World Series of Poker Scandal: The Battle of Brandi's Backers

David Sklansky (left) and Capt. Tom Franklin (right) have both been linked to Brandi Hawbaker and are both playing today's World Championship $3,000 Seven Card Stud event. (Bodog Beat Image)

To answer your question, yes this is a fluff peice and, no, we feel no shame. This has been one of the slower days of poker that we've seen around here and at least it's marginally more interesting than the post about dining options at the Rio we were going to write. No final tables today and only one Day 2, so we're scraping the barrel. However, Day 1 of the World Championship $3,000 Seven Card Stud has given our gossip/scandal-loving sides a chance to come out.

Seated just a couple of tables from each other are Capt. Tom Franklin and David Sklansky. Other than being old creepy, poker players, these two have another connection. They have both, at one time or another, given "advice" to Brandi Hawbaker on playing poker, along with some financial help (allegedly, for the back story read the Beat post we did earlier: Is Brandi Hawbaker the Paris Hilton of Poker?).

Sklansky is Brandi's current fling mentor and she was seen at his table just moments ago leaning over him....giving him advice? The only advice she could have been giving was how not to play poker, since she busted out of the $1,500 Pot Limit Omaha event fairly early on. No matter what sweet nothings she was whispering in his ear, reports are that she was definitely giving the rest of the room a great cleavage shot. Our on-the-floor correspondent texted us with this sighting and we tried to get the pic for you. However, 13 days of sitting in front of this computer and eating in the Poker Kitchen has, shall we say, weighed us down a bit, so we're a little slower than we used to be. Sorry.

Oh, you were coming here for live updates from the 2007 World Series of Poker? No, this is the US Weekly of poker. Come back later.