Poker News Daily: Thanks for joining us. Tell us how you’re feeling headed into the 2010 World Series of Poker (WSOP) in Las Vegas?
Annie Duke: I’m feeling pretty good. I really want another bracelet, so we’ll see how it goes. I’m physically good and mentally ready. I have a big confidence boost from the way my year started and I think I have a really good mindset.
PND: How are you preparing for the tournament series?
Annie Duke: I just go and do it. The way I live my life is a constant preparation for it. A lot of people will go on a health kick during the WSOP, but I’m always working out and eating healthy. It’s such a long haul that being physically healthy is the most important factor of success.
PND: How do you think women will fare in this year’s WSOP?
Annie Duke: The best chance will be in the Champions Invitational. I’ll be in it and Jennifer Harman will probably be in the top 20 too. That’s going to be the best chance for a woman to win. However, the numbers are against it. I’d like to see women win bracelets, but I wouldn’t bet on it. Women are 3% of the field in many events.
PND: You’re an automatic entry into the WSOP Tournament of Champions since you won the event in 2004. Who else would you like to see in the field?
Annie Duke: I definitely want to see my brother (Howard Lederer) and Erik Seidel in it for sure. Doyle Brunson, Phil Hellmuth, Phil Ivey, and Daniel Negreanu should be in it. Having a legacy is important to be in that event. Other people might look at it and say that people who are hot right now should be in it, but the title is Tournament of Champions.
PND: You recently anchored a charity poker tournament for After School All-Stars. How did the event go?
Annie Duke: I was really happy with it. Brad Garrett came out for it and so did Ali Nejad. David “Chino” Rheem made the final table and we had some good pros there. One of my students from the WSOP Academy came in second. Matt Savage came out and played and Tiffany Michelle was there too. The charity was over the moon in terms of being happy, so I was excited to support that cause. It’s an awesome foundation. UB.com was incredibly supportive of the event and donated a $10,000 WSOP Main Event seat.
PND: Your Twitter feed was filled with comments about the finales of “American Idol” and “Lost.” Give us your thoughts.
Annie Duke: I was definitely disappointed by the “Lost” finale. The ending really made me mad because it didn’t answer any questions. I get it: the island was real. All of those events happened. What is the island, though? You still don’t know. You don’t know what the smoke monster was. It didn’t answer anything about the parallel universe. Why was it about their personal journeys if they were all just there to show Jack the door?
It certainly didn’t explain why the plane crashed there. It didn’t explain why they had to come back to the island. Why did they start time traveling? What they did was wrap up one character’s story.
PND: We’re sure you watched the National Heads-Up Poker Championship play out on NBC. What are your thoughts on how you played now that you’ve seen the hole cards?
Annie Duke: I was very happy with how I played against Dennis Phillips. In the beginning, I made some missteps, but I knew that before I watched. I think I adjusted very well. With Erik Seidel, it’s what I expected. On the whole, I played better than him in the first match, but not as much as he outdid me in the second match. He played amazingly well in the second match.
Given the way he was playing, there was only one way to counter that, which was to let the blinds get high and play some pushy poker. In the third match, my Q-9 push was an auto-push and I got lucky there. In the second and third matches, I really was never connecting with the board. That makes a big difference against someone as good as Erik. If neither of us is connecting with the board, he’s clearly going to win.
PND: What makes Erik Seidel such a top-notch player?
Annie Duke: One of my strengths is playing in position heads-up. He’s so good out of position. He’s so good at taking your position away. I didn’t play anyone before him that took my position away from me. He was doing things like check-calling and leading he river and it’s hard to defend against that.
I started limping the button more and keeping the pots a lot smaller. I also started making my plays later. I made the play with 8-4 and the re-raise play with A-9. I had to find those spots where I could get the last raise in and didn’t feel like he could bluff me. Had I connected with the board, it would have been a different story.
PND: You’re leading a few classes at the Rio as part of the WSOP Academy. Tell our readers what they can expect.
Annie Duke: I’m doing a ladies’ session and a two-day WSOP primer. We’ll be talking about pre-flop strategies and spending a lot of time on all-in situations, meaning how do you decide whether to push all-in and call all-ins. Those situations come up all the time in tournaments. That’s so important to understanding how to win in tournaments.