Poker News Daily: The poker world has mourned the loss of Amir Vahedi in recent weeks. Can you share your memories of him with us?
Annie Duke: It was really sudden and I was really sad about it. Amir was somebody who was genuinely a good person, had that booming laugh, and had that cigar. He was such a great character and a great ambassador for the game. He was very sweet to me and genuinely loved people.
PND: You had mentioned the possibility of going to Mexico for New Years. Did that pan out?
Annie Duke: For New Years, Joe and I went to an amazing restaurant in L.A. Then, we just went home. It was a very quiet night and the reason why is that I hate New Years. It’s honestly one of my least favorite holidays. For me, it’s illogical to celebrate. Somehow, the demarcation of that day is different than any other day. Why do you make New Years resolutions? If you make a resolution on January 1st, it seems like you’re setting yourself up for failure. That date seems very arbitrary.
PND: We heard you’re taking the kids to Mexico for Spring Break. Tell us about the trip.
Annie Duke: I diligently try to make sure that everything I do credits me miles. I use a credit card that’s an airline card and an American Express card that gives me points and it never occurred to me to use these miles. I checked and had, on one airline, 200,000 miles. On my American Express, I had over 200,000 points. That seemed like a lot and I thought I should do something with them.
I’m flying everybody round trip to Mexico for Spring Break, so I am very excited. The total that it cost me for six tickets was less than $1,000. I want to stay in a cute hotel with character when I travel. We picked the number one bed and breakfast on TripAdvisor. We had to get three rooms and the total cost was $250 per night. This is the number one rated bed and breakfast in this place! For six people for a whole week in Southern Mexico, it’s going to cost me less than $3,000.
PND: What are your plans for 2010 in the world of poker? We know you were interested in playing more this year.
Annie Duke: That’s the case, but every time a tournament comes up, it’s hard. I was offered to do a World Series of Poker (WSOP) Academy, but it conflicts with the L.A. Poker Classic HORSE event. This sort of education stuff has become super important to me as an individual and it really started with doing poker camps. I had to start refining the way I thought about the game so I could express it to someone else so they could improve their game. That’s very different than being a great player. I seem to be making choices to do that kind of stuff over poker.
I also want to play more poker tournaments and need to find a way to get both accomplished. I’m planning to play in the Main Event of the L.A. Poker Classic, the NBC National Heads-Up Poker Championship, and I’ll be a bounty at Bay 101. I didn’t go to the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure (PCA) or to Australia for the Aussie Millions. It’s hard for me to justify traveling that far away because I want to be close to my family.
PND: Barry Shulman has been on a tear, taking down two $1 million paydays in four months in the 2010 PCA Main Event and the 2009 WSOP Europe Main Event. Can you talk about his game?
Annie Duke: The thing about Barry is that he is someone who has very hyper-aggressive tendencies. He is super-aggressive and always was. I think when you’re that aggressive, you can accumulate a lot of chips, but you can also blow them back quickly. In the past, Barry hasn’t been that great at pulling back, but I’m guessing from his results that he’s gearing down. Now, people are very aggressive and you have to draw back. Barry always had the potential to have these types of results. Obviously, he’s a smart person.
PND: Is his son, Jeff Shulman, equally aggressive?
Annie Duke: Jeff was always super-aggressive until Phil Hellmuth got a hold of him. He had a style. He’s been at the final table of the Main Event twice. He hasn’t been playing a lot of poker recently, which is why people haven’t seen more of him, since he’s been involved with CardPlayer.
It’s interesting when you think about Jeff’s coaching in the Main Event. In three months, it’s hard to change someone such that they can assimilate what they tell you and fit it into their game. Coaching would not have helped somebody like Antoine Saout. He was a very good player and, in three short months, coaching can do more harm than good.
When I coach people, I tell them that out of the gate, they’ll start losing. You have to have a lot of practice, so I generally recommend that people step down at first. When you make big changes to your game, it can be very confusing. Where I think coaching can help an experienced player is having someone to study tapes with.
PND: Tell us how your new website, MyMixedNuts.com, is going. How is the custom trail mix business?
Annie Duke: We’re going to have a few guys help reorganize the pages on our site and do some PR and social media for us. So far, it’s been good, though. We’re adding Valentine’s Day offers and it’s a fun thing to do.
PND: Speaking of Valentine’s Day, what are your plans?
Annie Duke: We’re going to do to an Italian restaurant because Joe thinks that’s what you’re supposed to do. We always have a nice Valentine’s Day and I am looking forward to it.