Joan Rivers has put on some weight apparently. And grown a bit of a mustache. Annie Duke supporters came out in full force for Sucking Out on the Rivers to help raise funds for Refugees International.

Fresh off her runner up finish to poker’s newest enemy Joan Rivers on Donald Trump’s Celebrity Apprentice, Annie Duke hosted “Sucking Out on the Rivers” at the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino to benefit her charity of choice, International Refugees.

While the real Joan Riverswas not invited, impersonators, poker pros and fans of Duke showed up to show their support for International Refugees, by playing in the $200 No Limit Hold ‘em with rebuys event. Poker pros Andy Bloch and Brandon Cantu showed up to show their support for Duke and her cause.

Steve Daly, a comedy female impersonator and hypnotist, showed up because he loves Annie Duke, loves Refugees International, and although he may have been in the minority, admitted he was also a Joan Rivers fan. “I’ve worked with her a few times, but I was a little disappointed with the way she handled herself on the show.”

Players and fans alike can agree that Rivers has an outdated notion of what it means to be a poker player. “Poker players are normal people: accountants, doctors, Phd’s. Our President has been known to play poker,” said Duke.

For Duke, the main reason for the charity tournament and her appearance on Celebrity Apprentice was not to win or to outdo Rivers. While on the show Duke raised $70,000 for Refugees International, over half the total amount of what was raised on the show. Duke says her only regret was that she didn’t get the $250,000 for her charity. Since the show ended fans have donated $10,000 to Refugees International, sometimes in increments as small as $10.

Rivers may have bad mouthed poker but Duke feels that she unwittingly had a positive effect on those who do not know much about poker and the poker community. “People that didn’t know anything about poker realized it was great and cool,” said Duke.

That was easy to see during the tournament. One impersonator of Rivers said he showed up to play because Rivers went on television and “basically said ‘poker sucks.’” They were there to show her otherwise.

Las Vegas based comedian and magician Dave Johnson, showed up dressed as Rivers riding a horse, complete in a shirt that read “Save a horse. Ride Joan Rivers.” He came to play, because no matter what, the tournament was for a good cause. Perhaps that shows that even bad press can be good press. Johnson added that he thought it would be fantastic if Rivers had a rebuttal to the event.

Las Vegas resident Wilma Herschberg felt it would do Rivers some good to show up to a poker charity tournament. “I think it would do her some good,” she said. Herschberg added that she had no idea what Rivers’ rebuttal would be to a group of people raising money in a form she so openly bashed while dressed up as her.

The overall concensus of the night was that regardless of what The Donald may have decided, Duke was the real winner of the show. But as far as Duke is concerned, all she cares about is the charity. “People shouldn’t feel bad for me for not winning,” she said.

Duke would like all the people who feel she should have beat Rivers to instead educate themselves about the 40 million people in the world who are displaced due to war and turnmoil in their countries.

“When people are educated they can put pressure on their representatives to make a change,” she said.

For more information of Duke’s charity visit http://www.refugeesinternational.org/

Annie Duke is out to prove Joan Rivers wrong with the “Sucking Out On The Rivers” charity tournament on May 27th.

Rivers infuriated poker players everywhere when she derided them on Celebrity Apprentice as “trash” that were all connected to organized crime. Then, twisting the knife a bit for those who love the game, Rivers managed to come out on top of the show’s heap when Duke was fired in the season finale.

Now Duke is giving poker players a chance to get their revenge on Rivers - and prove her statements about poker players wrong - with the “Sucking Out On The Rivers” charity tournament, to be held May 27th at Hard Rock Poker Lounge in Las Vegas. Co-hosting the $200 buy-in tournament with Duke will be Frank Marino, star of the long-running La Cage female impersonator revue at the Riviera, who has drawn rave reviews over the years for his impersonation of Rivers.

In addition to a field that will sport some of the world’s top professional poker players, 20 Joan Rivers impersonators will also be playing in the tournament with bounties on their heads. Rebuys and add-ons will be available through the first hour of the tournament to boost the prize pool, half of which will go to Refugees International, the charity Duke played for on Celebrity Apprentice.

“I think that after this poker tournament, the real Joan Rivers will quickly realize that poker players are good-natured people – professional people with respected occupations and families – who really want to change the lives of those less fortunate,” Duke said in a press release for the tournament. “As poker players, we’re all banding together, not just to prove a point to Joan, but to actually change the world.”

A red carpet ceremony will be held at 5 p.m. on the day of the tournament, with cards getting in the air at 6 p.m.

For more tournament information and registration, players can call the Hard Rock Poker Lounge at (702)-69-FLUSH.

Annie Duke represented the poker community with professionalism on NBC's Celebrity Apprentice finishing as the runner-up to Joan Rivers.

