Poker News

Bertrand Grospellier (Elky) Second in WPT Championship After Day 2

On Monday, the second day of play in the World Poker Tour (WPT) Championship played out at the Bellagio. Sitting with the second largest chip stack when the action concluded was a familiar name in the live poker world: Bertrand “Elky” Grospellier.

A member of Team PokerStars Pro, Grospellier already has wins in the 2008 PokerStars Caribbean Adventure for $2 million and the Season VII WPT Festa al Lago Main Event for $1.4 million. His win in the Bahamas saw him blast through a field of 1,136 entrants and defeat Hafiz Khan heads-up. Also at the final table, which played out at the Atlantis Resort and Casino on Paradise Island, were David “The Dragon” Phan and online poker pro Christian “charder” Harder, who took fourth and seventh, respectively. Grospellier doubled up through Shawn Cunix on Monday by drawing out after Cunix flopped the nuts. Grospellier sits with a stack of 678,300, trailing Jean-Noel Thorel’s 743,500. He will be flanked by Full Tilt Poker pro Howard Lederer at Table 57 on Tuesday.

Also still in contention is Poker News Daily guest columnist and “Celebrity Apprentice” candidate Annie Duke. The World Series of Poker (WSOP) bracelet winner will have the 87th largest stack when play resumes, 162,900. Comedian Joan Rivers comparing Duke to Hitler highlighted the latest “Celebrity Apprentice” episode. Duke told WPT Live Updates Hostess Amanda Leatherman on Monday, “She Twittered, ‘I compared Annie to Hitler last night. I’m so sorry; my apologies to Hitler’… In the heat of the moment, it’s terrible to say that. I just assumed that when she saw it, she’d regret it. I think it trivializes the Holocaust, which is terrible.” Rivers’ comments marked her second World War II dictator comparison; she also likened Duke to Benito Mussolini. Joining Duke at Table 63 on Tuesday will be Phil Laak, fellow Ultimate Bet pro Adam “Roothlus” Levy, Matt Glantz, and Phil Ivey.

In a battle of heavyweights, J.C. Tran eliminated online poker legend Cliff “JohnnyBax” Josephy near the end of play on Monday. Josephy was all-in pre-flop holding pocket eights against Tran’s A-K. The flop came a benign 9-9-5, but an ace on the turn sent Tran into the lead for good. The hand gave Tran 220,000 chips, although he ended the day with just 125,500. In September of 2006, Josephy, at the time an Ultimate Bet pro, finished second in the site’s Aruba Poker Classic for $446,000. Two months later, he was again the runner up, this time in a $4,800 buy-in preliminary tournament held during the World Poker Finals, for $187,000. The winner of that event was none other than Poker News Daily guest columnist Bernard Lee.

Here are the top 10 players on the leader board entering Day 3 on Tuesday:
1. Jean-Noel Thorel - 743,500
2. Bertrand Grospellier - 678,300
3. Steve Billirakis - 672,400
4. Dan Heimiller - 655,700
5. Justin Young - 621,800
6. Fred Berger - 598,500
7. Jimmy Fricke - 583,800
8. Steve Sung - 529,300
9. Joseph Parker - 505,500
10. Jeff Madsen - 479,200

Other notable names in the top 50 include:
12. Nenad Medic - 455,000
16. Johnny Chan - 404,500
20. David Singer - 370,700
22. Vadim Trincher - 365,200
25. Jennifer Harman - 341,300
26. Freddy Deeb - 338,400
28. Mike Matusow - 331,700
38. Kathy Liebert - 282,400
39. J.J. Liu - 281,900
46. Jerry Yang - 255,000
47. Joe Sebok - 253,900

Trincher is fresh off a win in the WPT’s Foxwoods Poker Classic, where he defeated a field of 259 entrants en route to a $731,000 payday. Heads-up at the Connecticut casino, Trincher defeated Amnon Filippi, who busted Phil Hellmuth on Day 1 from the Bellagio after just 15 minutes of play. Liebert took second to Steve Brecher in the Bay 101 Shooting Star event, which played out in March from San Jose, California; Liebert pocketed $550,000 for her runner up showing. Brecher sits with the 113th largest stack at the Bellagio, 136,200, well below the average stack size of 210,000.

Day 3 picks up today at Noon Pacific Time. A winner will be crowned on Saturday.

WPT Championship Attendance Falls 38%

The second of two starting days in the seventh annual World Poker Tour (WPT) Championship played out on Sunday. When the smoke cleared, just 337 players had entered, a drop of 38% from last year’s tally of 545.

