In one of the biggest scandals to hit Hollywood in some time, big-time movie studio Sony Pictures network has been hacked and a treasure trove of embarrassing information and emails has been spilling onto the internet in an attempt to get Sony to cancel the release of the upcoming film “The Interview.”

Today more emails were leaked to the pubic and finally a little poker got pulled in to the drama. Not terribly long ago we brought you a post of A-list Hollywood screenwriter Aaron Sorkin taking on the job of adapting “Poker Princess” Molly Bloom's book “Molly’s Game”, the memoir that goes into the grizzly details of the high-stakes Hollywood Home Games which featured Tobey Maguire, Matt Damon and Leonadro DiCaprio.

Well, apparently Sorkin’s choice of projects didn’t sit well with Sony Pictures co-chairman Amy Pascal who wanted Sorkin to work on a different project before he adapted “Molly’s Game.” When Sorkin passed on the other project, according to the website Defamer which acquired the email, Pascal had some scathing words for the screenwriter stating that Sorkin is “broke” and even alleges that Sorkin and Molly Bloom may be…more than friends. Here’s the text:

We are getting totally positioned in the Aaron stuff
He is broke
He wants to get paid
We paid him his insane fee on flash boys
When the poker movie came around we didn’t want to not be in the Aaron business so we wanted that too
After social network jobs and flash boys Aaron and mark too the project to the town on the “pretense” that we don’t have money
They went to every single studio
Not just Donna and stacey (not real meetings blah blah)
I don’t care if Aaron is sleeping with the girl or not
I don’t care if it becomes a beat seller
They are treating us like shit
He wants to write them together or poker movie first
We waited for him to write jobs for 3 years (2 anyway)
When mike told them we wanted him to write flash boys first (how long ago did they make the deal) ari sent and email saying he was pulling out of the project
Fine

Additional cliffs are that Sorkin seems keen on getting “Molly’s Game” made and when things looked shaky on the Sony Pictures front, he shopped the pitch around Hollywood and found other interest, pissing off Pascal.

You can read the entire drama surrounding the “Molly’s Game” script, including Aaron Sorkin implying that Tobey Maguire's father-in-law, Ronald Meyer, chairman of NBC Universal, is nervous about the adaptation due to the fact that Tobey comes off looking horrible in Bloom’s text, over on Defamer.

Also, it looks like the “Molly’s Game” script is being fast-tracked.

Looking for a gift for that special poker playing someone in your crew? Well, now is the time of year that just about every news outlet and website out there is happy help give you advice on all the junk to buy this holiday season. So, if you are looking for that perfect Christmas or Hanukkah gift for rounder in your life – even if it’s you – here is it:

An entry into the 2015 World Series of Poker $1500 Monster Stack.

So you want more choices? Cheaper items? Something they can open on Christmas day?? Well, then here’s a few lists that may spark an idea for you and get you what you want for the holidays. A little gratitude.

Author James McManus puts together a very solid article worth of ideas over at Bloomberg News: A Holiday Gift Guide For Poker Fans

Casino City Times 10 item list has some ideas that have a unique flair to them (like a “Hangover” T-shirt): Top-10 Holiday Gfts For The Gambler In Your Life

All In Magazine did a whole series on the perfect gift from those who play online to some rando gadgets that may appeal to the avid player: All In Holiday Gift Guide

PokerNews has a list too where they focus on poker trainings and apparel: 10 Great Holiday Gift Ideas for the Poker Player On Your List

You have a great gift idea? We want to hear about it and possibly RT it, so hit us up!

...but really, all poker players want the same thing pretty much: “value.” Right? Monster Stack is the play.

UNLV needs your help.

The University is conducting a survey (not sponsored by a casino or gaming related interest) about the attitudes of online poker players toward a number of issues including legislation, security, liquidity, rake and the like.

The survey will take you about 15-20 minutes and while there may be no direct benefit for you to take the survey, here’s what the investigators are hoping to accomplish:

There may be no direct benefits to you as a participant in the study. However, we hope to learn about online poker and consumer preferences concerning the characteristics of online poker  websites and the games offered on these websites. The results of this study may be used to inform the public debate concerning the regulation of online poker.

