Welcome to the BLUFF Daily Buzz, where we scour the entire internet for all the latest news in and around the world of poker. If it involves chips and cards, or people known to associate with chips and cards, we’re there.

Hellmuth ready for another grand entrance…

Anyone who hasn’t been living in a cave for the last few years knows that Phil Hellmuth has developed a taste for big entrances into the WSOP Main Event. Whether it’s been a race car, a tank, or a chariot, Hellmuth’s arrival on the scene has always gotten attention. Now he’s getting ready to do it all over again in London.

The 11-time gold bracelet winner announced on his Twitter feed today that he’ll be duplicating his 2009 WSOP Main Event entrance when he arrives at the WSOP Europe Main Event on Day 1A “dressed as Julius Caesar, in a Chariot w horses, and 11 models!!” The big difference, of course, is that Julius Caesar only made his grand entrances after returning from conquest, while Hellmuth hasn’t quite conquered London yet. Still, the spectacle should be worth a look when the inevitable video footage of his entrance hits the web.

See what Phil’s up to in London tonight with Layne Flack and Jean-Robert Bellande on our Poker Tweets page.

…And perhaps a grand exit

While Phil prepares for his imperial entrance, he’s quietly steaming about the implications of Harrah’s and the WSOP preparing to open their own online poker site. Or at least, he was quietly steaming before opening up to the hosts of the Hardcore Poker Show. Now his frustrations are out in the open for the entire poker world to consider.

“I think there’s a huge battle brewing,” he said during his interview. “And I’ve never talked about this in public, but I see now, in my discussions with Jeffrey Pollack, knowing that the World Series of Poker is going to start an online poker site. And talking to the guys at Full Tilt, and talking to the guys at UltimateBet and talking to the guys at PokerStars, it looks like the World Series of Poker and Harrah’s are going to be in a tough position.”

“You know, there’s going to be some mistakes made by Harrah’s, and just mark my words - they’re going to risk losing the World Series of Poker, which is estimated at $200 million. It may actually become worth nothing if they force the players, all the great Internet sites to say, “Look, we’re going to start our own deal, because Harrah’s is restricting logos. They’re actually taking logo use out of the picture, or trying to press their position as a site owner.”

“I’ve always been a Harrah’s proponent, but I’m afraid they’re going to make some mistakes. And it won’t be Jeffrey Pollack or Ty Stewart. It’s going to be some Harrah’s management that doesn’t understand the value of the World Series of Poker I believe. And they’re going to be trying to make their billion-dollar poker site, and they’re going to risk damaging the World Series of Poker.”

Hellmuth also complains in the interview about the fact that Harrah’s uses his photo in promotional materials but didn’t pay for his room at the WSOP this year - which he says they can more than afford considering they rake from the WSOP $15-20 million every year, amounting to a second place finish in every tournament they host. With nearly $8 million in tournament winnings and sponsorship deals out the wazoo, you’d think Phil would have enough money to pay for his own hotel.

(Phil Hellmuth Fires First Shot At Harrah’s - Pokerati.com)

Sebok highlights UB hand history release process

When Joe Sebok announced his new affiliation with UltimateBet he made it clear that one of his top priorities would be securing the release of the names of all the people involved in the superuser cheating scandal as well as all the relative hand history files from incidents. It’s only been a few days since his announcement, but Sebok addressed the latter issue in a blog post at PokerRoad today.

UB is sending out the hand histories in a two-part process. First players will receive a spreadsheet detailing hands they played against any of the 117 cheating accounts, allowing them to verify their refunds independently. Then UB will ship out the actual hand history files for all the hands detailed in the spreadsheet. According to Seebs the reason for the two steps is that processing all the individual files takes a long time, and UB wants to get some kind of useful information to players while they wait for the hand histories.

“Please be a little patient with getting this information out and back to you once you have requested it,” wrote Sebok. “I know you have all been waiting for quite a while, but this kind of project takes some time to run through.”

This is just the first move, of course, but optimism about the situation at UB might be warranted if Joe can continue to press ahead at this kind of pace.

(Process for Release of UB Hand Histories - PokerRoad)

Amazing Race producer praises Michelle and Ho

And finally, Entertainment Weekly’s Hollywood Insider blog posted an exclusive reveal of The Amazing Race’s route around the world today. All the poker fans who plan on watching the show to track the progress of Tiffany Michelle and Maria Ho will want to check out the article to see where the ladies will be traveling in future episodes, but they’ll also be interested in the quotes about them that EW grabbed from executive producer Bertram van Munster.

“They are incredibly shrewd. They are tough as nails,” van Munster said of the pro poker duo. “They’d do anything to win. They blew me away.”

That kind of quote suggests the two won’t be making an early exit from the show, giving their fans - and all the Tiffany Michelle haters on the internet - plenty of chances to catch them in action throughout the season. The new season of The Amazing Race begins on CBS this Sunday.

(‘The Amazing Race 15’: Exclusive reveal of the route, plus teases - Entertainment Weekly)

Online room UltimateBet pulled off a huge move today, signing Joe Sebok to a dual role as a sponsored player and a consultant on media and operations.

“We are ecstatic to bring Joe onto Team UB,” said Paul Leggett, COO of Tokwiro Enterprises, UB’s parent company. “He will not only serve as a pro player representing the brand, but more importantly will be instrumental in helping us create a poker site for and by poker players. His commitment to the brand was invaluable as he worked closely with me to help begin to bring closure on the details surrounding the cheating investigation from last year. I’ll continue to work with him to ensure that we always do everything possible to satisfy the poker community’s concerns and will continue to work together to make UB the premier poker site. I couldn’t be happier to welcome Joe to the team today”.

The signing of Sebok, the founder of PokerRoad.com and a highly respected voice in the poker community, comes after he had declined multiple requests from UB in the past. But he says that a conversation with Annie Duke, in which she agreed with all his concerns about how UB had handled the scandal, opened him up to the idea of at least talking with UB. After months of exploratory talks, in which he examined every aspect of the company, Sebok finally pulled the trigger.

“UB and I first started talking about a possible relationship almost 4 months ago and I made it very clear that I couldn’t commit until that point in time when the names associated with the scandal began to be released,” Sebok said in a press release. “Paul Leggett has been instrumental in this process and I now feel comfortable and excited about joining the team, as we are heading in such a positive direction.  While this process isn’t entirely complete, I consider this to be one of my new responsibilities moving forward and intend to continue working very closely with Paul to ensure it happens.  I am very happy to be joining UB today and look forward to our future.”

“Now, does this mean that all is forgiven and Ub is an angel organization now?  The answer to that question is a resolute, ‘No’,” Sebok wrote in his blog post announcing the deal. “I explained to Paul that I would only get involved in the company if they agreed to two conditions: 1) They always allowed me to speak my mind 100%. I would never be a P.R. spinning machine for them and they shouldn’t expect that. If something were to go down at Ub while I am there, I will be the first to blow the whistle and force the company to be accountable, not the last. 2) They also agreed to create a role for me within Ub that was more than just sponsored player.”

Sebok’s first order of business appears to be the release of the names of all the cheaters involved in the superuser scandal, a move that would go a long way toward rehabilitating the site’s image. “Paul Leggett, and the UB team, have been instrumental in beginning this process and I now feel comfortable, and excited, coming aboard the team, as we are heading in such a bright direction,” said Sebok. “This process isn’t complete of course, but I count that among my responsibilities moving forward and intend to continue it.  I am very happy to be joining up with UB today and look forward to our future.”