Attendance at the WPT’s Foxwoods tournament, which took place earlier this month, was also down significantly. During this year’s running of the Connecticut tournament, 259 players turned out, representing a 25% slide from Season VI. In the end, Vadim Trincher stole the show, capturing the WPT title along with a $731,000 payday. Now, he leads the WPT Championship field 2,500 miles west at the Bellagio in Las Vegas. In fact, he is the only player with over 300,000 chips, leading the 301 remaining runners. Trincher’s opposition at Table 54 today includes online poker pros Phil “USCphildo” Collins and Brent “bhanks11” Hanks as well as Carlos Mortensen.

Here are the top ten chip stacks entering Day 2, which plays out on Monday:
1. Vadim Trincher - 309,725
2. Johnny Chan - 291,675
3. Burt Boutin - 281,000
4. Shaun Deeb - 269,900
5. Danny Fuhs - 254,200
6. Brian Powell - 254,075
7. Ryhnie Campbell - 239,600
8. Steve Billirakis - 232,450
9. Justin Young - 231,425
10. Bruno Fitoussi - 230,650

Full Tilt Poker pro Allen Cunningham suffered a loss in a 172,000 chip pot late in the day, sending his stack diving to just 22,000. The pot was 72,000 on a board of K-4-3-3-9 with three spades. Cunningham checked, Francois Safieddine led out for 50,000, and the five-time World Series of Poker (WSOP) bracelet holder called only to see that he was beaten by the absolute nuts, pocket threes. Cunningham did not survive Day 1B as a result and will look to claim his sixth bracelet when the 2009 WSOP starts on May 27th.

Each winner of a WPT tournament during the season receives a buy-in to the Championship, which represents the final event of Season VII. This season’s champions who turned out for Day 1B on Sunday included Mike Watson (Bellagio Cup), Glen Witmer (North American Poker Championship), Allen “AawwNutz” Carter (Southern Poker Championship), Freddy Deeb (Celebrity Invitational), and Steve Brecher, who took down the Bay 101 Shooting Star event last month in San Jose. All but Witmer survived Day 1B. Others who fell by the wayside on Sunday included WPT investor Lyle Berman, Clonie Gowen, and Team Ladbrokes pro Jon Kalmar.

Dan Heimiller, a WSOP bracelet holder who finished third in the Season VII Borgata Poker Open for $387,000, will hold the 34th largest stack when play resumes. He got off to a healthy start on Sunday by cracking former North American Poker Championship winner Scott “BigRiskky” Clements’ pocket aces with 6-7 of diamonds after flopping both flush and straight draws; the latter finally hit. The hand sent Heimiller to nearly 200,000 in chips, which is nearly the same amount as he’ll start Day 2 with. Clements, contrastingly, did not survive Day 1B.

Notable names remaining in the top 50 at the Bellagio include:
13. Matt “mattg1983” Graham - 222,775
16. J.C. Tran - 218,300
17. Shane “shaniac” Schlager - 215,150
18. David Benyamine - 211,975
19. Freddy Deeb - 210,425
20. Andy Bloch - 208,800
23. Mark Seif - 206,775
25. Bertrand “Elky” Grospellier - 206,275
31. Dan Heimiller - 188,350
36. David Singer - 176,075
39. Scott Montgomery - 170,000
45. Sam Farha - 163,475
49. Brandon Cantu - 157,600

Play kicks off today at Noon local time for Day 2. The tournament will crown a champion on Saturday; its victor will find their bankroll boosted by $2.1 million. Stay tuned to Poker News Daily for the latest from one of the world’s most prestigious live events.

Joan Rivers Calls Annie Duke Hitler on Celebrity Apprentice

This week marked a brand new chapter of the rift between World Series of Poker (WSOP) bracelet winner Annie Duke and comedian Joan Rivers on Celebrity Apprentice. The two hour show, which airs on NBC at 9:00pm ET on Sunday nights, was highlighted by Rivers comparing Duke to Hitler.

Last week marked the first part of a task that challenged the teams to raise money for charity by auctioning off jewelry from Ivanka Trump’s line. Whichever team made the most profit would win. Duke served as Project Manager of her team, Athena, during the task. The opposition, Kotu, pooled the team’s money together in order to elicit a massive bid for one item. The rift between Duke and Rivers was initiated when the popular female poker player would not blame Playboy Playmate Brande Roderick for the team’s loss last week. Instead, Duke fingered R&B singer Brian McKnight, who was given the boot for being lackadaisical as Project Manager.

Professional golfer Natalie Gulbis called Duke’s Ultimate Bet colleague Phil Hellmuth to fundraise against her. In response, Hellmuth notified Duke of her opposition’s plans. Hellmuth commented, “Natalie called me and she wants to talk to me in a few hours, but you’re my girl.” Duke then stated to NBC cameras, “When I found out that a friend facilitated someone getting in touch with people to try to fundraise against me, you can imagine I was not happy.” Duke called the mystery middleman and lambasted him, stating, “Why the f--- would you do what you did? You were f------ played. I suggest you call [Natalie] and tell her never to lie to you again.”

