and then Bodog poker pro David Williams and Johnny Chan.

Other interesting first-round match-ups include Doyle Brunson vs. Vanessa Rousso, Mike Matusow vs. Dario Minieri (there may be too much fodder there for Matusow to keep his mouth shut, we'll set the "scarf joke" line at 42), two nosebleed stake online players David Benyamine vs. Gus Hansen and poker's first Triple Crown winner Gavin Griffin vs. Tom "durrrr" Dwan, who is online poker personified.

Check out the full list of match-ups and a printable bracket at the NBC site here. NBC will also have live updates from the tournament, as will CardPlayer. We'll post as we see fit over the weekend. Don't forget to check out the Heads-Up Poker Championship prop bet in the Bodog Sportsbook now that the matches have been set. Should be much easier to get an idea of who may have the "easiest" route to the $500,000 first-place prize.

Featuring 64 of the best heads-up poker players in the world, the NHUPC takes place at Caesar's Palace this weekend – March 7-8 – and will pay out $500,000 to the winner. Bodog oddsmakers have been busy with their calculators and complex algorithms coming up with lines for the participants and they are now up and available in the Bodog Sportsbook.

As the defending champion, Chris "Jesus" Ferguson is the favorite of the Bodog oddsmakers and poker pundits alike, but by no means an overwhelming one at 22/1. Nipping at his heels at 25/1 is a collection of players that you would expect to see as near-favorites, online poker phenom Tom "durrrr" Dwan, Phil Ivey and Daniel Negreanu, and they are followed by Johnathan "FieryJustice" Little and Andy Bloch, who was Ferguson's heads-up opponent in the final last year, at 30/1.

Getting no respect for his deep run last year is baseball great Orel Hershiser, who is staring down 95/1 odds that he will win this event. In fact, none of the celebrities participating this year are getting good odds. So, if you're looking for a long shot to take a chance on, look no further than movie star Don Cheadle and TV star Brad Garrett at 90/1.

Other notables in the field include Bodog poker pro David Williams, Doyle Brunson, Johnny Chan and 2008 WSOP Main Event final tablist Ivan Demidov all at 40/1.

For a full listing, check out Bodog's NBC National Heads-Up Poker Championship prop bets and place your bets now.

Over at ESPN.com, Andrew Feldman (ESPN.com Poker Editor) got together some of the best known poker pundits out there – ESPN.com columnists Gary Wise and Bernard Lee, Lance Bradley (Bluff Magazine), Paul McGuire (Tao of Poker), Chops Preiss (Wicked Chops Poker) and Dan Michalski (Pokerati) – to rank the field for their own March Madness-style bracketology.

So, head over to ESPN.com and check out the full National Heads-Up Poker Championship rankings and come back here for more updates on the heads-up poker competition.

Here are the top ten players as voted on by the above participants:

1. Chris Ferguson
2. Phil Ivey
3. Ted Forrest
4. Andy Bloch
5. Allen Cunningham
6. Phil Hellmuth
7. Kenny Tran
8. Tom Dwan
9. Daniel Negreanu
10. Barry Greenstein

See the rest of the photos here.

The first of the two WSOP Academy events will be a two-day Advanced Academy held at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas, on Nov. 7 – 8, just ahead of the WSOP Main Event final table. Then, at the end of November, the WSOP Academy will head to Atlantic City to host a two-day Academy at the Showboat Casino, on Nov. 22 – 23.

With the “Play Now, Pay Later” program, participants can secure a spot at either event by paying only 25% of the tuition cost, with the remaining amount due in three equal monthly payments.

“We’re making it easier than ever for poker players to invest in their poker game and become winning players with our Play Now, Pay Later program,” said Jeff Goldenberg of Post Oak Productions, the company that produces the WSOP Academy. “Our WSOP Academy events this November will feature some of the biggest names in poker sharing their secrets and strategies. I’m confident our Academy grads will walk away with the confidence and skills they need to be a threat at the table.”

The upcoming Advanced Academy in Las Vegas will feature instruction from poker pros Phil Gordon, Mark Seif, Paul Wasicka and Alex Outhred, poker tells expert Joe Navarro and making their first appearance at an Academy event, Prof. Charley Swayne, an expert in probability and statistics specifically as they relate to poker and Sam Chauhan, a motivational speaker who will be teaching a seminar on the optimal poker mindset.

