BY TOM SOMACH

Celebrities are out in full force at the main event of the World Series of Poker (WSOP) in Las Vegas, but they’re not there just to watch the action.

Many of them are the action.

Dozens of celebrities, from the worlds of film, television, music and sports, consider themselves poker players too, and have entered the world’s most prestigious poker competition–the WSOP main event.

A few actually have card-playing talent, but most have entered either to massage a massive ego or to take a shot at winning to garner huge publicity for an often-sagging career.

Among the celebs who have ponied up $10,000 to buy in to the main event, a no-limit Texas hold ‘em tournament, are Hollywood actors and actresses Jason Alexander, Tobey Maguire, Shannon Elizabeth, James Van Patten, Jen Tilly and Brad Garrett.

Also buying in were TV talk show host Montel Williamss and rapper Nelly, as well as Rene Angelil, husband and manager of singer Celine Dion.

Buying in to the tourney from the world of sports were boxer Antonio Tarver, former baseball player Jose Canseco and former hockey player Rick Tocchet.

In addition, two noted Las Vegas sports handicappers, Jim Feist and Jeffrey D’Ambrosio, also bought in to the main event.

Besides poker chips, some of the participating celebrities bring controversy to the table.

Angelil’s wagering habits have been well-documented in the media–he’s a degenerate compulsive gambler, having lost millions of dollars at the gambling tables in various Las Vegas casinos.

Canseco’s scandals are well-known, too–he’s been arrested for wife-beating and also used illegal steroids as a ballplayer.

Tocchet, who most recently had been an assistant coach under Wayne Gretzky for the National Hockey League’s Phoenix Coyotes, was arrested last year and charged with helping run a multi-million-dollar bookmaking operation that accepted sports wagers from Gretzky’s wife and other bettors.

Tocchet pleaded guilty and awaits sentencing.

Feist and D’Ambrosio, who uses the professional alias “Jeff Allen,” are con men who have appeared on their own TV shows to sell “guaranteed” predictions on sporting events.

These scamming handicappers–known as “scamdicappers”–have ripped off numerous sports bettors selling their “locks” or guaranteed picks.

No sports predictions, of course, can be guaranteed.

D’Ambrosio several years ago was also convicted on tax and gambling charges in connection with the illegal operation of Internet sportsbook Gold Medal Sports, which was based in Curacao.

He and his company had to pay millions of dollars in fines and back taxes.

It should be of no surprise that the WSOP allows such sleazy people to participate in its events.

This is the same organization, after all, that still welcomes Thomas “Amarillo Slim” Preston Jr. with open arms, even though the perverted poker pro from Texas several years ago pleaded guilty in court to sexually molesting his own 12-year-old granddaughter.

(E-mail Tom Somach at tomsomach@yahoo.com.)