Annie Duke will be appearing at Harrah’s Resort during its World Series of Poker circuit event, which starts Saturday. This is at least Duke’s third appearance in the city supporting the WSOP circuit events (maybe more, if we’ve lost count).

Duke will arrive on Friday, December 10 with an appearance at the WSOP Tourney at 6pm. She’ll have an open Q&A session around 8pm.

On Saturday, December 11, Duke will be playing in the Harrah’s Resort Poker room starting at 11am. Those events usually involve Duke playing in cash games with poker room guests, not in an actual circuit event.

But then again, she can probably do whatever she wants.

Peter Eastgate’s 2008 World Series of Poker championship bracelet did not end up in the hands of Tony G, but did bring in $147,500 from an anonymous bidder on Thanksgiving Day.

Eastgate and bracelet

Eastgate won $9.1 million on the day he won the bracelet, but has since taken an extended break from the game, and caused some controversy by putting the bracelet up for sale. The proceeds went to UNICEF.

Under eBay’s confidentiality rules, the buyer was not identified.

Tony G had said he wanted the bracelet and would turn it into a dog collar for his German Sheppard Zasko. There’s no report on how high Tony G bid.

Strangely, there are now three WSOP bracelets that have hit the auction block this year.

According to PokerNews Daily, in January, one of T.J Cloutier’s bracelets was put up for sale by a Plano pawn shop and sold for $4,006 to the online site Cake Poker, which then returned the bracelet to Cloutier.

Currently ongoing is an auction on eBay for Paul “Eskimo” Clark’s 1999 WSOP bracelet, which he won in the $1,500 Razz tournament. Clark appears to have sold the breacelet to a third party, which is now selling it on eBay.

Reports have the bidding inching slowly toward the about $5,000 the bracelet is worth just for its gold alone.

Of course, an event bracelet is much less ornate than a main event bracelet and is basically just gold with a WSOP engraving.

The whole thing makes you wonder how valued the bracelets are among players.

Speaking to PokerNews Daily, three-time WSOP Bracelet winner Barry Greenstein made an interesting point. Players often make unpublicized deals at the end of events, with some players electing for cash rather than a bracelet.

“Just because we say it’s all about the bracelet doesn’t mean it’s about the physical bracelet. It’s about winning,” Greenstein said. “However, I am very aware of how many I have won. And I can’t remember how many finishes I’ve had that resulted in higher payouts than my wins.

“On the other hand, I know of several instances where people made deals to get extra money and let someone else win the bracelet,” he said. “In every case I know of, the person who took the extra money regretted it later.”

Sarah Jean Underwood

Oh, and in a quick correction, Showboat seems to have switched up which Playboy Playmates hosted the HOB Poker Open over the weekend. The lineup was actually Sarah Jean Underwood, Shannon James and Heather Rae Young. We can’t imagine this disappointed anyone, but sorry for the confusion.

AJ Alexander

The Real Deal will be taking a bit of a holiday break (Happy Thanksgiving by the way) so a quick reminder that there is tournament action this weekend in Atlantic City.

The Showboat/House of Blues Open, hosted by Playboy playmates Lindsey Evans, A,J. Alexander and Francesca Frigo, will be held Friday through Saturday in the Orleans ballroom.

You can get the full schedule here.

As for the bad beats, The Tropicana’s bad beat has climbed to about $236,000, which is pretty impressive for the Trop. The Borgata’s bad beat is at $141,903 (quad 10s or better). The Harrah’s combined bad beat, which is now the Caesars Entertainment’s combined bad beat, is at about $175,000 and the Taj Mahal’s bad beat is listed at $20,000.

Now, for a drumstick.

Hey, we know this is a poker blog, but people hit jackpots all the time in Atlantic City.

The winning machine

So here’s a little slot news.

A New Jersey man, who wishes to remain anonymous, hit a  $7,355,381.94 jackpot at Harrah’s Resort this morning at 9:05 am in the casino’s Diamond Cove slot section. It’s the second largest slot jackpot in the casino’s history.

He hit it on a $5 Wheel of Fortune slot machine, so you nickel slot players will just have to keep grinding.

It’s kind of cool that the guy wants to be anonymous, but Harrah’s interviewed him anyway.

According to Harrah’s: “The Harrah’s Resort customer stated that he was here on the very day the casino opened its doors.  He jokingly referred to the casino as his “second home”.

The unassuming, middle-aged man, who asked to remain anonymous, said he was first going to buy a 1967 Camaro. “Tom” is not married and plans on sharing his new millionaire status with his extended family and friends.

Unassuming, middle-aged, single Tom will probably look pretty good in that Camaro.