The phone conversation played out in front of Joan Rivers and country music singer Clint Black, prompting the former to retort, “The venom that came out – This is a bad, bad, bad person.” The younger Rivers questioned if Duke was simply upset that her opposition was being creative in calling Hellmuth: “If Annie had thought of [the idea], it would have just been brilliant, but because someone got her, it sent her around the bend.” Hellmuth was a noticeable no-show to the live fashion show and auction.

Showing up to New York City on Duke’s behalf were Anthrax guitarist Scott Ian (who is also an Ultimate Bet personality), Perry Friedman, and Full Tilt Poker pro Andy Bloch. The first item auctioned off was sold to the former MIT Blackjack Team member for $25,000. The second item brought in $52,000 as a result of a bid by Ian. West Coast Choppers CEO Jesse James, who was on Duke’s team, commented about his Project Manager: “Once Annie knew where the money was, she went right after it.” The third item auctioned off by Duke’s team saw Roderick model a piece of jewelry that went to a donor for $50,000. Roderick commented, “Annie was a great auctioneer. She really knows how to take money from people, but that’s what she does for a living.”

Kotu’s strategy of pooling the team’s money together to turn a large profit on one item ultimately backfired. The first piece of jewelry went unsold, while the second went for just $12,000. The elder Rivers then intervened, sharing auctioning duties with Black, which helped generate larger bids. The third item auctioned off by Kotu fetched a bid of $83,500, the largest single amount raised. On the model donning item number four, Rivers joked, “Valerie is bulimic.”

In the boardroom, Duke and the Rivers family teed off on each other. On Kotu’s strategy, Duke commented, “I think it was disrespectful to Ivanka to not make sure that every piece got sold. It’s about being respectful to the charity. It’s about being respectful to the task. It’s about being respectful to Ivanka.” Joan Rivers did not take Duke’s criticism likely, firing back, “You’re a despicable human being. You’re a perfect poker player. You’d spit on the ground and drown your own mother in it… You’re not that smart. Your ego is so beyond where you are.”

After then comparing Duke to Hitler, the Poker News Daily guest columnist explained, “I’m the one who, when I call [poker players] and tell them to get on a plane at 6:00am to come help me, they do.” In the end, Duke’s fundraising efforts led Athena to a significant margin of victory, profiting $153,000 in comparison to Kotu’s $92,000. The win meant that Duke’s charity, Refugees International, received $245,000, the largest paycheck in Celebrity Apprentice history. To date, the show has raised over $700,000 for the contestants’ beneficiaries.

Duke took a side interview with NBC cameras as an opportunity to defend herself against Rivers’ attacks. She explained, “To out of the blue come up with the things Joan said – I’m nutty and I’m Hitler – I think she’s demonstrating the qualities she accused me of. This woman is completely f------ dead to me.” Rivers cried in the boardroom when prodded by show host Donald Trump as to who should be fired, but Gulbis took the fall for her lack of fundraising as well as picking jewelry that was not visible on the runway.

The second task of the Sunday night show asked teams to devise a new frozen food and marketing campaign for Schwan’s Live Smart line. Athena selected James to be its Project Manager, while Kotu saw Heisman Trophy winner Herschel Walker step up. Duke immediately suggested turkey meatballs and gluten-free pasta as a potential item to sell. Researching products online, she claimed, “The Italian style meatballs are one of their best-sellers and they don’t offer that on the low-fat menu.” Melissa Rivers once again attacked her teammate, telling NBC, “Annie mode is that she’s going to get her way come hell or high water. Her giving up on an idea is impossible.”

Duke and Roderick headed to the kitchen to work on creating several dishes in hopes of James picking one later. In the kitchen, Duke boasted, “I’m the total woman. I can cook, I raise my children, and I give a good ----job.” Walker and Black, meanwhile, devised a soy ginger chicken dish, which the elder Rivers felt was too salty. She suggested adding orange juice to spice up the flavor, creating the final product.

When asked by Trump in the boardroom about James’ leadership, Duke responded, “I think Jesse did well in some cases and not so well in others. I think he was relatively impervious to some suggestions.” Duke felt that she and Roderick were locked out of the marketing side of the task, which fell on the shoulders of James and Melissa Rivers. James finally settled on the turkey meatball concept and, in the end, Schwan’s executives liked Athena’s dish better, sending Kotu to the boardroom once again. This time around, Walker was fired from Celebrity Apprentice for coming up with the idea for the chicken-based dish as well as a dessert that could not be properly packaged.