Throughout the second season of NBC’s Celebrity Apprentice the rivalry between poker pro Annie Duke and comedian Joan Rivers was heated to say the least. So it was only fitting that those two contestants go head-to-head in the final episode to determine who Donald Trump would name his “celebrity apprentice”.

The three-hour season finale had the two contestants each working on creating an event and auction for people attending a Cirque de Soleil show. Duke and Rivers were each given a team of recently fired contestants to help them with the task. During the task the design firm that both Duke and Rivers were too use quit after finding Rivers too difficult to work with.

Despite raising nearly three times as much money for charity during the final task Duke was fired after Trump chose the 75 year old Rivers as his second celebrity apprentice. During the season Rivers had compared Duke to Adolf Hitler and made numerous disparaging comments about poker players in general.

As the winner Rivers was awarded $250,000 for the charity she was playing for. Those interested in donating to the charity for which Duke was playing, Refugees International, can do so here.

Full Tilt Poker has a number of poker heavyweights whose names appear in red on the site as members of Team Full Tilt or Friends of Full Tilt. Now they’ve got a Hollywood heavyweight joining the ranks.

Don Cheadle, star of Oscar-nominated films Hotel Rwanda and Crash, has been signed by the online poker site as a Friend of Full Tilt. He’ll appear in red any time he’s playing on the site.

Cheadle has played in some high profile poker tournaments, including the NBC National Heads-Up Poker Championship, but he’s probably best known for being the co-founder of the Ante Up for Africa tournament.

Cheadle, along with poker pro and Celebrity Apprentice finalist Annie Duke and Norman Epstein, created the charity tournament to benefit the humanitarian efforts in Sudan. Charities such as “The Enough Project”, “Not on Our Watch” and the “International Rescue Committee” have been awarded over $2 million in donations as a result of Ante Up for Africa events.

At the 2007 NHUPC Cheadle scored a major upset victory over Phil Ivey in the opening round. He was eliminated in the next round by Scott Fischman.

“I’ve done alright in the televised tourneys I’ve participated in and I’ve won several tournaments around town. I have yet to play in the WSOP events, but I hope my schedule will permit me to do so in the future,” said Cheadle.

To play with Cheadle or any of the other Full Tilt pros sign-up now for Full Tilt Poker and receive a 100% sign-up bonus.

After two successful runs at the World Series of Poker, Ante Up For Africa is turning its attention to Monte Carlo and the European Poker Tour Grand Final Week with a €4,000 event hosted by PokerStars.

PokerStars pros Daniel Negreanu, Joe Hachem, and Vanessa Rousso will join together with the charity co-founded by Annie Duke and Don Cheadle on April 27, the night before the EPT Grand Final begins, to raise money for charities that advance the cause of refugees in Darfur, Sudan. All the money collected at the tournament will go to the cause, and PokerStars has announced that it will provide a $10,000 seat in the 2010 PokerStars Caribbean Adventure for the tournament’s winner.

To date, Ante Up For Africa has raised more than $2 million through its special events at the WSOP. Among the celebrities who have attended past tournaments are Ben Affleck, Matt Damon, Jason Alexander, Adam Sandler, Charles Barkley, Hank Azaria, Cheryl Hines, Mekhi Phifer, Martin Sheen, Ray Romano, and Montel Williams. Both previous Ante Up For Africa tournaments saw the winners - Dan Shak and Brandon Moran in 2007, John “World” Hennigan in 2008 - gave their entire prizes to the charity.

Annie Duke is hoping to never hear Donald Trump say "You're fired" on the second season of Celebrity Apprentice.

Spoiler Warning: This article contains information pertaining to the possible outcome of the upcoming season of Celebrity Apprentice.

Annie Duke has never shyed away from the spotlight of mainstream media and Sunday night she’ll be starting her run on the NBC reality TV show Celebrity Apprentice.

The UltimateBet spokesperson has previously appeared the NBC game shows 1 vs. 100 and Deal or No Deal and had a sitcom pilot based loosely on her life enter production before rejected by the network.

On Celebrity Apprentice Duke is part of a cast that includes comedian Andrew Dice Clay, former NBA star Dennis Rodman, talk show host Tom Green, reality TV star Khloe Kardashian and 2001 Playboy Playmate of the Year Brande Roderick. The 16 contestants will compete in a series of business related challenges and judged by Donald Trump.

Each celebrity candidate will be playing on behalf of a charity and to the surprise of nobody in the poker world Duke has chosen Refugees International, a group that works to provide support for refugees in countries in crisis including Darfur, a cause close to Duke’s heart.

Every episode the leader of the winning task is awarded a monetary prize to be given to that players chosen charity. The eventual winner of the 14-week competition also earns a cash prize for their charity.

**Spoiler Alert**

WickedChopsPoker.com has been reporting that Duke is one of the final two contestants and may in fact win the event.

Celebrity Apprentice airs Sunday nights at 9 pm on NBC. Check local listings.