Party Poker, Lava Life Announce New Singles-Only Tournament Series

At long last, things are looking up for Bluff Magazine's Dirty Wally, pictured at right. And here's why:

Imagine your loyal blogger's surprise, in the last day or two, having received not one but two mail forwardings of an unusual poker-news release publicized over at poker777.com. The news release, linked here, details the teaming up of Party Poker and Internet dating service provider, Lavalife, in producing a series of single-only tournaments designed to let the lovelorn poker player search at the table for the sweetheart of his or her dreams.

You can check the details of the release on your own, should you wish --- but as one would expect, it's pretty cheesy stuff. The idea was born from a real-life romance that flourished through online Party tables last year, but it's not the only such tale of poker-room romance to cross the wires; another such story is mentioned in a recent issue of Card Player.

So despite the repeated requests to this blog to see if we could somehow get Gavin Griffin nominated as the celebrity spokesperson for the tourney, it's not at all clear if the tourney concept itself will turn out to be such a great idea, when all is said and done. (The tourneys have already started, so if you're interested, just boogie on over to Party and sign up.)

The reason for the pessimism? it's because of the Griffin-esque subterfuges at the heart of the other post. Despite the fact that the percentages of women playing poker continue to grow, it'll be as likely as not that half the "girls" in the tourney are guys just looking to grab easy cash from some of the other guys, those who have their minds on something other than their best game of poker.


However it turns out, though, this lovers' tourney has answered a long-unsolved mystery concerning Party Poker's print advertising. By now you've certainly noticed the image from the Party ad to the right; it's made repeated appearances in Party's print ads in major poker magazines. In fact, the thing is so odd that I've been looking for the right opportunity to mention it here. It's about that look.

And then, in a flash of satori, the answer:

Go rent yourself a copy of Police Academy --- the original movie, not any of the six increasingly ghastly sequels --- and zoom to the final scenes. Check out the commencement-speech part of the closing, and particular the famed "podium" bit featuring Commandant Lassard, and look for a certain facial expression...

With that and with all of the above, the Party Poker ad now makes sense.