Annie Duke to host "Sucking out on the Rivers" Charity Poker Tournament, Sponsored by UltimateBet.net

Miami, FL, May 22, 2009 – Fans of NBC's Celebrity Apprentice may need to do a double take on May 27th after seeing Annie Duke join forces with archrival Joan Rivers at a charity poker tournament in Las Vegas. Leading online poker site UltimateBet.net today announced the sponsorship of the Sucking out on the Rivers charity poker tournament in support of Refugees International. UltimateBet.net's own Annie Duke will be hosting the event alongside Frank Marino, a well-known Joan Rivers impersonator, and nearly all of the top poker pros in Vegas are already on board to play in the charity tournament.

"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," stated Annie Duke. "As poker players, we're all banding together, not just to prove a point to Joan, but to actually change the world."

While the charity poker tournament will be co-hosted by a Joan Rivers impersonator, the real Joan Rivers went head-to-head with Annie Duke on the most recent season of Celebrity Apprentice. The often abrasive and brash comedienne told Annie, on camera, that all poker players were white trash and that none of them had last names, suggesting that those who love poker are automatically linked to organized crime.

Rivers' opinion has drawn the ire of virtually everyone in the poker world, which is made up of doctors, lawyers, accountants, astrophysicists and other professionals. The world's top poker players and several Hollywood celebrities are slated to play in the charity poker event to show that there's a lot of good that comes from poker. Over 20 Joan Rivers impersonators will also be playing in the event and each one will have a bounty on his or her head. Poker fans can secure their spot in the tournament for $200 and the No Limit Texas Hold'em tourney features rebuys and add-ons to help the prize pool grow even higher.

100% of the prize money will go to the winner with half of it being directed to charity. While Nevada gaming laws prohibit money being given directly from the prize pool to charity, the winner may volunteer to donate half of their winnings to the charity, in keeping with what has been done in previous charity events hosted by UltimateBet.net.

The Sucking out on the Rivers Charity Event, sponsored by UltimateBet.net, DeepStacks University, Hard Rock Poker Lounge, and WSOP Academy, gets underway on May 27th at 6pm at the Hard Rock Casino Poker Lounge. The event will be preceded by a Red Carpet ceremony at 5pm.

For tournament information and registration contact:
Hard Rock Poker Lounge at 702-69FLUSH
For media information contact:
Lara Miller Lara@diamonddrawmanagement.com

About UltimateBet.net
Designed with the assistance of the best poker players in the world - Phil Hellmuth and Annie Duke – UltimateBet.net provides the best free online poker games available on the net through the CEREUS poker network. Players can download the free poker software, play in free ring games and tournaments and get tips from the pros to learn the sport or to enhance their playing strategy.