Next week features more of the spat between the Rivers family and Duke. The preview shows the elder Rivers calling Duke “white trash.” The show airs at 9:00pm ET on NBC. Six contestants remain.

Casey Reese, Son of Chip Reese, Dies of Drug Overdose

The son of the late Chip Reese, Casey Reese, has passed away from an overdose of prescription drugs, according to comments by Daniel Negreanu and Doyle Brunson on Full Contact Poker and Doyle’s Room. He was 20 years old.

On Tuesday, the following text appeared in Brunson’s official blog on his online poker site, Doyle’s Room: “It happened again yesterday, only this time it was Chip’s only son, Casey Reese. Casey was found in his apartment from an apparent overdose of prescription drugs. I had seen Casey a few days ago and he looked great. He was very handsome and extremely personable. I will always remember the closeness between Chip and Casey.” Brunson heard the news from his nephew and felt that he “let Chip down, but I don’t know what I could have done to help Casey.”

The news was confirmed by Negreanu, who posted in a thread on Full Contact Poker that speculated something might have happened to Casey. Negreanu noted that he was at the Bellagio when he heard the news and wrote on Full Contact Poker, “Everyone took it pretty hard. Kid was 20 years old, an incredible baseball pitcher, super smart, good looking kid... very sad. Chau [Giang] was a very good friend of both Chip and Casey and while he came down to play poker, he just couldn't do it. It was a shock. People were both sad and also pretty angry at the same time.”

Casey passed away nearly 16 months to the day after Chip, who died on December 4th, 2007 in his Las Vegas home. At 56 years old, the elder Reese was the owner of three World Series of Poker (WSOP) bracelets and took down the inaugural $50,000 HORSE Championship in 2006 for $1.7 million. He defeated Full Tilt Poker pro Andy Bloch heads-up in that event; Phil Ivey, Jim Brechtel, T.J. Cloutier, David Singer, Dewey Tomko, Patrik Antonius, and Brunson were also at the final table. Chip also won bracelets in 1978 in a $1,000 buy-in Limit Seven Card Stud High-Low contest and in 1982 in a $5,000 buy-in Limit Seven Card Stud tournament. He logged over $2.2 million from WSOP tournament play.

According to ESPN, last December, Reese was “complaining of pneumonia symptoms, but never went to a hospital and died in his sleep He was found by his son… at his Las Vegas home.” Chip was inducted into the Poker Hall of Fame in 1991, at the time the youngest player to hold that honor. ESPN added, “Brunson and Reese eventually became business partners, investing in everything from oil wells and mining to TV stations and racehorses and becoming sports betting consultants.”

A 28 page thread developed on online poker forum TwoPlusTwo bidding farewell to the poker legend Chip Reese. Andy “BKiCe” Seth expressed his remorse of the loss of an ambassador of the game: “Is this real? I've never met Chip and don't really even know much about him, but for some reason I feel like a good friend just died.” Pictures of Reese playing in high-stakes tournaments around the world pervaded the thread, as did anecdotes of players’ past experiences battling against the giant of the game.

The HORSE Championship trophy is named in Chip's honor to this day. In 2008, it was won by Scotty Nguyen, who pocketed nearly $2 million for his victory. Nguyen defeated Mike DeMichele heads-up, capping an eventful run through a final table that also included Erick Lindgren, Barry Greenstein, 2009 National Heads-Up Poker Championship winner Huck Seed, and World Poker Tour founder Lyle Berman. Winning the tournament is a prestigious honor and players will receive their next opportunity when it kicks off on June 26th from the Rio in Las Vegas during the 40th annual WSOP.

We at Poker News Daily would like to express our sincere condolences to the entire Reese family.

Annie Duke gets “Dirty with Midgets”

Poker News Daily: Talk about the double firing at the end of Sunday's episode of Celebrity Apprentice. TLC singer Tionne Watkins was dismissed after she volunteered to come back to the board room and reality star Khloe Kardashian was fired for missing time on Celebrity Apprentice due to a DUI charge.

Duke: I was kind of surprised. I knew that there might be an issue when Melissa Rivers asked for volunteers. Notice that I didn't volunteer. I was surprised that we lost the task. I was surprised that Tionne went home, but I was even more surprised that both teams lost the task.

PND: Talk about what went through your head when you learned that both teams had lost the task.

Duke: Trump made it clear right away that Perez Hilton loved our video. He was also clear that Perez hated Kotu's. When they played the videos in the boardroom, everyone was laughing at ours. I didn't even understand Kotu's. I didn't get the joke that it was about masturbation. How would we not think we had won? When it turned out that we had both lost, I realized that the executives asked for a viral video, but they really wanted a commercial. The key to understanding our mistake was that both teams came up with midgets.

