Poker Industry Reacts to 2009 Celebrity Apprentice Winner Joan Rivers

[Eric]

Annie Duke in a complex task featuring a silent auction prior to a
performance of Cirque du Soleil's Wintuk. On Monday, the poker
industry reacted to the decision by real estate mogul and show host
Donald Trump.

On the online poker community PocketFives.com, the mood was mixed.
Many of poker's faithful sided with Duke, while others noted that
Rivers won the show's featured task. One PocketFiver noted, "Joan did
win the final task. Standard TV entertainment. At least some charities
benefit." In fact, Rivers' charity (God's Love We Deliver) and Duke's
charity (Refugees International) earned over $1.2 million combined
from the reality series. They will also experience residual exposure
from Celebrity Apprentice in the future. On the finale, Celebrity
Apprentice Season 1 winner Piers Morgan boasted that his charity, the
Intrepid Fallen Heroes Fund, was able to construct a $60 million wing
at its offices by virtue of the publicity on popular reality program.

Other poker players took exception to the terms used by Rivers and her
daughter, Melissa, to describe poker players during the season, which
lasted 11 episodes. The Rivers family labeled Duke a "whore," "pit
viper," and "Nazi" and called poker players "trash." Duke compared
Rivers to a "cancer" in a battle of words. One PocketFives.com poster
noted, "Annie deserved to win. And I believe there are a LOT of poker
players (who also dabble in the world of business) that may want to
b**** slap Joan and Melissa sometime borderline slanderous statements
may come back to bite her."

Team PokerStars

Daniel Negreanu weighed in on the outcome of NBC's Celebrity
Apprentice. In a blog posted on Full Contact Poker, Negreanu noted,
"Going into the last task, it was pretty clear that Annie was a huge
favorite to win. Of the five criteria, she had one of them in the bag-
fund raising." Negreanu revealed that Duke's brother, Howard Lederer ,
donated $100,000 during the silent auction. Ultimate Bet

Phil Hellmuth told Poker News Daily that he contributed $80,000. In
total, the event raised $460,000, which was triple the take of Rivers'
gala. Negreanu questioned Duke selecting ally and Playboy Playmate of
the Year Brande Roderick with her first pick: "She could have picked
Brande last, as Joan did. I was surprised to see this obvious mistake.
Seriously, it was a major tactical error. Herschel ended up being a
rock star on the challenge." The elder Rivers selected her daughter
with her third and final pick, knowing that Duke would not draft
Melissa Rivers to her team.

In the final boardroom, which played out in front of a live studio
audience in New York City, the two finalists from Season 1, Morgan and
country music star Trace Adkins, were asked for their opinion on who
should be the next Celebrity Apprentice. Both favored Rivers, with
Morgan claiming that she deserved to win after taking down three of
the five criteria on the final task. Adkins' answer was more cryptic;
the singer merely said that Rivers "had that charitable thing."
Negreanu hypothesized, "His vote, and this is all speculation, I think
had a little bit to do with the charity chosen. That's just a total
guess on my part, but I think with him being a full-blooded American,
he preferred a charity that would benefit people in the U.S." Duke was
playing for Refugees International, an organization that she works
closely with as part of Ante Up for Africa.

World Series of Poker (WSOP) Commissioner Jeffrey Pollack extended his
congratulations to Duke even though she did not win the reality
program's second celebrity installment. In his Twitter feed, Pollack
commented, "Proud of Duke 4 an incredible season on C.A. +
representing the poker community w/smarts, style + grace! U r our
champion + hero!"

The Celebrity Apprentice will return in early 2010 for Season 3, the
ninth installment of the show overall.
Play Online Poker Free and Receive an $1100 Bonus http://pokermilk.com/2