The event will feature the WSOP Academy’s most advanced curriculum on No Limit Texas Hold’em theory and strategy, including the advanced math of poker, winning cash game strategy, advanced tournament stage strategy, heads-up strategy, advanced seminar on decoding poker tells and much more.

At the WSOP Academy event in Atlantic City, 2004 World Champion Greg Raymer, Outhred, Hevad Khan and Navarro will provide instruction that covers all aspects of No-Limit Texas Hold 'em strategy, from playing position and calculating pot odds to the importance of aggression and changing gears.

At both Academy events, private tournaments will be held with winners receiving a $5,000 WSOP Circuit Main Event seat at an event of their choice.

Tuition for the Advanced Academy is $1,999, with a payment of only $499 required to secure a spot. The cost of the Atlantic City event is $1,499 with a payment of only $375 needed to register. The additional tuition payments will be billed each month for the three following months.

Space is limited at all WSOP Academy events, and both events are expected to sell out in advance. Additional details for the upcoming events in Las Vegas and Atlantic City are available at the WSOP Academy website.

The pros at the table include current chip leader John Juanda, Daniel Negreanu and Scott Fischman. Juanda came into the day's play with the lead and managed to hold onto it all the way through the final table, a remarkable feat considering his opponents. Negreanu will be looking to a add a fifth WSOP bracelet to his wrist, the first on the other side of the pond from his native Canada. Fischman is after his third bracelet, his first in four years, and his second major tournament cash this year. Looks like the poker camp instructor for the WSOP Academy is drinking some of his own Kool-aid.

The major story line at the final table though is Russian poker player Ivan Demidov. He has already become part of the poker consciousness as part of the "November Nine" (well, sort of, the marketing and "awareness raising" has been a bit lacking) and has now added a second Main Event final table to his accomplishments. Demidov becomes the first player to reach the final table of the 2008 WSOP Main Event and the 2008 WSOP Europe Main Event, but could win his second final table before even playing in the first. Weird.

The rest of the final table players are important to someone, just not to us.

Due to the vagaries of "time zones" and the like, the final table has started even though we just woke up. Demidov has opened a decent chip lead, Juanda and Negreanu have dropped a bit and we've lost Chris Elliott, who is not the Cabin Boy.

Stay tuned to the Bodog Beat for more WSOP Europe updates, and if you want some poker tournament action of your own then don't forget to get in on the Bodog Poker Open II, which is currently running in the Bodog Poker room. There are BPO events running every night this week and online satellites for the Bodog Poker Open are running constantly.

Junglen is only 20 years of age, but has already made an impression on the poker tournament world, racking up over $300k and an EPT final table without being allowed to play in the US. Given his skills, and hopefully without jinxing him, holding onto the lead and marching to victory seems possible, and probable, and would make him the first American to win a bracelet at the WSOP Europe.

However, he will face stiff competition from several other successful players sharing the final table felt. Sitting in third place is Yengeniy Timoshenko, who is coming off an impressive win at the APT Macau and has won several preliminary events at European tournaments. Also in the top five is 2008 Irish Poker Open champ Neil Channing. The UK poker pro also cashed seven times at the 2008 WSOP in Vegas. Another 2008 WSOP success story is Jesper Hougaard, who is the lone bracelet holder at the final table after winning $600k for taking down a $1,500 No Limit Holdem event over the summer.

The 410 players who ponied up their ₤1500 buy-in generated a prize pool of ₤615,000, out of which the ₤144,218 first-place prize will be awarded. All eyes will be focused on that goal when play resumes in London. Well, that and the first WSOPE bracelet to be awarded this year. Stay tuned for more updates from the Bodog Beat.

As the top two finishers in the Euro Main Event Semifinal held in the Bodog Poker room over the weekend, "syzygy3732" and "Ozone23" will both be winging to London to play alongside the best players the poker world has to offer. They will have some big shoes to fill once they get there thanks to Team Bodog Matt McCullough, who became the last American standing at last year's event on his way to a third-place finish and a $766,674 payday.

McCullough will once again make the trip over the pond to attend the tournament that he came so close to winning and will join Bodog poker pros David Williams, Jean-Robert Bellande and Justin Bonomo.

The prize packages are valued at more than $24,000 each and include transportation, accommodations, a seat at the WSOP Europe Main Event and a ton of stylish Bodog swag.

Don't forget that there are still daily qualifiers available for as little as $1 for a chance to win a $12,000 Player's Choice package. So, head over to the Bodog Poker room and check out how to qualify online for the WPT, EPT, APPT and other major poker tournaments.