Besides, it’s Friday and you ain’t got no job and you ain’t got **** to do so help out these researcher and TAKE THE SURVEY

Large personalities loom in the final opening heat of the million dollar sit-n-go competition.

Vanessa Selbst, Michael David “The Grinder” Mizrachi, Artem “The Crazy Russian” Litvinov, Ole Schemion and the one and only Tony G smell blood in the water as it’s every man or woman for themselves in the latest episode of the PokerStars program.

So before you kick off the weekend, steal an extra hour from work and enjoy the big bluffs and heavy action of the Shark Cage.

Just before getting bounced from the EPT Prague super high roller, World Poker Tour commentator and tight bro of Daniel Colman, Olivier Busquet took time to chat with PokerStars’ personality Laura Cornelius about the high-stakes SHR grind, some general life advice for young ballers and most importantly his recent trip to El Salvador and Honduras with the team from One Drop.

Invited by Colman (the winner of the 2014 One Drop), Busquet gets a first hand look at the good work of the clean water initiative of One Drop. From providing clean water filters, building wells and helping establish real world life skills to those who need help, One Drop help transform lives.

As Busquet mentions, poker players (especially those high-rollers) have helped bring roughly $12M to the charity, not an insignificant number, proving once again that while poker may be a selfish game, there is a generosity among those who play it.

It’s another 22 minutes of the made-for-tv $25/50 cash game that is Poker Night In America.

Still being held in Reno, NV at the Peppermill the mix of regs and pros are joined by industry insider and PokerTracker rep Steve “TT” McLoughlin.

So take a break from your weekly grind and watch the gang push flush draws and chop up pots as Chris Hansen calls the action.

Looking for more PNIA? Check out episode 20 right here.

Sorry about this, had to be done.

(h/t our pals at Cardschat)

A couple weeks you may remember the announcement that UK good-time-guy Neil Channing had bucked the trend of sponsored pros getting the ax as he was actually hired to become Sky Poker’s newest live and online ambassador.

Now, here’s the video proof that it’s a done deal. A couple days ago he made his first official appearance (he’d been on before) on Sky Poker TV all patched up and covered in Sky blue and as promised, the wise cracks and antics got underway.

With the announcement of the 2015 World Series of Poker schedule still about 2 months away, the media team doesn’t want you to forget about all the action that is to be had at the Rio every summer.

Take a look back at a massive hand between //www.wsop.com/news/2014/Jun/4883/JORDAN-MORGAN-TRIUMPHS-IN-HEADS-UP-MARATHON-AND-WINS-FIRST-GOLD-BRACELET.html:Jordan Morgan and Evan McNiff deep in Event #44, a $1500 NLHE which shows how difficult it is to navigate the treacherous waters of tournament poker.

Yesterday we passed along the story of accusations of fraud against a top Danish high-stakes poker pro. Today, according to website dx.mx (translated by Google) it looks like Danish authorities have formally charged two individuals with aiding and abetting that computer fraud but have yet to formally charge the accused poker player.

Authorities are still withholding the names of those charged, though many in the poker community have narrowed down their speculation and are simply awaiting confirmation from authorities. The poker player and his accomplices are thought to have defrauded fellow high-stakes players in the “tens of millions” of dollars which, if true, could catapult this into one of the largest online scandals of all time.

The player in question is being accused of installing a trojan horse on the computers of players so which would reveal their hole cards. A scheme that was also uncovered at EPT Barcelona in Season 10 when Jens “Jeans” Kyllonen reported that his laptop was removed and then returned from his hotel room and then was later found to have a screen sharing trojan program installed.

The attorney for the accused poker player stated that these allegations are baseless and that the as yet unnamed accused denies the charges.

More as this develops…

Canadian poker pro (and 2014 top personality) Mike “Timex” McDonald took questions from the audience recently when he put himself out there during a AMA on reddit.

Here, while attending EPT Prague, Remko Rinkema catches up with Timex to talk about his experience of telling the truth to a bunch of strangers who were asking him, at times, some very personal questions.

Drug abuse, prostitution and shady dealings of poker were all on the quiz and Mike seemingly felt as ease with his honest answers to all of them. Like when he was asked what he would do if he were a girl for a day, play FMK with Liv, Xuan and Sofia and, of course, a ton of poker questions. It’s a hilarious read so check it out below!

