While a Super Bowl of Poker isn’t a terrible idea, even a less terrible idea is a Marisa Miller bikini calendar. Miller may be the hottest U.S. American model out there today. View the calendar here. Watch video of her in a bikini here.

Despite whatever issues we reported that he’s having with ESPN.com, poker player Bill "The Sports Guy" Simmons is back writing again. For his latest ESPN the Mag column, he does a take on the "New Rules" segment from Real Time With Bill Maher. In it, a poker idea worth merit:

We need a Super Bowl of Poker. I like what happened with the World Series of Poker. The more the merrier, I say. But I was watching one of this year’s episodes, and Norm Chad casually mentioned that Phil Hellmuth defeated a 178-man field to win the 1989 title. This year, Hellmuth was playing against a field that was roughly the size of Sacramento. Can’t they create an elite tournament that’s even bigger in stature than the WSOP or the HORSE tourney? Maybe $100,000 per entry, only 250 pros invited—the cream of the crop—with the winner getting 15 mil and a cool trophy that looks like the Wimbledon tray crossed with a giant ace of spades? Isn’t that better than a tournament that’s inevitably won by a no-name with a goatee who managed a hardware store three years ago? You’d watch the Super Bowl of Poker. Don’t deny it.

There are plenty of flaws in this idea. First, there’s no way you could get 250 people to pony up $100,000 a piece. Especially considering that guys who could stake multiple players like Phil Ivey and others who like to gamble and may not have the cash on hand when the tourney is ready to kick off. Second, just because you invite an "elite" player doesn’t mean he’s going to want to put up the $100,000. Third, some players that have the cash may not see it as a good investment. Jerry Yang may really, really love God but even he’s gotta know that God can’t love him back THAT much.

However, you could probably get 250 people to pony up $50,000 (150 already do for the H.O.R.S.E. event, an event that many top hold’em specialists don’t play) with perhaps the online sites or other sponsors picking up the rest of the tab. Shit, hold it in Europe so you could get Betfair, Party, and Ladbrokes Internet money infused into it. Whatever it takes.

Make it a three-day event and handle it like like ESPN is doing The November Nine^TM where you’re only on a day or two tape delay.

At this stage, poker on TV could use a shot in the arm that only somebody you’ve actually heard of before winning $15M could provide.

Read the full column here.

Tagged as: Bill Simmons

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