PND: In the preview for this week's episode, you get into a spat with talk show host Joan Rivers. What can you tell us about it?

Duke: Joan apparently said that I would spit on the ground and drown my own mother. I can assure you that I do nothing to deserve that comment. Whatever you might say about me being direct, I don't screw people over.

I'm kind of ambivalent about it. On the one hand, what she says is so beyond the norm and I'm not sure it deserves a response. It's a level of comment that you don't need to respond to. On the other hand, it's also not fun to hear it. When people ask me if I liked doing Celebrity Apprentice, I say yes, I enjoyed almost everything about the show. I enjoyed the people I worked with and the majority of the tasks. However, I had some things said to me by Joan that no one should have to hear.

PND: In the boardroom, were the lines of personal versus business crossed between Clint Black and Joan Rivers and between Donald Trump and Khloe Kardashian?

Duke: When I found out that Clint cut Joan out of the process, I thought it was bad judgment on Clint's part. Joan took it very personally in the boardroom and I felt like she stepped over the line. She got extremely personal with Clint and none of her criticisms were about him as a Project Manager. Instead, they were about him as a man.

Everyone on the task was shocked. There was no one else to fire but Clint, who had not only locked his team out of the creative process, but physically locked his team out of the editing room. Obviously, there isn't anyone else to fire. To Clint's credit, he said that. Whatever you want to say about Clint, he did the right thing. He took full responsibility for the project and assumed full responsibility for its failure. Trump commended him for that. Khloe missed most of a past task because she was doing one of her classes. I don't understand what that has to do with Clint locking his team out of the editing room.

PND: You had said that All Small and Mighty's brand managers were looking for a commercial instead of a viral video. Can you explain that further?

Duke: On Celebrity Apprentice, you have people who are really smart and in the case of Jesse James, one of the best marketers out there. Everyone came up with the same idea: midgets. The one thing that the executives praised was the branding. I was in charge of it for my team. They said that Athena really understood the brand. We had “3X” flash really big on the screen, had three midgets, and Jesse said every brand message. I knew that at some point during the season, two people would have to get fired in the boardroom. The number of weeks compared to the number of people didn't add up.

Annie Duke Absent from Boardroom Bloodbath on Celebrity Apprentice

On Sunday night on NBC's Celebrity Apprentice, show host Donald Trump fired not one, but two contestants in an episode that severely strayed from its mantra of, “It's nothing personal, it's just business.” Fortunately for World Series of Poker Champion Annie Duke, she was not among the two contestants fired as part of a boardroom bloodbath.

This week's task was to create a viral video of up to one minute in length for All Small and Mighty laundry detergent. Prior to the task, the teams were reshuffled, notably splitting up Joan Rivers and her daughter Melissa and setting the stage for a family feud. Executives from All told the two newly-formed teams that they would be judged on originality, buzz-worthiness, and branding. The winning Project Manager would receive $10,000 for the charity of their choice.

Duke, who told her teammates several weeks ago that she would be Project Manager on the next money-raising task, did not volunteer to lead. Instead, the new Athena chose Melissa Rivers to be Project Manager, while the new Kotu selected country music star Clint Black. R&B singer Brian McKnight was away at a concert during the episode and will be assigned to a team next week. The younger Rivers noted, “I have 15 years of producing live and taped videos.” Black has produced more than a dozen music videos for his country hits.

In Athena's brainstorming session, Duke suggested midgets giving “Monster Garage” host Jesse James a bath, playing on the “small and mighty” brand name. She told her team, “There's no one on Earth who wouldn't open that video.” James declined the opportunity, prompting Duke to question the esteem she held for the West Coast Choppers CEO: “I'm really annoyed right now because there's a really good idea floating around. I thought Jesse was really strong. I was really happy he was going to be on our team, but now I feel like he's being a hindrance. I don't like people who won't step up.”

Black, meanwhile, chose to run with a dirty joke that used the phrase “do the laundry” as a metaphor for sex. The end of his vision entailed an actor saying, “It was a small load; I did it myself,” insinuating masturbation using All as a lubricant. Joan Rivers was against the idea from the start and was vocal throughout the episode of her distaste for Black and his idea. The elder Rivers threw out incomplete ideas, which Black was not appreciative of, instead deciding to pursue his original concept.

Duke was faced with convincing James to appear in the commercial. She immediately began researching the concept, telling NBC officials, “The first thing I did was show Jesse how many hits something with the word 'midget' in the title gets, which is a lot. It needs to be outrageous.” James finally agreed. Duke, who was adamant throughout the early part of the show that her idea was the correct one to film, was then sent by Melissa Rivers with TLC singer Tionne Watkins to collect props for the video. On her reasoning for sending Duke, Rivers commented, “I sent Annie because she can be pretty intense and I wanted to give Jesse a little breathing room away from her.”

