Poker News: How Daniel Negreanu really feels about Annie Duke, lol

Daniel Negreanu:

I'm often asked what makes me think that this woman is such a low

life. Here are just a few examples of facts that make up what this

woman truly is as far as I‘m concerned. For those of you who don't

care to read it, you can stop now and save your complainin':

1) Wanna Split it?- Playing in a stud 8 or better side game, Annie was

heads up with one other player. After much betting it appeared as

though Annie had the high hand and the other had a low made by sixth

street. The player with the low board asked if she wanted to split

it. Annie said, "Yeah, ok". The player threw his hand toward the

muck expecting the dealer to start chopping the pot, when Annie said,

"Wait, only if you have a low I mean."

Once she said yes however, the pot should ethically be split.

Despite virtually everyone in the game explaining to Annie that once

she says yes to a chop, she has to chop. She wouldn't budge.

Finally, after much hysteria she decided to give the player back ONLY

the money he put into the pot. Had the tables been turned, she's

still be blue in the face about how unfair that was.

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2) I swear on my kids!- Annie habitually leans over to look at the

cards of the person sitting beside her in a game, whether they like it

or not. Well one day one of the players was fed up with her sweating

her neighbor's hole cards and he spoke up about it. She obliged

saying, "Ok, I won't look anymore."

Not an hour later, a triple draw hand comes up, and she is caught

red handed looking at her neighbor's hole cards again. This time the

player objected furiously, "I told you to stop looking at your

neighbor's cards!" To which she replies, "I SWEAR ON MY CHILDREN I

WASN'T". This was an absolute lie. She saw EXACTLY what card her

neighbor got and ANNOUNCED the hand before it was turned over, also

saying something to the effect of, "Oh you would have made it anyway."

**A 4 had been flashed that would have been her neighbor's card.

Instead she received a 6 to complete a 2-3-5-6-7, which is the third

best hand in 2-7 triple draw (the 4 would have been the mortal

nuts).** Later, Annie falsely claimed that the player who was upset

with her threw a chair AT HER. Again, impossible.

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3) Just checkin'- Playing in a one table satellite for the main event

at the WSOP, Annie was up against Tony Ma and Dan Alspach. Tony moved

all in on the button, Annie folded in the small blind and Dan began

studying. After some time, Dan folded his hand, and Tony threw his

cards towards the muck telling Dan "Aces. I had two Aces." Well

after the hand hits the muck, Annie GRABS THE HOLECARDS, LOOKS AT

THEM, and says "Just checkin‘" as if she had done nothing wrong.

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4) Sitting in a short handed 300-600 mixed game in 1999 I was

unfortunate enough to have to sit beside Annie. Again, she has a

simple rule that she lives by, "It's ok for me to look at your hole

cards when I am out of a hand but I can't show you mine because I

can't give away any information". Niiiice. Anyway, after about 30

minutes of her sweating my hole cards, I KINDLY say, "I'd actually

prefer it if you didn't look at my hole cards since we are short

handed and all." (5 handed at the time). About 15 minutes later,

another player sits down in the game making it six handed.

So know after I've raised before the flop and she'd folded, she

looks over at my hole cards again. This time saying, "It's six

handed, I can look now". Niiiice.

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5) Oh my God, it's so my seat- On a Monday night Annie walked into the

poker room to put her name on a list. When the seat opened up, the

floor man called out a name that wasn't yet present. Annie said, "If

he's not here it's my seat." To which the floor man replied, "He's

just outside, he's on his way."

"Oh my God no way! You can't do that! You can't lock up a seat if

you aren't even here!" After much bickering the poor floor man

succumbed and gave her the seat.

Wednesday night, EXACT same scenario, only this time Annie was the

one who was first up on the list but not present at the time the seat

was called. Now this time, she is arguing for the OPPOSITE ruling.

"Oh my God, I was right here. I was here to put my name on the list.

I didn't even leave the building" (how the floor man is supposed to

know that is anyone's guess). Anyway, after throwing yet another

hissy fit she got that seat too. This is one of Annie's common

practices: "Argue NOT for what's fair and just, argue only for what

benefits you." Niiice.

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6)This is the worst thing that has ever happened to me in a

tournament- At the WSOP main event in 1999, Annie was involved in a

pot with another player who had limped under the gun. Annie raised

the limper from the button with A-7 offsuit. When it got back to the

limper, he went to make a raise, but DIDN"T SAY RAISE, and then went

back to his stack to raise even more. Well, in any no limit

tournament that is considered a string raise. Not always called, but

it's a string raise nonetheless. Well, another player, Steve Kaufman,

called the string raise to the dealer's attention. To which Annie

shouted, "Oh my God, you're not even in the pot! What are you doing!

Oh my God, this is the worst thing that even happened to me in a

tournament!" etc.

She was upset with the fact that she had now been raised the minimum

by the limper and was "forced" to call the extra 60,000 raise. After

lambasting Mr.Kaufman for something he had EVERY RIGHT to do, she

ended up flopping an ace and WINNING the pot because of the called

string raise. "Well maybe that was the BEST thing that ever happened

to me in a tournament." Snort, snort, giggle, giggle.

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7) Cup Boy- Finally, my first ever meeting of this woman was at the

Four Queens in 1996 when I was just barely 22. Up to that point I'd

had virtually no success in tournaments in the US, but was eager to

learn from the so called "superstars" of the game.

