Duke will join 15 other celebrities (including Andrew Dice Clay, Melissa and Joan Rivers, Dennis Rodman, Clint Black, Tom Green, Playboy playmate Brande Roderick, and other pseudo-stars) competing in business-related challenges in New York City, as each raises money for their selected charities.

Media was on a lockdown from revealing any of the celebs, which were announced in a hush-hush meeting back in October, before the show began taping.

Ance since taping has completed, how does Duke do? Tune in March 1 to find out, you may be surprised how well her poker skills are applied to the boardroom.

Weather your winning or losing at the tables, Bodog is offering online poker players the opportunity to earn cash while they play with their Bodog Poker Points to cash program.

When you complete the Bodog poker download, you are then prompted to create a screen name and 50 Poker Points is automatically added to your player account. To begin earning Bodog Poker Points, all you have to do is play. It's that simple. While you play, you earn.

Once you have accumulated enough Poker Points, you can then convert them to cash or use them to play in poker tournaments available like Bodog's $100,000 Guaranteed, the 2009 World Series in Vegas and other live events in their Player's Choice program.

Bodog is also offering players who earn 2000 or more points in a month the opportunity to double their cash rewards with a double points bonus.

Here's how it works:

1. Earn 2000 or more poker points in a month.
2. At the end of the month, you'll receive a lump sum double poker point's bonus to your account.
3. Convert your poker points to cash or use your points in our poker point tournaments.

There's never been a better time to be a frequent poker player at Bodog. Get in the game and start earning your Bodog Poker Points today!

Poker dealer work these days are slim pickin's, what with the recession, e-tables (Excalibur, which we hear are doing well and will most likely be picked up by other MGM Mirage properties), and the lack of players (Silverton, IP, and Gold Coast barely run one table these days).

But here's Aria to the rescue. Aria is the much-anticipated new casino being built as part of MGM Mirage's $9 billion CityCenter.

Today marks the opening of some 12,000 new job openings for CityCenter at this link.

While we don't yet know anything about what the poker room will be like, search for "poker," and you'll find vacancies for poker room cashiers, attendants, supervisors, coordinators, attendants, shift managers, and dealers. All positions begin September, with hirings running through December.

Just fill out the online application, then schedule an in-person review (if local; by telephone if out-of-state).

Interviews will then take place in April, plenty of time to brush up on your card pitching. In fact, here's a tip right from an MGM Grand poker dealer: when auditioning, if you forget everything else, don't forget to rake the pot. If they like you, they will overlook nervousness, misdealt cards, etc. But if you don't rake correctly, you won't have a chance.

Current MGM Mirage employees get preferential treatment, with interviews in February.

For more information, call (702) 590-2489 or 1-866-909-2489.

2008 was a year of downturns at every turn, even for recession proof Las Vegas. Billion dollar projects idled, layoffs by the thousands, sky-high gasoline, grounded airline flights, and poker rooms closing have combined to cast a darkening shadow of doubt over the Vegas skyline. The Las Vegas strip's eternally optimistic views of tomorrow have been replaced by views of rusting rebar and sun bleached concrete columns. What's the over/under on the "City of Entertainment" going under?

One of the few bright spots in the 2008 Las Vegas gaming landscape was live poker tournaments. The Mother of all poker tournaments, the World Series of Poker®, was a record setting event that played to one of the largest crowds in the long history of the WSOP.

Will the future of Vegas poker remain bright while the great Vegas gaming infrastructure continues to downsize in the raging economic storms? Again, we point to the WSOP. Properly branded, efficiently managed, better than year before, media savvy, Internet friendly, proven fan friendly atmosphere, and ESPN TV have registered send the WSOP to the next level.

The other popular poker tournament in 2008? The NBC National Heads-Up Poker Championship at Caesars Palace Las Vegas. A high dollar NBC TV Sports production featuring 64 of poker's elite invited to come together in a series of single elimination heads-up matches to determine the best heads-up poker player in all the land. The Heads-Up tourney follows the college basketball championship format, and it's complete after three days of intense play in front of a live TV audience.

