On Monday, poker pro Annie Duke, a contestant on NBC’s Celebrity Apprentice, appeared on “The Ellen DeGeneres Show” to talk about her upcoming showdown against comedian Joan Rivers. Duke even found time to discuss poker strategy with the talk show host.
In the upcoming season finale of Celebrity Apprentice, which airs at 8:00pm ET on Sunday night on NBC and runs for three hours, Duke will argue why she deserves to be crowned champion of the popular reality program. Her adversary, Rivers, has labeled Duke “two-faced” and “manipulative” throughout the series. DeGeneres asked whether Duke plays Celebrity Apprentice similar to a poker game. Duke responded, “It’s a game and you have to play your strategy. I think it’s a game about business, so I don’t understand the personal level [Rivers] brought it to. When you’re playing poker, you’ll check-raise your best friend and then go out for a drink with them and have a good time. Those things are really separate, so it’s confusing to me.”
One of Rivers’ prime accusations was that Duke called Playboy Playmate of the Year Brande Roderick an “idiot” during this season of Celebrity Apprentice, a charge that the World Series of Poker (WSOP) bracelet winner denies. Duke told DeGeneres, “I had lots of private interviews and cameras on me 15 hours a day, so they could have used that [if I said it]. The only people who have called Brande an idiot are Joan and Melissa [Rivers]. It is a game and it is a fake job and you get fake fired all in the name of raising a wonderful amount of money for charity, which is what it’s really about.” Duke has raised over $260,000 for her charity, Refugees International, an organization she works with as part of Ante Up for Africa.
During the most recent episode of Celebrity Apprentice, Season 1 winner Piers Morgan lauded Duke’s ability not to become upset despite being labeled a “Nazi,” “pit viper,” and “whore” by the Rivers family. On the comparisons, Duke commented, “It was so horrific to be attacked like that, particularly being called worse than Hitler, which is offensive. She’s comparing me to someone who slaughtered six million Jews and it’s not like we’ve solved hate crimes. It was an awful thing to have said to me.” Although last week Duke used an analogy comparing Joan Rivers to a cancer, she has largely remained composed. The Ultimate Bet pro explained to DeGeneres, “I learned at the tables that being emotional like that brings you down to their level. When people are trying to get power over you with those kinds of insults, the only way to give them that power is to react.”
The conversation between Duke and DeGeneres then turned to poker, with the talk show host questioning why she shouldn’t play 7-2 when the likelihood of the flop coming 7-7-2 is the same as it is falling Q-A-K. Duke imparted her poker knowledge: “You should only be putting the percentage of money in the pot the percentage of the time your hand will win. 7-2 doesn’t win very often.” Throughout the poker conversation, DeGeneres properly used terms such as “flop” and “boat” in front of her live studio audience.
The seven minute appearance ended with Duke autographing a WSOP Academy chipset to help raise money for the Humane Society. In addition, WSOP officials donated a $4,000 prize package to a future Boot Camp. “The Ellen DeGeneres Show” airs on ABC. Rivers is slated to appear on “Late Night with Jimmy Fallon” on Friday, which airs at 12:35am ET on NBC.
The three hour Celebrity Apprentice finale airs at 8:00pm ET on Sunday on NBC. Former contestants, including Roderick, NBA star Dennis Rodman, and comedian Tom Green will support Duke. Country music star Clint Black, Melissa Rivers, and Heisman Trophy winner Herschel Walker will be led by Rivers. According to a description found on Comcast Cable’s on-screen guide, the episode surrounds the Cirque du Soleil production Wintuk.
Why again is this woman (Annie Duke) famous??? Last time I checked, poker was still a game based on nothing more than luck. You can’t strategize the hands that you’re dealt. Some people really read into all this luck a little more than is healthy.
Obviously Brent has never played poker or played but played badly…here fishy fishy fishy! LOL one born every minute!
Brent: Don’t lie and say you’ve checked if you haven’t. If you had, you’d see that there is much more to poker than luck. Try here for starters: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poker_strategy
Luck is involved, but superior strategy wins out in the long run. Think about it: if luck were the only thing involved, you wouldn’t have people making a good living playing poker full time.
Next time, don’t shoot your mouth off about something you’re completely ignorant about.
Let’s go Tom Green!!!!! He is on Annie’s team. I was just on tomgreen.com and he says he is getting ready to leave for New York.
Hurray for Joan and her wonderful charity!!!!!!!
RE: Duke vs. Rivers
Just goes to show you that no amount of $$$ can buy you intellect and common sense (Donald Trump) or honor, dignity and truth (Joan Rivers). It was clear from week 1 that there was as much chance of Trump firing Rivers as there was of him kissing Rosie O’Donnel on the lips.
I seriously want people like Brent to remain completely in the dark about the level of strategy that exists in poker. It makes it that much easier for those of us who know what we’re doing to take their money.
how can a vile woman like joan rivers who made so many disparaging remarks be called a role model ??? this was “celebrity apprentice” and it’s main goal was to raise money for charity which rivers failed miserably to match annie and her “despicable lower than scum “poker players.for someone 75 years old you would think more people would have supported her but her actions on the show shows why they didn’t !
I am disgusted. For Joan Rivers (a woman that I used to respect) to have won was a gross injustice. In my mind ‘the Donald’ did nothing more than reward bad behavior. Annie brought more money to the table for her charity, played a great game and kept her emotions in check.
Annie Duke should have won. I can’t believe Donald Trump let John Rivers belittle Annie Duke in the boardroom. This is a shame.
the finale of this years celebrity apprentice will be my last. Never have I seen a less deserving person win the game. All the things that Anne said were the truth. Trump should have looked at the tape and then made the correct decision. And as I said, don’t have stick me with a fork, I am done watching the Celebrity Apprentice !!!!!!!!!!
Donald Trump has lost all credibility in our household. We will not be tuning in to another season of Celebrity Apprentice. He consistently overlooked Joan Rivers’ vicious mouth in the boardroom, allowing her to spout off endless streams of vitriolic nastiness at Anne Duke. Annie, for her part, was a true champion and role model. She presented a positive example of hard work, focus, determination and grit. In spite of Joan’s constant attacks, Annie kept her cool and her dignity. We’re still scratching our heads, trying to figure out what it was about Joan that kept Donald in her court. We also wondered if Dennis Rodman temporarily forgot Annie’s name in the last scene, and named Joan as his choice by a defaulted memory lapse.
I watched this season’s Celebrity Apprentice and was totally appalled at the behavior of Joan Rivers and her daughter. Why was her daughter on there? Is she a celebrity? On the final evening I had my mother of 78 watch the show with me and within a half hour she said “Joan Rivers is going to win”. I argued that point but asked her why. She said because Mr. Trump was already favoring her before the task had even ended. Throughout the rest of the show my mother was able to point out the one sidedness of Mr. Trumps game. I too shall never watch that show again. Ms. Rivers may have won the honor of being “Celebrity Apprentice” but Ms. Duke won the honor of being the better player and better person. Ms. Duke could give lessons in poker as well as some life lessons.
dear annie, my whole family was cheering for you to beat that 72 year-old loud mouth. sorry joan, but i’ve never seen such evil come out of what i used to believe a very suave and intelligent person. if any person ( at any age ) speak to me or a friend of mine, you would have been picking your 72 year-old hinder up off the floor. “look i’ve fallen and i can’t get up!!” annie, i am so proud of you for holding your composure. congratulations to both charities and you annie. you made alot of people proud of you even we haven’t had the pleasure of meeting you. thank-you. your supporter in michigan.