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  It is not often that someone is bopping along, minding their own business, and when they bend down to tie their shoe they find a winning lottery ticket. This is the sort of unlikely event that happens only in movies that star Ben Affleck. This is fundamentally what happened to the World Poker Tour: they were just keeping to themselves and suddenly looked up, and there was Kimberly Lansing. It isn't often that a talented and beautiful entertainment reporter crosses one's path. When this happened, the WPT did what came naturally: they hired her to do interviews.



  Kimberly is a very busy young lady, considering there are many entertainment and news outlets that she lends her considerable talent to, but she took a little time to talk to LaunchPoker.



LaunchPoker: For most of your career you have been basically known as an entertainment reporter. Do your duties with the World Poker Tour still allow you to cover the entertainment world?

Kimberly Lansing: Yes. Technically I actually work for five companies, so I'm a freelance journalist/reporter/writer and one of my many jobs is reporting for the World Poker Tour. So when I'm on the road, I'm working and when I'm home, I'm working. Here's the thing, it sounds a little nuts, but unless you're having fun, there's no point. What I love about what I do is that I am always doing something different. I work for InStyle Magazine, and for that publication it is all about fashion and beauty and girly things; and then People magazine for breaking news and different celebrity events and gossip. Then I do some stuff for Wire Image and Hollywood.com where it's just fun on camera segments and then World Poker Tour is all poker, so it's completely different than the other companies. It keeps it fresh, it keeps it fun and every time I go out to work a different event, it's something new and exciting.



LP: With your background as a reporter for People Magazine, this is a question that has to be asked. Did they get it right when they declared Matt Damon the sexiest man alive?

KL: I think they got it right and I'll tell you why. Matt Damon does really well at the box office; he had a baby a little over a year ago; he recently got married; he's a good guy who's funny and good looking and he had Brad Pitt and George Cloony campaigning for him. I mean, c'mon, so I think he's totally deserving and I think it was the perfect pick. For next year I'm looking at Will Smith or Justin Timerberlake. They look good for it.



LP: In the world of professional poker who do you think would be a candidate for the
"sexiest man alive" designation?

KL: I'm going to give you a pretty common answer. Well, I don't know if it's common, but I don't know if you'll be very surprised. Can you guess who I'm going to say?



LP: Let's see, I can think of about three: The Unabomber is one, Joe Hachem would be another, and third I even hate to speak the name of the ultimate poker evil but I have to say Phil Hellmuth.

KL: It's none of the three actually. I would say that one of the best looking guys, and I think a guy or a girl could say it, would be Patrik Antonius. Now, being a model aside, he is a great poker player; he took second in the Five Diamonds a couple years ago. Some people think that he should have won. So I think for the first ever sexiest poker player alive that it should be Patrik. The following year they could throw in your picks.



LP: I can live with that. So as you mentioned you freelance for five different outlets, and all of them are so different - how do you change gears for each outlet?

KL: Well I write for two different outlets and then I do the on camera hosting stuff for the other two entertainment ones. And then the World Poker Tour is also the internet video.



LP: Do you approach each with a different mindset?

KL: Yes, definitely. Each company has their own needs and their own spin and their own audience. You have to prepare. You just can't go to the red carpet and think you are going to be doing the same thing that you did yesterday, because you are not. You're going to be asking totally different questions to totally different people. So there's preparation, there're questions that the magazine or the outlet will send you. You can ask your own questions, and then you have cater to each one (outlet). It's a very, very, very competitive business. If you're not on top of you game then sayonara.



LP: You have an impressive background as an entertainment reporter, is there a big difference between covering the Hollywood crowd and reporting on Professional Poker Players?

KL: They are totally worlds apart. Here's the main difference: when you're on the red carpet you are talking to celebrities who are trained to answer your questions. People who have heard reporters ask them some pretty crazy things, and they know how to respond. Even if they don't feel like answering a question they'll normally put it on and do it, or they have someone right there, standing with them who will say "next question" or "wrap it up". It is a lot more of a controlled environment. With that said, sometimes there are questions that you have to ask as a reporter depending on the outlet that your working on, that can be uncomfortable. In poker, there's really nothing uncomfortable about it. We are talking about the game, were talking about a sport, if you will, or a game that people love and do for a living as well. When I'm interviewing a poker player, well, it's grueling out there. They're playing for hours upon hours upon hours, so you never know what you are going to get, what kind of a mood. Sometimes it's more difficult getting it out of them - getting the entertainment out of them because when you are on camera you want people to stay there and watch it so you need to find something newsworthy or interesting about it, but there is nothing that I have to ask poker players that makes me nervous.



LP: What sort of poker background do you have?

KL: I learned how to play poker, I remember the date actually, which is kind of weird. It'll be three years actually it was on my birthday, I was in Palm Springs, my dad has a store out there where he sells video games, and juke boxes, and pool tables, and he also sells poker tables. My boyfriend was playing poker a lot online and local casinos and he said, "I have to teach you how to play; I think you're going to love the game." I'm a pretty competitive person when it comes to playing sports and that kind of stuff. So he taught me how to play and I immediately fell in love with the game. I first started off online. I was playing at PokerRoom.com and then he would take me, once he felt like I was ready, to the Bike and we played at Commerce and Hustler. I absolutely loved it and I started getting pretty confident with my game. I played in the World Series ladies event last summer.



