UltimateBet Aruba Classic Goes to Rice --  Travis Rice won the UB-sponsored Aruba Classic, topping a star-laden field to capture the $478,405 first prize.  Rice started the final table with a narrow lead over Brad Smithson and held on for the win, finally besting James Mordue during heads-up play.

Richard Lee Charged in Bookmaking Probe --  Richard Lee, the sixth-place finisher in the 2006 WSOP Main Event, was finally charged with "gambling promotion" after a 14-month investigation that resulted in the raids of Lee’s and several other San Antonio-area homes.  Four other men were also charged, though Lee was cited as the ringleader of the bookie ring, which allegedly utilized an Internet gambling site fictitiously based in Costa Rica but really operated by Lee and his cohorts in San Antonio.  According to local reports, a plea deal is in the works that would spare any of the defendants lengthy jail time, but for Lee it would be a pricey trade indeed: The local DA wants 80% of Lee’s bank account, which at the time was flush with Lee’s $2.81 million WSOP winnings.

Adam Gerber Takes US Poker Championship --  The U.S. Poker Championships drew less media attention (and no TV coverage) than in previous years, but a healthy handful of stars were still on hand for this Atlantic City event. Adam Gerber triumphed over the 164-player field, collecting $606,000.  Louis Lee finished second and Matthew Glantz claimed third.

2008 WSOP Dates Announced --  The 2008 World Series of Poker will once again be held at the Rio in Las Vegas, occupying roughly the same seven-week stretch as this past year’s edition.  The 2008 WSOP will run from May 29th through July 17th; specific event listings have not yet been released.

Pamela Weds "Professional Poker Player" Beau --  It’s hard to really give the tag "pro poker player" to Pamela Anderson’s latest hubby, Rick Salomon; despite a few smaller cashes in large events, he’s rather more known for bedroom than poker-room antics.  Anyhow, Anderson made good on her quarter-million-dollar poker debt to Salomon, then decided that she really, really loved the guy, marrying him in a ceremony this past Saturday at the Mirage.  The ceremony featured donut holes instead of wedding cake and was jammed in between the matinee and evening shows of magician Hans Klok, for whom Pammie is guesting as a stage assistant.  (Or, it might be her best-paying gig at the moment.)  In any event, there’s more than chips in the air in this tale, which should last happily ever after, or three months or so, given Anderson’s track record with marriages.

Snakes!  Snakes in the Box! --  Remember that strange story about the two guys who sought revenge on the former owner of the Colorado-based Amateur Poker Tour, claiming that the tour owner, Matt Sowash, had stiffed them out of about $60,000?  The two men, Christopher Steelman and Herbert Beck, hatched a bizarre plot involving a box with a trap door designed to imprison Sowash’s legs; rattlesnakes were supposed to be placed in the box, along with Sowash.  Murder-conspiracy, kidnapping and extortion charges were filed against the men when the plot was uncovered.  Now, the murder-conspiracy and kidnapping charges against Steelman have been dropped, suggesting indirectly that Beck may have been the instigator of the bizarre scheme.  Again, one cannot just make up stuff like this.~~