** Before I go any further, It's important to give you a little

background info. At the club I played in in Toronto, we had no

bottled water, just purified water you could get from the gallon. So

I'd fill up a Styrofoam cup with water, and when it was empty, would

leave it hanging from my lips so the porter wouldn't take it away and

I'd have to waste another cup. This became somewhat of a habit you

could say.**

So here I am in this tournament, where across from me was this woman

and another well known tournament player. This woman doesn't know me

from Adam, but goes out of her way to ridicule and make me feel like

an outsider. As though I didn't belong in her "clique". After

witnessing her behavior I was pretty sure I didn't want any part of

that "clique" anyway.

KNOWING I could hear every word she was saying, she says to her

"clique" member, "Oh my God, what's up with cup boy over there. I

wonder what that cup's all about. You think it's for medical

reasons." She then went on to giggle arrogantly. At this point I

actually spoke up and said, "If you'd really like to know there is

actually a pretty normal reason for it?" Apparently acknowledging my

existence may have looked less "too cool to talk to the low limit

players" if you know what I mean.

In conclusion., with two odd tables to go I play a hand against her

in which SHE WINS. I had a good amount of chips at this point and she

was all in for less than a bet on the river. I had actually bet the

turn with a draw, and checked the river when I made a pair. The board

was (10-8-2) A- J. I held Q-J in the blind and called her raise from

middle position. I checked and called the flop, and bet the ace on

the turn hoping to steal it. On the river I made jacks, but didn't

think she would call me with a worse hand but may check a better hand

or even bluff. That's not important though.

What is important, is that she berated me for playing the hand that

way! "Oh my God, if you were going to call on the river anyway why

didn't you just bet?? I mean, oh you know what forget about it. I

shouldn‘t be educating."

I was beyond puzzled, but to be completely honest slightly

embarrassed. I was there alone and knew no one in the tournament

whatsoever. At the time I wasn't certain if I actually made a

horrendous error or not. I may have spoken 20 words the entire

tournament, and couldn't fathom why someone would want to be so mean

to a complete stranger?

Anyway, I later thought about the hand and realized that she was

absolutely WRONG about the correct strategy in that situation.

Considering the information I had, I played the river just fine.

Couple years go by, I get lucky and win a few tournaments… and all

of a sudden she is all nice to me. Phony nice of course, but nice

nonetheless. The more I got to know this woman however, the more I

was witness to her true colors and the more I disliked her. Despite

making my BEST efforts to tolerate her obnoxious personality I no

longer wanted to put up with it.

The only thing I'm sorry about in all this, is what it has done to

many of my friends who happen to have thicker skin than I and can

tolerate Annie. It puts them in a peculiar position. That I regret.

Other than that, NOTHING I've ever said to her, or about her is

something I'd ever consider apologizing for. Those are my true

feelings… and I sleep well..

You see, I don't NEED to be Mr. Phony Nice Guy, all I gots to be is

who I is. I ain't gonna say what y'all want me to say, I'm onna

say wazz on my minds when I feels like it. Na' I mean? Damn

straight.

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Don't get me wrong I've done some pretty stupid things in my time.

I'm not afraid or worried about what anyone has to say about me, it's

all out there. I have few secrets if anyway. I been broke, blew some

stake money, loaned railbirds, staked deadbeats, been on the borrow,

all kinds of bad decisions. That's real. In all honestly though, I

ain't NEVER disrespected no man or no woman unless they had it comin'.

I was never one to see bullies get their way, and I was never one to

close my eyes and shut my mouth when I see somethin' I don't like. I

keep hearing, "But Danny, this isn't in your best interest. "Danny

just go with the flow and don't rock the boat." Hell no!

You a cheat, I'll say so.

You a bi-atch-- I'll say so.

You a angle shooter, I'll let my peoples know.

You a fraud? huh, I'll expose you and feel no way…y'understan?

I don't get this guy.

Either:

a) He and Annie are having a real laugh at this article.

b) His relationship with God suffers more variance that Vinny Vinh playing 2/4 LHE after a long night of drinking. One minute he's writing scathing articles about people (he also blasted Phil Gordon) the next he's wiriting about how he's "nothing without God".

Even if what he's saying is true, it's not cool to write about it. The people who need to know (the pros) will already know. So is he writing this to warn others, or to humiliate her?

This brings to mind something that is glaring obvious. Just because someone is famous does not mean that they are nice people, or ethical, or even pleasant. The way that some people worship celebutards and imagine them to be perfect people makes me ill.

Yes, but you have to submit it under the "Chess is Rigged" thread.

How could she have a winning flush in Omaha if all she showed was two aces?

she had two other cards (omaha you get 4)

May I submit the Magic Bullets Theory for consideration?

Here you go, Cubbies:

http://guinnessandpoker.blogspot.com/

Is this info from 1 specific site, or from several?

Could you post a link or 2?

I've been a member of FCP for a couple years now. This article is very old, nothing new. At least 3-4 years, but I think more then that. I think he might have even responded on that forum, could do a search over there.

The forum that he wrote this on was one that had many players from the levels they played at. He wasn't a well know player when he said this, and neither was she. Poker was still a small circle of people then, unlike today.

How could she have a winning flush in Omaha if all she showed was two aces?