Read: AMA with Mike 'Timex’ McDonald (a very lucky poker player)

Danish police-commissary Torben Koldborg has confirmed that a 32-year old one-time high-stakes online poker pro has been reported to the department of economical fraud for allegedly installing trojan horse software on the computers of fellow high-stakes players, according to a report by iGaming.org.

Koldborg states that, while there have yet to be charges files, they are investigating into the claims that this as yet unnamed player (but many have speculated on the identity) installed the software so he could see the hole cards of the owner of the computer and he used that information to steal “several million” Euro.

To add a twist to this story, the allegations also state that this high-stakes player had help with the operation and that his partner was someone who was inside the Danish police department.

This all came to a head when one of the victims noticed an irregular computer reboot while he was out of his house. He checked his security cameras as a precaution, but found that they had been turned off without his knowledge. After that, he discovered the software and the reports were made.

iGaming.org claims that they know the name of the suspect in question and that he is (or was) one of the more famous Danish high-stakes regs and that he had even won an EPT.

Further announcements are expected to be made later today, if that happens, we’ll let you know (as will everyone because it will be pretty big…)

Brian Koppelman is back with another episode of his Grantland network podcast “The Moment” and this week he brings in one of the most accomplished female poker players of all time as well as just one of the best tournament players of her generation, Vanessa Selbst.

The pair sit for a lengthy and engaging conversation about all things poker all angled toward Vanessa working her way into “Rounders 2”. Enjoy!

More moments with poker players: “Rounders” Writer Brian Koppelman Has A Moment (Or Two) With Phil Hellmuth*

You know Ari, right? Maybe you remember this summer at the World Series of Poker when he sat down with CardPlayer publisher Barry Shulman and gave him an earful for taking advertising dollars from Lock Poker. That was fun.

Ari, the son of an Orthdox rabbi and winner of over $1.6M in lifetime earnings, was asked to give some beginning poker tips in a recent article for the Jewish Telegraphic Agency. He obliged and in an era of advanced theory and leveling wars Ari dishes out some tried and true advise rooted in the basics:

Patience is a virtue. I know you didn’t travel to the casino or home game to fold, but sometimes that’s what you need to do. Playing bad hands because you are bored is a recipe for a losing session. By being selective with the hands you play, you will have a better hand than your opponents over the long run. Even though you may get unlucky at times, in general you will end up with the winning hand.

Play within your means. Poker is such an amazing game when you are playing for the right stakes. Ideally you want a game where losing a buy-in hurts a little but is not too painful. If you aren’t winning, don’t move up in stakes to chase those losses. Instead, drop down in stakes to where the games are going to be easier (and therefore you will be more likely to win). The game is a lot more fun when playing in games and at stakes where you are comfortable.

Want to see everything Ari recommends check out the full, but very short, article: 5 Poker Tips From Champ Ari Engel

Pacific Northwest radio show host Ron Upshaw is a big time poker fan and when he saw that 8-time WSOP bracelet winner Erik Seidel was vacationing in Seatlle he reached out for an interview to talk about everything…except poker.

What comes out is a 16 minute long conversation about game rooms, backgammon, New York, Seidel’s childhood and his love of Stevie Wonder and music in an entertaining look at the real life behind the sometime stoic poker champion.

Check it out and listen in: Ron chats with poker great Erik Seidel about everything but poker

A pair of articles from the gang at PokerPlayer gives the reader a taste of the tales of poker excess gone by.

In the heyday of US online poker, stories emerged of young poker players who got rich super quick and thought the money would never stop rolling in. Previously unknown names like Andrew Robl, Tom Dwan and Alec Torelli were coming to prominence along with legends of them blowing massive amounts of cash playing the part of big-time ballers.

Torelli remembers another debauched night at Candy Land, a party at the Palms Casino. ‘Imagine 1,000 girls dressed in sweets, and you’ll get a mental picture of what it was like. We paid $15,000 for a table loaded down with champagne, tequila and vodka and got seated next to Snoop Dogg and his posse.’ Not even Snoop Dogg was invited to the after party though, back at durrrr’s penthouse. ‘That was truly baller,’ remembers Torelli. ‘There were a bunch of girls from the strip club Sapphire, dressed in lingerie and just having the best time.’

