As reported today on Daniel Negreanu’s Poker Blog, fellow poker pro Phil Ivey will play Tiger Woods for the ridiculous bet of $5 Million.

Ok. So it’s not true at all even though Daniel did post it, but it just goes to show how false rumors can spread like wild fire throughout the internet.

Daniel posted it in response to a crazy day of rumors circling around the poker world which said that Doyle Brunson had been arrested yesterday possibly by the US DOJ or FBI. Of course these rumors were shown to be completely false when some of Doyles friends and associates called him today to find out what was going on and were told it couldn’t be farther from the truth and that he was at home and fine.

Apparently some poker forums had posted the false message stating that they had inside information from people inside PokerStars online poker room.

It’s amazing how false rumors like this can be started and catch on. One giveaway should have been that no legitimate news sources picked up the story.

Daniel was just trying to make a point and although he was just kidding I think the TV viewership for Phil Ivey vs. Tiger Woods (with the special rules for Phil in place) would be huge. He’s always been called the “Tiger Woods of Poker” and his passion for the game of golf has been highly publicized.

According to recent numbers within the gaming industry there are over 23 Million avid poker players in the US and obviously even a huge number more throughout the world, plus even more golfers so a matchup like this would draw in huge viewer numbers and would be a hit for a cable network like The Golf Channel. Neither Tiger nor Phil really need the money, but maybe a sponsored event where the two play heads up and the winner gets $5 Million towards their favorite charity would be good.

It probably won’t ever happen, but with all the bad news surrounding the online poker world, some good publicity couldn’t hurt.

To read the full post from Daniel Negreanu, please click on the article here titled Poker Gossip.