As if insulting Annie Duke and the entire poker community on Celebrity Apprentice wasn't bad enough, poker hater-er Joan Rivers was at it again when she phoned in for an interview on SportsTalk 790 AM The Ticket, this time her target was poker legend Doyle Brunson.

When the whole Apprentice thing went down, Brunson took to his blog to decry Rivers as an enemy of the poker community and made a comment calling into question her intelligence based on ignorant remarks made by her on the show about poker players in general, and specifically Duke. When read this quote, Rivers erupted into another one of her self-centered, ill-advised and under-informed rants, accusing Brunson of trying to get famous "on [her] back" (so many jokes, so little time) and advised the poker great that when he was 76 and had a career like hers he could then come and talk to her, but until then could go "die under a deck of cards." She also called him a moron. Hi pot, this is kettle, you're black.

Anyway, as fate would have it. Brunson was scheduled to appear later in the show to hype his new book, The Godfather of Poker. The hosts of the show played back Rivers' rant an unperturbed Brunson just had this to say:

“That’s 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.” (thanks to Bluff Magazine for the transcription)

So, kudos to Brunson for his vigorous defense of the poker community, and for giving us something to write about.

If I had to pick one of them to go the deepest in the 2009 main event it would have to be Duke. Lederer seems to be locked into the old school poker way of thinking, and he doesn’t fare well against modern players who mix up their play a lot. Duke is still very charged up from her battles with Joan Rivers, and she seems to work on improving her game as time moves forward.

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I think this one is a no-brainer. Negreanu is a far more consistent player than Duke and he should easily go deeper than she will. Annie certainly has the talent to go deep in the main event, but I’ll take the consistent money on this one. Negreanu has been playing well at the ’09 WSOP and already has four WSOP cashes (including tenth, second, and fourth-place finishes) for a total of over $400K.

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The $5,000 buy-in tournament will take place on July 2 and will once again benefit charities associated with providing aid for the humanitarian crisis Darfur, Sudan. In a bid to get higher ratings, ESPN will be televising the event as part of their modified 2009 WSOP TV lineup that only includes footage of four events: the $10,000 WSOP Main Event, $40,000 Special 40th Anniversary event, the WSOP Champions Invitational and this Ante Up For Africa charity event.

Among those who we have to elbow our way through the regular paparazzi to take photos of are Matt Damon, Jason Alexander, Charles Barkley, Montel Williams, Herschel Walker, Hank Azaria, Brad Garrett, Reggie Miller, Marlon Wayans, Sarah Silverman and Casey Affleck, with more expected to be added as the day draws closer.  Poker pros expexted to be in attendance include Howard Lederer, Andy Bloch, Erik Seidel and Phil Hellmuth, plus whoever else Annie likes.

The charity event will air on August 11 at 8pm ET and we will be there covering the event like regular paparazzi, minus the upskirts….maybe. So, make sure to head over to our WSOP coverage area once the WSOP kicks off to keep up on all of the action.

In 2004, Duke beat a field of 234 players in the WSOP $2000 buy-in Omaha Hi/Lo Split and won her first WSOP bracelet. In August of the same year, Duke won $2 million in the No-Limit Texas Hold’em winner-take-all, invitation-only WSOP Tournament of Champions. She has been hailed the best female poker player in the world.

Do you think Annie Duke deserved the title of Celebrity Apprentice? Or do you think Joan Rivers' intense hatred of Duke was justified ? Duke explains on her blog about what happened after the last boardroom.

On Sunday night's three-hour live finale, Rivers and Duke were challenged to raise money for their respective charities by selling Cirque du Soleil tickets and providing a pre-show VIP party. Even though Annie Duke out fund-raised Joan Rivers, Joan took home points for attracting bigger celebrities and integrating the Kodak brand more.

Rivers went on the Today Show after her win, explaining her hatred from Duke by saying, "I love everybody. Don't you touch my daughter or you're dead in the water."

With her win, Rivers raised $250,000 for her charity God's Love We Deliver. When Trump announced she was the winner, Rivers stood up and gave Duke a hug. Trump's Celebrity Apprentice will back next year with another season.

In this new season of the show, however, the players aren't competing to win a spot within the Trump organization, they are playing to win money for their chosen charity. Duke is playing for Refugees International, very much in line with her work for Ante Up For Africa. The winner will also receive a $250,000 bonus check for their charity.

Getting to that point through will involve getting through a laundry list of A, B, C and D-list celebrities. Appearing on the show with Duke are musician Khloe Kardashian, Dennis Rodman, female golfer Natalie Gulbis, Herschel Walker, Clint Black, comedians Andrew Dice Clay and Tom Green, Joan Rivers and her daughter Melissa Rivers, Scott Hamilton, Jesse James, Claudia Jordan (Deal or No Deal ), Brian McKnight, Brande Roderick and Tionne "T-Boz" Watkins.

The eighth season of the Apprentice gets underway on NBC on March 1 at 9 p.m. ET.

Bodog Poker's own Jean Robert Bellande was the first poker professional to star on a reality TV show when he made an appearance on the CBS show Survivor: China.