Kotu's hired actor struggled to deliver Black's message and was dismissed, prompting the Project Manager to assume the role himself. However, the actor was a “little person” and Joan Rivers, LPGA golfer Natalie Gulbis, and reality star Khloe Kardashian questioned the overall vision. Meanwhile, Melissa Rivers received a phone call from Duke about branding, prompting Rivers to roll her eyes and say, “I was glad that Annie went to get the costumes with Tionne because Annie believes that even if she's not the leader, she at least tries to position herself as the puppet master.”

The rift between Black and Joan Rivers widened throughout the show. Heisman Trophy winner Herschel Walker returned from an obligation as a member of Kotu and, upon hearing what his team's idea was, speculated, “I think Clint misses his wife,” actress and singer Lisa Hartman. Walker suggested adding in thought bubbles to spice up the video and make it flow better, an idea that was ultimately embraced in the final cut.

In the board room, Joan Rivers lashed out at Black: “I'm taking this very personally.” The talk show host and comedian vowed to discard her Clint Black CDs and stated she did not want to see the singer after the show. Upon the airing of Kotu's video in the board room, Trump once again turned to Duke for objective commentary. On her opponents' viral video, Duke commented, “I thought it was terrible. I didn't understand it and it certainly wasn't viral. It wasn't pushing the edge.” Duke also noted that she represented All's demographic perfectly. which was women over 25 years-old with children.

In the end, the executives from All disliked both team's videos, leaving each Project Manager to select two team members to take back into the boardroom, where two contestants would be fired. Black selected Gulbis and Kardashian, while Melissa Rivers selected Playboy Playmate Brande Roderick and Watkins. Duke escaped the massacre that was about to unfold and is one of the nine contestants remaining.

Watkins told Melissa Rivers that she would return to the boardroom to support her Project Manager. In the end, the move proved fatal. Trump alluded to Bradford Cohen, an attorney who was fired during the second week of The Apprentice Season 2. Trump explained his significance: “He was the leader of the pack and was doing fantastically well and he volunteered to come back. He came back and I said, 'You volunteered to come back, you're fired.' Never volunteer for execution.” Trump promptly fired Watkins and allowed Melissa Rivers and Roderick to return to their suite.

Instead of firing Black for his poor decision on the viral video's content, Trump asked each person if they wanted to stay or return home and pursue other business endeavors. In the end, he lambasted Kardashian, who missed an episode of Celebrity Apprentice to attend to a Driving Under the Influence (DUI) charge in Los Angeles. Kardashian explained, “I have a DUI and I have to take classes in order for me to be here... I've taken full responsibility from the second I got it.”

Trump turned up the heat, chastising, “I hate people who drive under the influence. I know three families who lost children to drunken driving. If I had known you would have been missing time on the task for a DUI, you would have never been on the show.” Trump gave $20,000 to Kardashian's charity, The Brent Shapiro Foundation for Alcohol and Drug Awareness, and fired her on the spot.

Celebrity Apprentice returns next Sunday at 9:00pm ET with two tasks in one episode. The preview features a spat between Joan Rivers and Duke that gets so heated, special backup is brought in. What that means remains to be seen.

When Will Annie Duke Become Project Manager on Celebrity Apprentice?

Five weeks have passed in NBC's Celebrity Apprentice and we have not seen Poker News Daily Guest Columnist Annie Duke be Project Manager. In order to win money for her charity, Refugees International, and impress show host Donald Trump, she'll need to take on a leadership role in the future. Duke explained her game plan to Poker News Daily.

PokerNewsDaily: Congratulations on surviving another week of Celebrity Apprentice. When will we see you be Project Manager?

Duke: I really liken being Project Manager to knowing your table in poker. They are very similar conceptually. When you first sit down in a table, you're not looking to get involved in a huge decision. You try to avoid big decisions early on because those are where you can make mistakes. The more information you have about your opponents, the better off you are when you take a more aggressive stance.

I don't know any of these people on Celebrity Apprentice. Being Project Manager is like that big decision in poker. There is no other point where you have a bigger risk of getting fired. You're automatically in the board room if you lose. If you are Project Manager, you want to have the best chance of winning the task because you don't end up in the board room and you end up with a win, which is important in the long-run.

By this point, I know my team's strengths and weaknesses, but I'm still working on figuring out who is vulnerable to being fired. That involves listening to Trump, who is clear about who is weak and who is strong. If you're Project Manager, you can bring weaker people into the board room if you lose.

