tangentially related to poker wacky news of the day

[johnny]

Michael Phelps took a Vegas coctail waitress that he met while working on his poker game home to the folks house for Thanksgiving.

Olympic swimmer Michael Phelps gets serious with Las Vegas cocktail waitress

[quote]
Michael Phelps is taking a page from the George Clooney Dating Handbook.
The Olympian's romance with a Vegas cocktail waitress is reportedly getting serious, and sources say the pair spent Thanksgiving with his family in Baltimore.
For two months, Phelps has been dating 26-year-old Caroline "Caz" Pal, a drink slinger at the Palms Casino Resort's Moon Nightclub.
Clooney dated Las Vegas waitress Sarah Larson for about year before the pair broke up over the summer. Phelps' met his gal Pal during one of his frequent visits to Sin City, where he is working on his poker game.
Not content with merely stacking up gold medals, Phelps is hoping for a chance to amass chips in the 2009 World Series of Poker.
He has a decent shot. In October, he made it to the finals of the Caesars Palace Poker Classic. "It was fun!" he told People magazine after the tourney.
"It's just like a game that I could become better at and use some of my competitiveness at the poker table." Let's just hope he doesn't show up in a Speedo — old habits die hard.[quote]