WSOP: Celebrity Apprentice Good For Poker

The commissioner of the World Series of Poker said last week that poker professional Annie Duke's participation on reality TV show Celebrity Apprentice will be good for the game, the San Francisco Chronicle reported.

Commissioner Jeffrey Pollack said Duke's presence signified a "quantum leap" for poker by giving it another step forward into mainstream culture.

Pollack, who was speaking at a news conference during the annual World Series of Poker conference, was responding to a question about whether he thought a woman would eventually win the series' no-limit Texas Hold 'em main event.

"We would love to see a woman win the main event... unless that woman happens to be Joan Rivers," the Chronicle quoted Pollack as saying.

He was alluding to the controversial dispute between WSOP bracelet winner Duke and comedian Joan Rvers during Celebrity Apprentice a couple of weeks ago, when Rivers compared Duke to Hitler.

When Duke referred to herself as "nice" during one episode, Rivers replied, "Hitler was nice", at which point the name calling got out of control.

In a side interview later on, Duke responded to Rivers outburst, saying "That woman is completely f***ing dead to me. One hundred percent...She's a crazy bitch and as far as I'm concerned she can never speak to me again."