Monday, March 08, 2010

Annie Duke wins the 2010 NBC Heads Up Championship

 

There are a couple of things that I think need to be said first given that the title pretty much gives away the purpose of this article.  Annie Duke is a great poker player if you define great as being much better than the average poker player.  Many people have issues with her being regarded as poker royalty when in fact she does not play as often as many other female players but if you think Annie Duke is a bad poker player you are dead wrong.  I think people confuse a few issues when talking about Annie, they mix their personal feelings or what they believe her reputation to be into a distorted reality.  As much as people hate to admit it Annie Duke is the best female poker player at the moment and this win cements that.  Make no mistake about this, Annie Duke winning this event is phenomenal for poker, it just also happens to be great for Annie Duke (which a lot of people are uncomfortable with).

Tournament Poker requires you to get lucky occasionally

I am not an Annie Duke apologist but people complaining about one or two beats she put on people along the way either do not understand the nature of tournament poker or just want to hate for no reason.  To beat the people that she beat along the way was an amazing feat.  In fact, it was not that long ago that Erik Seidel was regarded as one of the best No Limit Holdem tournament players in the world.  What a lot of people do not know is that Erik was Annie's financial backer through a good portion of her poker career and I am sure it will be a big part of the broadcast how good of friends they are.  Actually to say they are good friends really does not explain it properly, when other people questioned Annie's talents Erik never did and always believed in what she could become.  I am certain that was not lost on Annie as she claimed the trophy.

Casual fans vs Hardcore fans

To the casual poker player one of the world's best known poker players just won one of it's premier events.  To the die hards Annie won a second title that was invite only.  The heads up tournament yearly comes under scrutiny for the invite process that rewards players on cache rather than accomplishment.  Critics will say that both of the people at the final table probably would not have made it given their recent results.  Ultimately though you can like or dislike Annie, that is your choice, she is tireless in promoting herself as a brand.  That is a good thing for poker.  She is also very tapped into Hollywood and that should get her even more coverage on the late night shows and the various reality television programs that she pops up on.  Which is also good for poker.  

Annie Duke is in fact the Best Female Poker Player

When it is all said and done more than half of the population of the world is under represented at the poker tables.  So someone needs to carry the crown of "Best Female Poker Player", if you think someone else can carry that better than Annie Duke you just have not been paying attention.

 

Tags: heads   up   Annie   Duke   nbc   championship  

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