If you're dreaming of sitting in one of the 64 seats of the 2009 NBC National Heads-Up Poker Championship at Caesars Palace this February there are only two ways to get one. Most of the seats are filled with invited poker stars and elites; while, a few hopefuls win one of the rare seats offered in a satellite. Check your mail for an invitation. No invitation then you're down to one option for a seat, a Caesars Palace Free Roll Satellite for the final seat.

Get a free entry into the 2009 Heads-Up Championship Free Roll Tournament with fifty hours of live play in Caesars Poker Room during January. The Free Roll Heads-Up tournament is scheduled for February 22nd at 11AM. First place walks away with $10K in cash and the coveted $20K seat in the upcoming 2009 NBC National Heads-Up Poker Championship. Get busy playing the Caesars Las Vegas Poker Room for your free ticket to the free roll.

photo by flipchip • lasvegasvegas.com

With two major expos in town this week the poker rooms around Las Vegas should have a marked increase in players. Many of the drop-in players will be short on Vegas poker experience, others will be playing casino poker for the first time. This makes for an idea combination to give the advantage to the better poker players. Stop by a Las Vegas poker room this week, January 8-11, and maybe you'll leave with a few extra bucks from a visitor's expense account.

Unlike the now defunct Comdex Convention, the attendees to the Consumer Electronics Show and the AVN/Adult Entertainment Expo like to gamble. They spend time in the casinos and poker rooms pumping up the table drop. They also like to play poker tournaments.

Of course, not all of the newbies are inexperienced, they just act that way. These stealthy players represent a potential drain from the bankroll of even the high skilled, experienced players so be ever careful and be grateful that most of the convention player influx is dead money. They're in town to do some business, have a good time, and lose a few bucks. Don't forget to use the LasVegasVegas Poker Tournament Directory, updated daily for the most accurate Las Vegas poker tournament information on the Internet.

photo by flipchip • lasvegasvegas.com

If you are an enthusiastic online poker player, make an ambitious New Year's resolution this year to join Bodog and get started with their free poker download.

Bodog recently introduced their new poker client, which includes many innovative changes to their poker room interface, features and customization settings.

Bodog now features an inviting look and feel with unique and modern table structure that makes the overall game-flow more intuitive, enjoyable and easy to follow. It's sleeker, smoother and sharper than ever.

Opposing players now have a defined "place setting" and the "on-action" player is highlighted with a soft spotlight. The centralized dashboard has also been redesigned and clearly lays out controls for easy in-hand action.

New Bodog poker room features include:

• quickseat option that gets you started fast
• picture-in-picture so you can play at up to three tables
• at-table tournament info panel so you don't have to return to the main lobby
• folded hand display to see what you could've won or lost
• separate chat and dealer broadcast located on the table's side panel
• pre-populated bet buttons such as pot and half-pot for quick and easy placing
• player statistics to analyze your play in real time or afterwards and,
• opponent notes to keep track of your opponents' player styles

Players can also personalize their poker table settings by customizing the felt table colors, creating their own Player Profile Card, and by adding a Player Plaque image.

Don't wait another minute, start the New Year right and play online poker at Bodog!

Rio Las Vegas is now offering the highest comps for poker players in Las Vegas, at $3 per hour.

The next highest is at Imperial Palace at $2 per hour.

We spoke with Danielle at Rio who was extremely chipper about the promotion, saying that $3 per hour applied to all cash game players between 3 a.m. and 3 p.m. every day, then reverts to the regular $1 per hour the rest of the time.

In addition, the rake is capped at $3 between 3 a.m. and 3 p.m. That's significant in itself.

Quads of 10s and above receive a guaranteed $300, though this will change next week when Rio switches to a bad beat jackpot.

An armed robbery took place at the Sahara Hotel & Casino last Friday.

Around 6 p.m. on Dec. 19, someone held up the poker room cashier and walked away with an undisclosed amount of money.

To get to the poker room cashier, you have to walk through a row of about eight poker tables on either side. And then back out.

No poker player was robbed, and no one was harmed.

Metro is investigating.

