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Top 10 Poker Rooms
Annie Duke on Celebrity Apprentice 2009For a complete summary of the entire Celebrity Apprentice 2009 season, please see our Annie Duke Celebrity Apprentice page. Maybe you've never seen the television show, Celebrity Apprentice. Maybe Celebrity Apprentice, and shows like it, aren't really your cup of tea. That's fine! If you are reading this page, though, then you no doubt know who Annie Duke is. Annie Duke has been a well-known, accomplished poker player for years. However, because of her recent appearance on Celebrity Apprentice, Annie Duke is not only a popular poker player, but she's a true celebrity. She made quite a splash on the show and it made for some great TV drama. Following is a wrap-up of what Celebrity Apprentice is all about and why Annie Duke made such an impact on the show. Celebrity Apprentice is a reality TV show featuring Donald Trump that started as simply The Apprentice. However, after lackluster ratings performances, the show decided to invite celebrities to fight for the title of "Best Business Brain", with all money raised being donated to a charity of the celebrities choice. The premise of Celebrity Apprentice is that each contestant is performing a giant job interview for Donald Trump. At the beginning of Celebrity Apprentice , the contestants are split into two teams. The contestants will be challenged with completing tasks utilizing teamwork, cunning, skill, and hard work. Completion of the tasks will result in a winning team and a losing team. Each week, Trump will "fire" someone from one of the teams and the other contestants become that much closer to being "hired" by Trump. This was the second season that Celebrity Apprentice replaced The Apprentice, and the show was a huge success this year. Annie Duke was a big part of the reason for its success. Annie Duke began playing poker with the support of her brother, professional poker player Howard Lederer. She made quite an impact on the poker world at the 2000 World Series of Poker by finishing in 10th place in the Main Event, one short of the final table, while 8 months pregnant. 2004 was a big year for Annie Duke. During the World Series of Poker that year, she won her first bracelet, in Omaha Hi/Lo. She also won the World Series of Poker Tournament of Champions, taking down the prize of $2 million. Annie Duke has long been one of the most outspoken players in the poker world, fighting for the rights of poker players to wear sponsorships and refusing to play in ladies-only events. Annie Duke is a spokesperson for Ultimate Bet (along with Phil Hellmuth) and has been supportive of the site even through the tough times it has faced with the cheating scandal, which was outlined in primetime television on 60 Minutes. All of Annie Duke's accomplishments added up to her being a shoo in to appear on the most recent running of Celebrity Apprentice. This would set up a fierce battle between herself and eventual winner of the show, Joan Rivers. The two would clash nearly immediately. On the second episode of Celebrity Apprentice, the teams were challenged with creating a comic book character for zappos.com. Annie Duke, who's never afraid to speak her mind, did so, stating that she did not want Joan Rivers to write the script, even though Joan has a lot of experience writing and is considered an accomplished writer. This made Joan Rivers furious with Annie Duke and started a feud that would last until the final episode (and beyond). The tempers would boil during episode 8, when the teams are tasked with auctioning off jewelry to raise money for charity. Annie Duke is the project manager for her team and both Joan and Melissa Rivers (who was also on the show) begin a joint hatred for Annie. Joan even refers to Annie Duke a Adolf Hitler and a Nazi. The feud erupts in the following episode when Melissa is fired by Trump at the boardroom meeting. Melissa and Joan both go off on Annie Duke and Brande Roderick, a teammate of Annie's and a Playboy Playmate, in a tirade that was definitely not suitable for children. During the rant Melissa called her teammates "whore pit vipers" and Joan continued, calling Brande a "dumb blonde" who was just being manipulated by Annie. She called Annie Duke a "piece of shit" and said, "You're a poker player, a poker player. That's beyond white trash." To which Annie replied, "Poker players are the most awesome people in the world." Needless to say, the bad blood continued, right down to the final episode. The two final contestants were charged with selling tickets to Cirque du Soleil and creating and managing a VIP party to entertain guests before the show. They would also hold a silent auction to raise money for their charities. Annie Duke raised more money, $465,725 to $150,830, during this challenge. In fact, Annie Duke raised more money than anyone ever on the show, $730,725. In the end, though, it wasn't enough. Annie Duke won 2 of the 5 categories that Trump said they would be rated on, while Joan Rivers won the remaining 3 categories and was "hired" by Trump. Annie was not only disappointed in being fired, but was pretty upset about how she was fired. She was visibly excited on the show when Trump looked to her and