But it wasn’t just these new school kids who knew how to light money on fire, they took their cues from previous generations of sicko poker players like Stu Ungar and Phil Ivey.

‘Rich dude at club sends ten bottles of champagne over to Ivey’s table. Ivey sends back 20 bottles. Rich billionaire guy sends back 30 bottles. Ivey sends 40 bottles. Rich guy sends 50 bottles. Ivey sends 80 bottles. Rich guy quits. Everyone in the whole club has a bottle of champagne in their hand.’

So, if you fancy yourself a once or future baller, you might enjoy these tales of decadence from PokerPlayer: It’s A Rich Man’s World and Money, Money, Money! Poker’s Top 10 Ballers.

This past weekend while in Las Vegas, Phil Hellmuth put his big boy pants on and spent his nights doing what he does best name-dropping and party-hopping.

On Saturday it was all things NASCAR as The Poker Brat found himself surrounded by the sports lead-footed superstars Jeff Gordon, Jimmie Johnson, Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Denny Hamlin.

Then the very next night, Hellmuth fought his way into the inner ring of UFC phenom and lightweight champion Anthony “Showtime” Pettis.

Of course, Hellmuth couldn’t resist (but who could?) snapping a pic with the UFC Lightweight Championship Belt and while he doesn’t look thrilled (perhaps because he’d just gotten pushed in the face the night before) “Showtime” posed for a pic with the Brat.

When all was said and done though, Hellmuth returned to Palo Alto, CA and reiterated that while partying like a rock star can be fun, there’s no place like home.

Just a note for our readers – this post is about a paid site, we get nothing from it and we haven’t bought in but thought it was interesting enough to expose you to.

Blake Eastman is a former professional poker player with a background in psychology and non-verbal behavior and he’s looking to revolutionize the world of poker tells.

New video training website Beyond Tells is looking to take live players under its wing and expose them to discovering the on-the-felt tells of others while helping them disguise their own. With over 2 years of extensive research, these guys claim to have a system in place that will help you increase the information you can glean from your opponents and develop a hypersensitivity to every action that you see.

But before you get too excited about joining the Poker Tell revolution just remember that great knowledge can sometimes come with a large price tag. In the case of Beyond Tells – that price tag is $795.00. You don’t need to be a poker tell expert to know what sticker shock looks like.

So, if you are loaded and looking to potentially approach the game with a different skill set, check out the demo videos of the charming Eastman explaining how Beyond Tells can help you reach a new live poker plateau.

Smooth-talking World Series of Poker champion Jamie Gold is inviting you to come take your best shot at him and a whole host of other notable pros and celebrities this coming weekend.

Gold, along with actress Cheryl Hines (Larry David's wife on “Curb Your Enthusiasm”) are happily hosting the 7th Annual All In For CP Celebrity Poker Tournament which benefits the One Step Closer Foundation, a cerebral palsy charity.

In addition to Gold, fellow Main Event Champion Joe Cada is expected to be on hand as will Jennifer Tilly, Phil Laak, new Ivey Poker CEO Dan Fleyshman and Noah Schwartz.

Not cool enough for you? Well, Coolio will be there too. Yes, Coolio. Also Montel Williams, Mekhi Phifer, boy-bander AJ McLean and Dean “Superman” Cain among others.

So if you are in Las Vegas, make some time on December 13 @ 2pm to head down to Bally’s Casino Poker Room and get in the game. The buy-in is just $300 and 1st place is a cool 10K.

Other prizes that may interest you include dinner with three playmates, a WSOP experience with coaching from Gold himself and the potential satisfaction of getting to dish out a sick bad beat to a celebrity or twi. So get into the holiday spirit and who knows, maybe you’ll be a big winner while also helping a worthwhile cause.

More Jaime Gold: WSOP Main Event Champ Jamie Gold Sets A Course For Adventure On An Island Breeze

A new app aimed at helping cash game players track their sessions, My Poker Bankroll, have put their technology to the test by importing every recorded hand of every season of beloved television show High Stakes Poker and letting you see all the data.

