Tiffany Michelle and the World Series of Poker

A lot has been said about the behavior of Tiffany Michelle at the World Series of Poker this past year, both good and bad. As many of you know, she finished 17th at the World Series and many of you saw her antics on ESPN television.

I actually worked this past summer as a part of the media and was able to see Tiffany up close. We were not friends. To be blunt, she pretty much didn’t speak to us unless she needed something. One of my other friends told me several stories about her that basically has backed up some of the negative spin on her. Now, I am not going to say what my friend told me as I did not physically see these things. I can comment on others.

Many of you saw how she acted at the table. Tiffany has been quoted as many times saying that she has been misrepresented on screen and that she is not how she is portrayed. Craig Marquis chimed in on about her behavior. Tiffany said that the episodes were horribly edited and that the banter between her and Chris was playful. This is what he said:

“Yeah. This is all well and good after the fact, but you were extremely disrespectful and unbelievably rude while we were playing in just about every situation you could be. I feel like those 7 edited episodes accurately depicted your behavior during the tournament, and you can say it was “your table face” or whatever, but your calling the clock during the Paul Snead and Scott Montgomery hand in what is probably the most stressful situation the man has ever been just boggles my mind. Also this is coming from somebody who is judging you entirely on his personal experience with you, not from the any media-skewed perspective.”

So basically one of the people that was supposed to be an example of someone that she got along with has came out and said she was exactly how she was portrayed.

For those of you that didn’t follow the series during the summer or missed the articles about it, this is not the only controversy revolving around the WSOP. Tiffany Michelle was actually bought into the World Series of Poker by a joint partnership between Jeffrey Lisandro and the owner of PokerNews.com Tony G. Tony was supposed to have full rights to her endorsements as a result of his buying her way in.

As Tiffany got deeper into the main event, she started showing up in UltimateBet gear. When Tony called her about this, she told him to go see her agent. This infuriated Tony and started a war of words between the two. Tiffany said that she had her lawyers look over the contract and they said that the terms were non-exclusive and Tony says that he was supposed to have her rights. Later on, Tiffany said that she was a grown woman and that Tony G should not have the rights to determine who she is sponsored by, even if he purchased her way into the event.

First, it is strange that she went through the trouble to have her contract looked over. Doing so clearly shows me that she was looking for a way to either get out of the contract or do what she wanted. She didn’t want to share the wealth.

Now granted, I can understand wanting to handle your own affairs, but when you have someone putting up their money to cover your buy-ins in to a tournament, you need to pay them some sort of respect. A phone call to him talking about the situation may have solved a lot of hurt feelings.

Of course, she didn’t make the call and signed with UltimateBet. Many have criticized her about this due to the accusations against UltimateBet and its owner Russ Hamilton regarding the use of Superuser accounts. Unfortunately, now Tiffany Michelle is associated with cheaters and that type of association can ruin a person’s career.

In the end, her going around Tony cost her big time. Not only did she hurt her reputation, but she also missed out on a major endorsement from Pokerstars.com. According to Tony G, he had a deal in place that would have guaranteed her at least $1 Million in tournament buy-ins. Instead, she signed with Ultimatebet.

Of course, then there is her conduct on camera. Her behavior was poor and her calling the clock against Paul Snead was in very poor taste. Taking a long time to make a decision in the World Series of Poker is a lot different than trying to make a decision in a daily tournament at your local casino. With $9 Million for first, extra time should indeed be taken.

I will give Paul Snead props for not saying anything to her as he left. He showed class and exited like a gentleman, which is less than I can say about Tiffany Michelle’s conduct during the hand that crippled him.

There weren’t any tears shed when Tiffany Michelle busted out of the tournament. In fact, I wouldn’t be surprised if they didn’t buy the guy a drink. I would have if I were there. What would be even funnier is if Tony G decided to back him next year.

Now granted, I realize that I am sitting here behind a computer screen and commenting on events that have already happened. The difference between me and others is that I was there when much of this was happening and have talked to several people involved. I have also experienced some of her behavior at the table and around the tables during the WSOP. While, I’m not going to say some of the nasty things about her that others have said on many of the internet message board, I will say that the coverage of her on ESPN pretty well summed her up. I will be interested in seeing how much of a poker career she has. She may do well, but she will have to work hard to rebuild a reputation that has taken many hits during the last few months.