said, "Annie, do you know what I'm going to say? " She talks about it in Annie Duke's blog on her website: "In the meantime, I want to thank Mr. Trump for the way he hired Joan Rivers. In the previous 7 years of The Apprentice he has never done anything but pointed to the winner and said, 'You're hired.' Last night, instead, he looked at me and, after asking if I knew what he was going to say, and said, 'Annie, you're fired.' Nice slowroll. Good game, sir." Even after not being able to win Celebrity Apprentice, Annie Duke has continued to keep a good sense of humor about the whole ordeal, especially the feud with Joan Rivers. On May 27th, she held the "Sucking out on the Rivers" Charity Poker Tournament, with the help of her sponsor, Ultimate Bet. The tournament pulled together some of the best poker players in the world to play a tournament for Annie Duke's charity from the Celebrity Apprentice show, Refugees International. The tournament also featured over 20 Joan Rivers impersonators, each with a "bounty" on their head for anyone who would knock them out of the tournament. Again, on her blog, Annie Duke states, "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. As poker players, we're all banding together, not just to prove a point to Joan, but to actually change the world." To read more on this season of Celebrity Apprentice, please see our Annie Duke on Celebrity Apprentice page. Annie Duke BioAnnie Duke attended Columbia University where she completed her double major in Psychology and English. She attended the University of Pennsylvania for five years into the doctorate program when she packed and left for Philadelphia. Duke later moved to Montana with her husband Ben Duke and now has four kids. Annie Duke is sister of Howard Lederer who also is also a professional poker player, known as The Professor. Annie was taught to play poker the hard way, losing money to her brother. However, it was a nice investment seeing as she won $70,000 in her first tournament and quickly moved to Las Vegas to play poker professionally. It was under Howard's care, both with respect to poker knowledge and financial help, that Annie Duke became a seasoned poker pro. Annie Duke’s earlier career in the 90’s saw her struggling a bit to make her mark. It wasn’t until her second place finish in the 1999 WSOP in the $5,000 Limit Hold’em event that the world took notice of her poker abilites. Before this she had success in Omaha and seven card stud but never had too much to boast of in Hold’em. 2004 was the peak of Annie Duke's career. She won the $ 2,500 Limit Hold'em Bellagio Five-Star World Poker Classic/WPT Championship, Las Vegas winning close to $150,000. Then she won her first bracelet at the $2000 Omaha eight-or-better-event. Annie Duke also won the very prestigious tournament, Tournament of Champions for $2,000,000, beating a whining Phil Hellmuth heads up (who won $0.) Annie Duke also took the 9th place at the Mashantucket WPT in the $ 10,000 No Limit Hold'em Final Day of World Poker Finals winning herself $ 166,478. In 2005 she finished fourth in the WSOP $ 5,000 Limit Hold'em at Las Vegas. Another third spot finish was ascertained by her in the $ 2,500 Omaha/Seven Card Stud Hi/Lo 8 or Better 38th World Series of Poker (WSOP) 2007 where she cashed in close to $75K. She released her autobiography Annie Duke: How I Raised, Folded, Bluffed, Flirted, Cursed and won millions at the World Series of Poker. She is now a member of the Team UltimateBet, along side none other than one of her rivals, Phil Hellmuth. Due to her success Annie is now known as a poster girl for poker and shows that poker isn't just a man's game. Annie Duke was big even in Hollywood. Her abilities as a teacher were put to test when she tutored actor Ben Affleck in poker. After some lessons, Ben went on to win the 2004 California Stake Poker Championship. Annie Duke is into a lot more than just poker. She actively participates in the Team Ultimate Bet, but her focus on her family is unparalleled. Her ambition is not just to excel at poker but more to be a great mom. Duke has a reputation of taking on the poker regulatory affairs in televised tournaments. She likes to voice her opinion against the injustice against the players if any. Annie Duke is known for her television appearances. First off, she appeared as a member of the Mob on NBCs 1 vs 100 answering all questions correctly. She has also made an appearance on Deal or No Deal by supporting a contestant by the name Mary Beth Holtzheimer. However, Annie Duke is probably most well known for being a finalist on Donald Trump's Celebrity Apprentice, where she ended up losing to Joan Rivers (who actually referred to Duke as Hitler!) Annie has also appeared on various poker shows and the Ultimate Blackjack Tour playing Elimination Blackjack. As of 2008, Annie holds the women's record for most in the money finishes at the WSOP. Her live earnings exceed $3,600,000. Common Misspellings: Anne Duke, Anie Duke Learn more about Annie Duke at Ultimate Bet. Make sure to check out our Annie Duke on Celebrity Apprentice review to see how Annie Duke did on the 2009 show Celebrity Apprentice! Play for FREE and practice your game at...Related Articles
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