Hide your children, poker players!

The “Poker Pervert” is on the loose at the 2008 World Series of Poker!

With all the negative publicity he has received recently, one would think that professional poker player and convicted child molester Shahram “Poker Pervert” Sheikhan would be keen on keeping a low profile.

Not so.

He’s at the WSOP at the Rio All-Suite Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas and has participated in at least two WSOP tournaments so far–Event #18, a $5,000 buy-in lowball tourney, and Event #33, a $5,000 buy-in stud tourney.

He played poorly and finished out of the money in both tournaments.

The 38-year-old Iranian native, who now lives in Las Vegas, was convicted in 1995 in California on three counts of child molestation and one count of sexual battery, in connection with an incident involving two underage girls.

He served nine months in prison for the offenses.

Last year, as part of a Federal program created to remove from the U.S. foreign nationals convicted of sex crimes, the U.S. government tried to deport Sheikhan back to Iran.

The effort failed, but only because of a technicality–the Feds were unable to prove in court the past charges against Sheikhan because the California records of his conviction had been destroyed after 10 years.

Amazingly, just a few months after the failed deportation effort, Sheikhan appeared on national television in the U.S. on NBC’s popular “Poker After Dark” show.

The appearance sparked outrage in the media, with several national publications, including Radar magazine and Globe magazine, exposing Sheikhan’s past and condemning NBC.

He hasn’t appeared on television since.

As for his playing in the current WSOP, he, shockingly enough, is not the first child molester to do so.

Thomas “Amarillo Slim” Preston Jr., who several years ago pleaded guilty to sexually assaulting his own granddaughter, played in last year’s WSOP. =A0 (E-mail Tom Somach at tomsomach@yahoo.)