LP: How did you do at the ladies event?

KL: Well I think I did well. It was my first multi-table tournament. I had never played anything like that before. I lasted about eight or nine hours. I found it to be kind of tough. I have a hard time reading other women, I really do because I'm used to playing with men. There are certain things you can do as a woman, certain plays and mannerisms to throw guys off. When you're playing other women it was definitely a lot harder for me, but I had a great time. It was an awesome experience. I think if I had a little more luck that day I would have done pretty well.



LP: Annie Duke has often come out against separate women's tournaments. In the past she has said, "Poker is one of the few sports where a woman can compete on a totally equal footing with a man, so I don't understand why there's a ladies only tournament." What is your opinion?

KL: That's a tough question because Annie Duke is one of the best players in the world, let alone one of the best lady players. I can see what she means because she is comfortable playing with Phil Ivey's and the Phil Hellmuth's of the world and so I can see what she means, but you have to look at all the ladies out there who become naturally reserved to an aggressive man. I feel the game has gotten a lot more aggressive, and some women can be intimidated by men. I think that the ladies events are great. It's a great way for women to celebrate the sport, get together, and have fun and play against each other. I guess you can kind of compare it to when a guy first goes and plays online, kinda like when I did. I was playing online, then I got comfortable and I started to play live. I think it's a great idea for ladies to have a tournament where they can just compete against each other, and then also have the option to play in these really big events that are expensive against the best players in the world. So I can see both sides, definitely.




LP: You mentioned that it has become more aggressive, but since television cameras have become part of the sport, it also seems to have become more demonstrative. We are seeing more tantrums, more "touchdown" dance behavior, etc. Do you think this has been good for the sport or bad for the sport?

KL: Well I think if we're going to call it a sport, then we are going to compare it to other sports out there where people react and people are aggressive, and they fight for the title. So I don't think it's bad for the sport, I think it's great for the sport that there is emotion involved and there is money at stake, and there's poker reputations at stake here. So I think it's great that there's an added entertainment value that the sport has seen in the past, probably, ten years that it didn't have before. People want to play more, and I think that is good for any sport.



LP: You have quite an impressive resume, and the WPT wisely acted quickly when the opportunity to bring you on board presented itself. Even with your notable background and talent, do you think they would have been so fast to move on you if you were not also physically striking?

KL: Well this is kind of an interesting situation for both myself and the World Poker Tour because they've never had a position like this before, and I've never been in a position like this before. There were a few guys doing this before me, and they were just an average Joe doing the interviews. Because this whole thing wasn't really planned, it's not like I auditioned to do interviews for WorldPokerTour.com. To be honest with you, I don't think it has a ton to do with looks. I think I'm rare: I don't think there are a lot of girls out there that can do what I'm doing. So I think that both sides are lucky.



LP: Based on the reaction that we are seeing, it seems you have been good for the show.

KL: Thank you, I have a lot of fun. What I'm doing right now, and I'll do, like, ninety interviews for a tournament. It adds to the show because I go up there with Layla and we do a bit, a little small thing for the show every time. It makes me better at what I do, and that is my goal. Every single time I do an interview, every time I get on camera, every time I write a story, I want to get better at what I do, and it's constant.



LP: Adding you to the mix injected a different dynamic into the mix. For the viewer this is a good thing. You and Layla play off each other so well.

KL: I cannot tell you how much fun we have together. We're so fortunate to have met each other. How bad would that suck if the two of us hated each other? That would be awful. We hit it off at Bellagio Cup III back in July. We spent the evening after the event playing blackjack and craps together and getting to know each other. We are such good friends on and off screen, and I think it shows. We just click. If you look at the two of us we are kind of opposites on paper, but opposites attract. We just have a blast together and I consider her one of my closest friends now. We're very fortunate.



LP: From a viewer perspective the chemistry between you two makes it more fun to watch.

KL: I hope so. I mean, that's the goal: just to have fun. I want to bring that fun aspect to the World Poker Tour. I feel like we add a bit of relief, when the guys are stressed out. At the end of the day it's Texas Holdem and we want to have a lot of fun with it. I hope we can include the viewers in the fun that we have and the experiences we have on the tour, because we are home very little.



LP: If I were playing you at a game of Texas Holdem, what tells should I look for?

KL: I wish I knew my tells, then I would be a better player. Whenever I have a big hand, I get a little shaky, and I think I get a little pink in the cheeks. Next Sunday I'm flying to the Bahamas for WPT boot camp, so by the time this interview goes up that tell I told you probably won't be a tell anymore. I think they'll whip me into shape down there.



LP: Tell us something that nobody else knows about you.

KL: You know what, I am such an open person, I tell everyone everything. Isn't that sad? I don't have any secrets.



  For those who wish to see more of Kimberly, her video blog can be found on www.worldpokertour.com. We thank her for her time and patience with us!