Columnist Kate Maddox: Regent players getting gamey

Kate Maddox

Tuesday, May 15, 2001 | 8:17 a.m.

The game still isn't over at the Regent Las Vegas. When we last checked in with the poker hounds, who include World Series of Poker legends Chip Reese, Doyle Brunson and Bobby Baldwin, they were only scheduled to play through the weekend of May 4. But May 4 became May 11, and May 11 became May 13, and May 13 now looks like it will become May 18.

The game began April 24.

This latest round included a 10-hour stretch on Sunday, which prompted a plea for rest. After a couple of days off the marathon high-stakes game will resume this week, probably on Wednesday, according to a Regent poker room employee.

Although various players have joined in and dropped out since the start three weeks ago, the buy-in reportedly still hovers in the $500,000 range. As one eyewitness said: "At any given time, there's several million on the table."

Don't be alarmed, David Cassidy's record deal is still intact. On Sunday I speculated that the singer's plans to head back to the studio might be on hold since Cassidy is suing BMG/Arista Records for breach of contract and questionable accounting. Turns out Cassidy's new recording agreement is with Universal Records. BMG/Arista is only in charge of the former Partridge's earlier compilations.

An upcoming two-disc Cassidy special, still in the embryonic stage, will be a mix of new music as well as re-recorded greatest hits. Hey, I think I love that idea.

In the June issue of Vanity Fair, Lauren Hutton recounts the story of her near-fatal motorcycle accident outside of Las Vegas. Hutton suffered multiple injuries in the October crash and is still recuperating.

The most disturbing part of the magazine's account is a photo of a re-enactment of the accident. Hutton is shown flying behind a motorcycle with her legs in the air, her mouth agape and her eyes wide open. At least Hutton can poke a little fun at her brush with death.

Frank Marino returns to the little screen this week, co-hosting with Sally Jessy Raphael on a "Sally" episode titled, appropriately, "Hot Drag Divas."

Marino, star of "La Cage" at the Riviera, flew to New York last week for the taping. Vegas' highest-paid drag queen spent the first half of the show as Joan Rivers and the second as Fran Drescher. With Raphael, Marino introduces the new wave of targets for cross-dressing divas: one guest is Christina Aguilera, another is Jennifer Lopez, still another is Britney Spears. You get the point.

Marino's "Sally" appearance airs Friday at 10 a.m. on the WB (Channel 21).

And congratulations to Stephen "Steely" Richards. On Saturday night the enthused lead singer of Taproot screamed and sang his way right through the roof of a Port-a-Potty at Sam Boyd Stadium during X-Treme Radio's "Our Big Concert."

After a particularly rowdy set, Richards apparently became bored and jumped headlong into a gruesomely aggressive mosh pit, climbed out, kept singing, scaled the stands and triumphantly leapt atop the john. Then the roof gave way.

Richards spent the rest of the song apologizing for his unscheduled trip to the loo.