PND: What task would be ideal for you to serve as Project Manager on?

Duke: After Episode 4 (the ACN task), I said to my team that we should be Project Manager for the tasks we're good at. For me, thats the next money raising task. They said okay, but no one on my team should ever agree to that. I raise more money than anyone else on my team. If it's a money raising task, I'm not going to get fired. Let's say that you're someone who can't raise a lot of money. You should be Project Manager on that task because I'm going to make sure you win. That's an objective task: Whoever has the most money wins. The other tasks, like this week's Loews episode, are subjective. You have much less control over the outcome and you don't want to be Project Manager.

Everyone was so emotional from the board room after the ACN task and I took advantage of that. I'm trying to wait for a money raising task, but what if there isn't one? Natalie Gulbis hasn't been Project Manager and Melissa Rivers hasn't been either, so there are other people on my team who haven't stepped up. However, if I want to be seen as a leader, I have to step up. The question is, can I hold out?

PND: You mentioned that you have been paying attention to who Trump wants to fire on your team. What can you share so far?

Duke: I was the only person who knew Trump wanted to fire [TLC singer] Tionne Watkins. Trump had clearly said asked her why she didn't sing. Tionne responded that her Project Manager didn't ask her to. Had Claudia Jordan been listening to Trump, she might have been saved.

I think he still wants to get rid of Khloe Kardashian. On the ACN challenge, he asked if she did anything. This past week, he criticized her for not being there. Joan Rivers missed three days and it wasn't even mentioned.

PND: The episode ended with a board room intervention with Dennis Rodman. What did you see leading up to that moment during the task?

Duke: When we started, it was 10:00am and Dennis had two vodka cranberries in his hands. It was obvious that he started drinking early. He was being disruptive on our side and when the guests were coming in, he was screaming on his phone. It was clear that he was under the influence and being disruptive. I didn't see him walk off and I had no idea that he had gone drinking with a guest.

We knew that it had gone from funny to concerning. He's a really big dude. He's 6'8” and I've seen him explode in front of Clint Black during the previous task. Before, it was Rodman being inappropriate, but it turned into something else.

When we got into the board room, I was asked about it and made some comments that they didn't air about his behavior. Jesse James started the process. Everyone was very concerned and Dennis responded like people were trying to persecute him. He kept talking about his five championships and what he's done in the past. However, it's not what you've done in the past, it's the road you're heading down now. Everyone was very concerned for another human being. It was long, painful, and I hope nothing but for him to get help.

PND: What's been the reaction of the poker playing community as Celebrity Apprentice has aired?

Duke: I get very biased feedback when people come up to talk to me. I appreciate the positive feedback, but I also realize that it's not a fair sample. I don't read the blogs and I don't read the newsgroups. I don't think that would be productive.

I can tell you what I see on television. In the first couple of episodes, I was an antagonist, but I also got shit done. I haven't trashed talked anyone. I totally understand why someone wouldn't like me. I have an assertive personality. In the last three episodes, I see someone who does their job and helps their team.

I stand behind the strategy that I came with. I hope that people notice I haven't talked down at anyone. I try to deliver things in an objective way. Yes, I'm direct, but I do it through the business eye. I don't get into the personal stuff. In Episode 4, where clearly our team had the most conflict of all, I wasn't involved. People have a right to their opinions. They have a right to feel the way they do, but what you've seen on the show is a very accurate portrayal of who I was.

PND: Do your kids watch the show with you?

Duke: They've been getting into it. My ex-husband calls me up after every episode. We're very amicable and he's one of my biggest boosters. Joe [my boyfriend] is a great sounding board. He's in the industry and has an objective eye on the show. He can tell me about the way it's edited. It's interesting to get his perspective. He understands why the show is cut the way it is.

Celebrity Apprentice airs at 9:00pm ET on Sunday nights on NBC and runs for two hours.

Annie Duke Cleans Floors, Witnesses Rodman Alcohol Intervention on Celebrity Apprentice

I've been watching NBC's “The Apprentice” ever since its first season premiered back in 2004. Sunday's show was one of the most bizarre I've ever seen and ended with poker pro Annie Duke, a contestant on the show, witnessing the exposure of five-time NBA champion Dennis Rodman's drinking problem. The board room became a real-life intervention.

Last week, the contestants were tasked with creating a promotional campaign for the launch of a video phone designed by ACN. From the onset, Rodman's erratic behavior was brought into the spotlight, as the basketball veteran clashed with teammate and country music star Clint Black, ending with Rodman throwing down his microphone and leaving the set. In the end, however, the men's team pulled out its first win of the season on the strength of a concert by R&B singer Brian McKnight, sending the women to the board room, where “Deal or No Deal” model Claudia Jordan was fired.