If you have any information, call Crime Stoppers at (702) 385-5555.

David Rheems rode his aggressive style of play to victory in the 2008 WPT's Doyle Brunson Five Diamond World Poker Classic at the Bellagio. The win gave Rheems an early Christmas present in the form of $1,538,730 in cash. He also received a $25K buy-in in the WPT Spring Championship event.

Justin Young came up one short and had to settle for second place and $936,760. Evan McNiff finished in third place for a $540,440 payday. As we predicted in yesterday's post, this day belonged to David "Chino" Rheems.

David Rheems outlasted a field of 6833 to grab a seat at the 2008 WSOP Main Event so out playing a much smaller field of 497 entrants playing in the $15K WPT Doyle Brunson Five Diamond World Poker Classic appears to be a piece of cake. The six remaining players will take their seats today at 4 PM at the Mirage and do card battle until only one champion remains.

The following players with seat assignment and chip count make up the final table six. The winner will receive $1,538,730 of the $7,231,350 prize pool. This one may belong to Chino.

1 - Steve Sung 5,885,000
2 - Evan McNiff 4,805,000
3 - Chino Rheem 4,240,000
4 - Amnon Filippi 2,750,000
5 - Justin Young 2,410,000
6 - Hoyt Corkins 2,295,000

Bodog's popular Poker Blogger Tournament Series is heading into its final week and that means its time to start placing some poker bets at Bodog's Sportsbook on the final outcome.

Props to bet on include: what the final winning hand of the Tournament of Champions (TOC) will be, what Poker Blogger will win the TOC, what the river card in the final hand will be and more!

The Bodog Poker Blogger Tournament Series started back on October 28 and is comprised of 15 qualifying tournaments that run on Tuesday and Thursday evenings.

Among those who have made appearances with bounties on their heads are Bodog poker pro Evelyn Ng, Eric "Rizen" Lynch and notorious poker bloggers, Smokkee, Waffles and Iggy.

At the completion of the 15 qualifying tournaments, the total points of each player will determine who will move on to the TOC. Players within the top 15% of all participants on the tournament leaderboard will then participate in the TOC this Thursday December 18, 2008.

The winner of the TOC will receive T$2,000 and a $100 casino credit to use at Bodog's online casino. Second place receives T$500, third T$250, fourth T$100 and fifth place receives T$50.

Don't miss out on this opportunity to make a little extra cash this holiday season. Head on over to Bodog's online sportsbook and place your bet today!

Las Vegas was over run by poker bloggers from around the world in town for the 2008 Holiday Blogger Tournament this weekend. The affair was held at the palatial Venetian Poker Room. Many of the players at the tables represent poker blogging royalty.

Poker Works' Linda, the first lady of poker blogs - Dr Pauly from Tao of Poker - Al Can't Hang - Blogfather Iggy - Pokerati's Dan - Change 100 - Poker Grub - Mean Gene - Human Head - Falstaff - Las Vegas Vegas' Poker Prof - and many more gathered for the Fifth Annual Las Vegas Holiday Blogger Tournament. Flipchip was there with the camera and shares a few images.

photos by flipchip • lasvegasvegas.com

photos by flipchip • lasvegasvegas.com

photos by flipchip • lasvegasvegas.com

photos by flipchip • lasvegasvegas.com

photos by flipchip • lasvegasvegas.com

photos by flipchip • lasvegasvegas.com

photos by flipchip • lasvegasvegas.com

High-powered consultant and poker player, Wendeen H. Eolis, defines the state of efforts to repeal UIGEA in her latest article, "Our Washington Insider: Aftermath of Sixty Minutes Expose" headlining PokerPlayerNewspaper.com. Eolis shares her insiders' look at the reaction of incoming political powers to the 60 Minutes episiode "Cheaters" episode broadcast November 30th on CBS TV.

This is a must read for every poker player and Internet gambler. Click this link for the latest information on the probability of online legalization and repeal of UIGEA. Until UIGEA is repealed American citizens are missing some important personal freedoms. Click the above link to read the article and stay informed. Make legalization a good bet.