A bill to allow New Jersey to become the first state to allow intrastate online gambling, as well as online gambling for overseas patrons, passed the New Jersey State Senate Monday.

The online gaming would be limited to licensed Atlantic City casinos.

The bill was one of several that passed the Senate to help prop up Atlantic City as it faces declining gambling revenues and also to save the state’s horseracing industry.

Here’s our rundown of the legislation.

While the passage of the online gaming bill, by a 29 to five vote, is a positive development for online poker enthusiasts hoping to see a U.S. state allow online gaming, the bill has a long way to go before becoming law, including possible legal challenges that a federal ban on interstate gambling nullifies the bill. Proponents say that by limiting the betting to New Jersey residents, the federal ban does not apply. The international component of the bill — allowing overseas patrons to play — however, would also likely raise legal issues.

The bill now moves to the State Assembly.

Pocket aces propelled Ed Gamaitoni to a first place finish at the U.S. Poker chanpionship and a $167,616 win.

Gamaitoni tastes the good life

This is the first recorded tournament win (only major tournaments get counted of course) for Gamaitoni, who was the chip leader going into yesterday’s final day of play.

On the final hand, Gamaitoni faced off heads up with David Gillen.

Gillen got trapped on the final hand thinking Gamaitoni was trying to steal the pot, going all in with suited nine, four of spades. He found himself looking down the barrel at Gamaitoni’s aces. The aces held up. Gillen got $93,201.

Gillen is also an amateur getting by far his biggest payday for what he described as his “first live tournament.”

It’s fitting that the U.S.P.C. came down to two amateurs. The city’s oldest tournament has clearly lost its luster with the pros attracting only a handful of known players.

Still there were some highlights for the pros that did attend, as outlined by ptseats.com, which live blogged the tournament for the Taj Mahal.

Among them:

- “Miami” John Cernuto ($4.3 million in tournament winnings) winning back-to-back events on the very same night, and in two different games (Event 6: NLHE Deepstack & Event 7: Seven Card Stud).

- Atlantic City’s own Chris Reslock final tabling 5 events, and winning one of them (Event 13: PL Omaha H/L 8). He now has close to $1.7million in tournament winnings.

- Cliffside Park’s Gordon Eng winning back-to-back events (Events 3 & 4), leaving town, then winning another one upon his return 12 days later (Event 18).  A record 3 USPC titles in 2010.

Harrah’s combined bad beat continues to defy the high minimum hand requirements and hit for a third time Thursday, Nov. 18 at about 5:30pm for $282,584.10 at the Showboat.

Despite a minimum hand of quad 10s, dueling straight flushes hit the jackpot.

Poker players throughout the four Harrah’s rooms — Harrah’s Resort, Bally’s, Caesars and Showboat — won $542, basically for not taking an early dinner.

We think that’s about 260 players, but our math is always suspect at best.

Here’s the rundown from Harrah’s:

Howard David of Newark, New York flashed what he thought was a winning hand, a seven-high straight flush of clubs, only to experience a bad beat when Egg Harbor Township native Paul Tavormina laid down his nine-high straight flush of clubs and sealed the win.  David’s losing hand earned him $85,317 while Tavormina’s winning hand added $57,059 to his wallet.  The Total Bad Beat Jackpot was immediately reset to $199,000.

Which is, of course, not the bad beat total we reported Friday, so we’ll have to work out a better system for getting these numbers from Harrah’s.

We do know that the minimum hand is back to quad queens.

It’s a big day for Atlantic City in Trenton as a number of bills designed to help Atlantic City recover from its terrible gambling revenue slump go before the State Senate today.

One bill, S-490, would allow the state to allow Internet gambling to New Jersey residents and also overseas clients. The bill would allow the wagering through Atlantic City casinos.

Though the bill comes before the Senate, anyone waiting for quick action could be disappointed. Even if passed, the bill would have to also pass the State Assembly and be signed by the Governor. Remember, the bill is part of a plan by state Democrats that may of may not jibe with our Republican governor’s plan for the city.

Even if Gov. Chris Christie signs the bill, it would then have to clear likely legal challenges that it violates federal law that bans Internet wagering.

Proponents of the bill say that by limiting the gambling to New Jersey, the federal ban does not apply. Still, it’s a good bet a judge will have to make the final call.

But like we said, it’s a big day in Trenton for Atlantic City. Already a bill to allow a referendum on sports betting in the state has cleared a Senate committee.

In another story, Peter Eastgate has earned some ire from the poker world for placing his 2008 World Series of Poker main event championship bracelet up for sale on eBay. After all, this is the most cherished championship trophy in the poker world.

But quite frankly, we get it.