This week's task was to manage five hotel rooms at the Loews Regency Hotel in New York City. The teams would be graded on customer service and other factors such as room cleanliness. The winning Project Manager received $20,000 for the charity of their choice. Duke is playing for Refugees International, which she's worked closely with as part of Ante Up for Africa, the charity she founded along with actor Don Cheadle.

The women's team, Athena, selected TLC's Tionne “T-Boz” Watkins as its Project Manager, while the men's squad (Kotu) picked Rodman. Duke commented on Rodman taking on a leadership role: “That forces him to interact with the customers, which you know can only end in disaster.” Duke's comments would foreshadow one of the most unique endings in the history of The Apprentice, which is in its eighth season on NBC.

Watkins was quick to delegate tasks as the teams received crash courses on making beds, scrubbing toilets, delivering room service, and even taking care of guests' pets. Talk show host and New York native Joan Rivers was put in charge of Athena's concierge services, taking advantage of her local connections and top-notch interpersonal skills. By the time the men had decided to purchase treats for their guests at the popular Carnegie Deli, Rodman had already began ordering vodka cranberries from Loews' kitchen.

Rodman suggested parking a Ferrari outside of the hotel for guests to use, claiming “People look at cars! People look at people! They look at my ass all the time!” Meanwhile, Duke was among those furiously cleaning rooms in the minutes before guests checked in. She recalled, “We're just frantically trying to get it done and these stains won't come out. It was a lot of freaking work.” She joked that she would leave a $100 tip at hotels in the future.

Rodman continued to drink throughout the two hour-long episode and provided little direction for his team after the first few hours of the task. Guests of Kotu were waiting to be checked in, while the women were organized on the strength of Watkins' leadership skills. Duke served as the bellhop at the beginning of the task for her team and was extremely professional. She told NBC cameras, “I behaved like an employee the whole time. I was weird about it.”

Guests who checked in came armed with a bevy of requests, including on-stage tickets for Equus and dinner at the popular Waverly Inn. Each team welcomed a guest from the first season of Celebrity Apprentice. For the men, it was “Sopranos” star Vincent Pastore, who quit during the previous season. For the women, it was actor Stephen Baldwin, who was fired in Week 11. Rivers commented on the importance of fulfilling the needs of celebrities: “You really have to treat them like a celebrity. They expect a little more.” Pastore's special requests included cannoli and CDs.

With a lack of leadership, the men's team struggled to fulfill guests' orders. A bottle of chardonnay arrived more than an hour late and several room service orders were bumbled. Rodman, who swore profusely throughout the show, went to dinner at Tao with several of his guests and the team's driver. The women, meanwhile, struggled to keep pace with a needy room of men who requested Duke to bring them cart after cart of food. On her new fans, the Ultimate Bet pro commented, “I was really proud that I was being requested. I knew I was going to be judged on the quality of service.” The room in question was disappointed at the service received from pro golfer Natalie Gulbis.

After returning from dinner, Rodman grew tired of his team and once again walked off. This time, he proclaimed, “I'm out of here. They're too fucking cool.” He removed his shirt in the hallway of the hotel and exited the scene. Former “Monster Garage” host Jesse James told his teammates, “I think Dennis may have an alcohol abuse problem for real.”

The next morning, Athena offered complimentary breakfast to its guests, which resulted in numerous errors being made. Breakfast arrived to one room 40 minutes early and patrons in another room saw their massage bill double without being told. Reality star Khloe Kardashian took the fall for the first error and Rivers was to blame on the second. Duke explained, “Khloe had no friggin' clue and she's, for me, a little bit frustratingly laid back. We've got a lot of crap to do today and people need to be on task.”

In the board room, show host Donald Trump, who has gone to Duke early and often for objective advice, asked the World Series of Poker bracelet winner whether she thought her team won. Duke responded, “There's so much subjectivity from the guests, but I think that, as a hotel staff, we did fantastic particularly given the steepness of the learning curve we had to climb up.”

Instead of breaking down the task, the board room featured Rodman's drinking problem coming to life. One of the NBA's top rebounders lashed out at James, commenting on his former alcohol abuse (James has been sober for nine years). James, who was seated in between Rodman and Heisman Trophy winner Herschel Walker, pointed at both and said, “You have two of the greatest athletes in the history of American sports right here. Look at the contrast.”

In the end, the men's team scored 86 points out of a possible 100, well short of the women's total of 91. Dennis was fired on the spot in a rather unconventional board room. The show's credits included the text, “For problems with alcohol abuse, contact Alcoholics Anonymous.”

Celebrity Apprentice airs at 9:00pm ET on Sunday nights on NBC and runs for two hours. Duke remains in the running after five weeks.