Welcome to the BLUFF Daily Buzz, where we scour the entire internet for all the latest news in and around the world of poker. If it involves chips and cards, or people known to associate with chips and cards, we’re there.

Rivers to Brunson: “Go and die under a deck of cards”

Poker-hate queen Joan Rivers was in Miami for a performance yesterday and did a phone interview with the hosts of SportsTalk 790 AM The Ticket, who didn’t exactly give her a soft start to the interview by reading her a quote from Doyle Brunson’s blog where he said that if you gave Joan Rivers a penny for intelligence, you’d get a refund. Unsurprisingly, Rivers went off on an epic rant against Texas Dolly:

Who is this person? I’ve never heard of him. Oh, go away and leave me alone, and get off trying to get famous on my back. I’m really upset. What’s his name? Who the hell is he? Who gives a damn? Tell him, darling, when he’s 76 years old, and he’s had a career like I’ve had, and when he graduated Phi Beta Kappa at 19, and when he’s got an IQ at 135 and over, come and talk to me. You moron. And get off my back, because I don’t know who you are, nor do I care. Go and die under a deck of cards. I love when people who don’t know you and aren’t in your league comment.

After discussion turned to how Rivers called Annie Duke “Hitler” on Celebrity Apprentice, Rivers quickly hung up on the hosts. Then later in the show, Brunson was on to promote his new book, The Godfather of Poker. After the hosts replayed a snippet of Rivers’ rant, ending with “die under a deck of cards,” the living legend gave a hearty chuckle for a few moments before responding.

“That’ll be a pretty good place to go,” he said. “That’ll be better than dying under what she dies under - a pile of manure. She insulted poker players as a group and I’m very upset with her. She had no call to berate the poker community like she did. I think it showed no class. Joan Rivers don’t need us and we don’t need Joan Rivers, so good luck to her. By the way, I’m 76 too - you can tell her.”

So, let’s see: Rivers delivers an egocentric rant, Brunson responds with wit and a defense of his community. I do believe that makes the current score of this feud Poker 2 - Joan Rivers 0.

The full Rivers interview and aftermath here. The full Brunson reaction here. And a tip of the Daily Buzz’s hat goes to Pokerati on this one.

People are talking, talking ‘bout Cada

Cue up the standard “good for poker” discussion. Joe Cada is getting plenty of attention after becoming the youngest WSOP Main Event champion in the tournament’s 40-year history, and a fair bit of it is coming from outside the poker world.

Time Magazine published an interview with the young champ today that gives him a chance to display his intelligence - and also to stump for legal-and-regulated status our favorite game here in the United States. “Poker isn’t gambling. It’s a hobby, an activity, a game,” Cada said. “It’s not about luck — it’s about logic, decision-making, math. We all should be able to play poker on the Web if we want to, and I believe that making it illegal strips us of our rights. This is an important issue, and hopefully we’ll see it resolved soon.”

Over in the Detroit Free Press blogs, meanwhile, local radio morning show sports director Jamie Samuelsen took Cada’s win as an opportunity to defend poker against people who say it’s bad for the kids:

Cada's win has the mainstream talking poker

Look, I know that poker carries a stigma because it’s associated with casinos and gambling and addiction and money loss and men named “The Mouth” and “Fossil Man.” But it’s also a game that challenges your mind, forces you to train your memory and concentrate fully and try to outsmart every single person you’re playing against. I know plenty of poker players, and the best ones are usually the smartest people in the room. I envy it.

Most of the poker sites out there are not gambling sites. They simply allow folks to play against other players and improve their games. If my kid is playing poker nonstop and failing out of high school, well, of course, I’m not thrilled. But if he’s playing in his spare time, is that any worse than playing “Madden” or “Modern Warfare”? There are plenty of studies that say you should exercise your brain every day the same way you exercise your body. And with all the calculations that go into poker at the highest level, that’s a pretty good workout.

Let’s hope that Cada’s win continues to promote these kinds of conversations about poker in our society at large. Every non-poker-player who sees the game as a hobby and a game of skill puts us closer to a fully legal industry in the U.S.

Jamie Samuelsen’s Detroit Free Press blog here. Time Magazine’s interview with Cada here.

Absolute Poker: where people stop being polite and start being real!

Plenty of poker players have made the jump to reality television in the last couple of years. Tiffany Michelle and Maria Ho of The Amazing Race are the latest rounders to tread the path that was first blazed by Annie Duke on Celebrity Apprentice and Jean-Robert Bellande on Survivor. But now it looks like that path has been opened up going the other direction.

Trishelle Cannatella, best known for her time on MTV’s reality series The Real World: Las Vegas way back in 2002, has joined on as a “celebrity endorser” of online poker room Absolute Poker. It’s still not clear whether that’s a step up or a lateral move from appearing on television shows like Punk’d, Fear Factor, Criminal Minds, Ninja Cheerleaders, The Dukes of Hazzard: The Beginning, The Surreal Life, and Dr. Steve-O, but one way or another Trishelle seems excited. Very excited.

“I’m very excited to be Absolute Poker’s new celebrity endorser,” she said of her new association. “Poker has always been a passion of mine and I can’t think of a better team to be a part of.”

(Reality TV Star Trishelle Cannatella to Endorse Absolute Poker - Marketwire)

Palms settles over inadequate poker tournament oversight

Finally, the Palms Casino in Las Vegas, known so well to players and media alike for its WSOP parties and late-night diner (get the Nutella crepes and thank me later), has agreed to pay $100,000 to the Nevada Gaming Control Board over complaints about two poker tournaments run at its property by third-party operators.

Tournament operators Michael Eakman & Associates held a tournament at the Palms in August 2007 benefiting the Jewish Community Center of Southern Nevada but failed to pay the charity its share until four months after the event.  The United States Poker League held its tournament at the Palms in October 2007 and failed to pay the winners their complete winnings, offering half the winnings in cash and the other half in post-dated checks. A total of 22 players were came up $450,416 short because the USPL’s checks were returned for insufficient funds.

While the Palms stepped in to pay the tournament winnings in full, the Control Board still took exception. In addition to its $100,000 settlement, the casino agreed to accept more responsibility in future tournaments and set up new guidelines for future events.

(Palms agrees to pay $100,000 to settle complaint - Las Vegas Review-Journal)

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