Eastgate and his retirement fund

First off, Eastgate is giving the proceeds to UNICEF, a pretty respectable charity. And second, by all accounts Eastgate just isn’t interested in poker stardom. With a $9.1 million win, he’s already retired from the game.

ESPN’s poker blog has some good incite into Eastgate’s decision.

Pro Tony G’s stance is a little harder to swallow. One of poker’s villains, he says he plans to win the bracelet (in bidding that is) and turn it into a dog collar for his German sheppard Zasko.

The latest bids on the bracelet have topped $56,000, but Tony G has said he expects it to go for six figures.

Tony G may be turning the thing into a carnival, but at least UNICEF will be the winner.

Tony G

Poker News Daily quotes him as saying  “I have had a number of comments about whether this demeans the value of a WSOP bracelet. You’ve got to have a laugh in life and this is what this is – a bit of fun for a good cause. And yes… I haven’t yet won a bracelet, but it is only a matter of time.”

If you’re interested, here’s the items description on eBay: “Stamped 18k, white gold ‘World Series of Poker 2008’ Main Event Winners’ medal bracelet. Consisting of 291 small ‘brilliant’ cut diamonds set on a center medal, which is held on an 18k white gold wristwatch style bracelet. Carat: Total Diamond weight 2.81ct. Clarity: VS Color: Colorless. Total gold weight: 168 grams. Manufactured by Corum.”

One last thing — from someone not really into jewelry — bracelets for men is just, well, so 70s.

The U.S.P.C. ended up drawing 96 entries to the $5,000 buy in championship tournament generating a prize pool of $465,600. The top nine spots get paid with 1^st taking $167,616.

Despite the low turnout, the championship did manage to squeeze in four days of action down to a final table today. Only seven players are left, however, as two of the final nine got knocked off last night.

The chip leader appears to be a pure amateur, Edward Gamaitoni, who apparently goes by Chris. He has 797K in chips.

Patrick Carron, who has had two major cashes (none in A.C.) in his career, good for about $166,000, is in second with 661K.

Mike Sica, of North Brunswick, with more than a million in tournament winnings, is in third with 470K.

The rest of the field — David Gillen, 431K, Gerald “Skullman” David, 289K, David King, 185K and short-stacked Trevor Savage, 88K — have a few major cashes and total winnings of about $100,000 and under.

Already getting paid were Chris Cappel, $11,640 and Eric Panayiotou, $16,296.

Not in it is Gordon Eng, who had three event wins, but was booted early this time.

Play resumes on the final table today at 1:15pm, closing out the championship events.

This weekend in A.C. should be dominated by the championship event of the United States Poker Championship, which carries a $5,000 + $250 buy-in. At last report, the event had brought in 90 players (entry wasn’t closed, however), good for an about $450,000 prize pool.

Ok, it’s not a huge turnout, but the U.S.P.C. hasn’t really caught on this year and this event does carry a steep buy-in. And the city as a whole isn’t exactly on fire right now economically.

Still September’s $3,500 championship event at The Borgata drew in more than 1,000 players. Obviously, this year’s U.S.P.C. has been hurt by something and the low turnouts don’t bode well for the future of the independent tournament unless the Taj can pick up a major sponsor (The Borgata event was a World Poker Tour stop) and better TV coverage.

Still, the event has drawn in a couple of name pros.

Seen in the room were Eracles Panayiotou (final tabled Event 6 of this year’s USPC, and final tabled WPT Bellagio in July), Jamie Gold (2006 WSOP World Champion), Eugene Katchalov (2007 WPT Champion, $4.9 million on career poker tournament earnings), and Brock Parker (2009 WSOP double bracelet winner, $2.6 million in career poker tournament earnings).

And of course, as we said yesterday Internet poker star Daniel Cates was in the mix.

The event was scheduled for four days, but that seems unlikely now.

There are still events scheduled through the weekend.

Saturday has a $300 + $40 No Limit Hold’em tournament at 11:15am and Sunday has a $300 + $40 No Limit Seniors event at 11:15am and a $265 + $35 ladies event at 2:15pm.

Harrah's bad beat back to quad queens

As for the bad beats, it looks like the Harrah’s combined bad beat hit some time this week and has been reset to about $150,000. This is the third time the combined bad beat has hit, and for the second time, the high minimum hand (four 10s, most likely) didn’t stop the jackpot from hitting. The minimum should be back to quad queens.

We’ll pass along the details when we get them.

The Borgata’s bad beat was at $111,381, ($27,845 for the small bad beat) and The Taj Mahal was at $41,290.

That leaves the Tropicana’s bad beat as the highest in the city at $227,000.