Every season, every player and every winner and loser in a sortable table. While it can be a little difficult to navigate you can look at winners and losers per season or as a whole, how much they won and lost and how many hands each of the 77 (by our count) total participants were recorded playing.

So can you guess who the all-time biggest loser and winner is?

Daniel Negreanu, who also played the most hands of anyone is the biggest loser on the show with over $2M in losses while one-time poker prodigy Tom Dwan walks away as the HSP winner with over $1.7M in winnings. Want to know other factoids? Check it out for yourself!

High Stakes Poker All Season Statistics

Poker: a tough way to make an easy living. Especially if you’re playing for “play chips.”

Poker legend Barry Greenstein, the “Robin Hood of Poker”, has still got the skills to pay the bills as he’s making his sponsor PokerStars happy by participating in their play chip extravaganza the “Sunday Billion.”

Not only is the big name pro playing with those who are unable or unwilling to play in the real money games, he’s taking all their chips! Greenstein has outright WON his 2nd Sunday Billion (2nd in 5 weeks) and over on the PokerStars blog, the Bear talks about what it’s like where the money means nothing and the chips are free.

“People continually thank me for playing with them when I play in play money games,” said Greenstein after his first win. “They are serious recreational players and wouldn’t ever have a chance to play with a professional player if some of us didn’t take some time to play in events like these.”

To see more about Barry’s enormous No Drop victory check out the PokerStars Blog: It’s not about the money: Greenstein wins second Sunday Billion

That’s it.

Caption this if you want and tweet at us.

East coast grinder, WPT Champion and Monster Headphones spokesman WIll “The Thrill” Failla is officially off the market. It’s hard to imagine, but one of poker’s biggest personalities now has an even “better half” as a couple weeks ago Will and his new wife Sharon took the plunge and walked down the aisle.

The big question is, now that Failla is domesticated and happy – will he lose his edge? Like a rock star that finds happiness and releases a stinker of an album will Failla’s table talk suddenly be about things like “feelings” and “opening your heart?”

Doesn’t look like it. Either way, if Will’s happy, we’re happy and from the looks of it – he simply couldn’t be happier.

Congrats to Will and Sharon!

Last year was so much fun, he’s decided to do it one more time.

Noted poker pro Antonio Esfandiari is hoping to make some magical memories when he returns to Club Marquee to celebrate his 36th birthday. You may remember that he and his buddies took over the Las Vegas hotspot last year to celebrate his 35th and it seems that that it was so nice he wants to run it twice.

Sound like fun? The best part is you don’t have to be professional best friend Jeff Gross to attend, just show up and pay the outrageous cover charge and you too can swing from the chandelier and party with the one-time One Drop winner.

So book that flight or make whatever plans you need to as the rager commences this Saturday December 13.

Read from 2013: Antonio Esfandiari’s Baller Birthday

Poker pro, Ultimate Poker insider, podcast host and MMA combatant Terrence Chan has added yet another job to his eclectic resume: amateur boxer.

This past weekend, Chan accepted a challenge to step into the ring and put up his dukes in a all out boxing brawl. Chan, the shorter of the two clan in black, still has some adjusting to do from the MMA mat to the boxing ring as the fleet footed master of Limit Hold’em went at it barefoot.

We won’t spoil the ending for you fight fans but it doesn’t take a long time to see that Chan has cardio for days and a fire for beating people up.

The boxing match wasn’t the only thing that Chan got up for this weekend as the online poker industry vet also celebrated his birthday.

Happy birthday to the badass.

As a general rule, casinos don’t like it when they lose money. They especially don’t like it when they are robbed of it.

In a story reported by the Las Vegas Review Journal a suspect in a string of armed casino robberies was tazed, shot and killed at the home of the World Series of Poker, the Rio Hotel and Casino on Sunday.

The suspect, who officials have yet to only describe as a “white male adult, heavily armed”, would allegedly approach a clerk, produce weapon and at times comment that he was also carrying explosives before making off with the money.

Today when that suspect, who was being tailed by detectives, was finally approached he “did not comply with their commands” which led to him being tazed (bro).

After tazed officials say he “reached for his waistband” (aka went for his gun) and was subsequently shot dead.

More Casino Crime: Caesars Atlantic City Robbed At Gunpoint For $180K