The UB.com poker news show “Poker2Nite” aired its second episode of Season 2 on Wednesday. National Heads-Up Poker Championship winner and Poker News Daily Guest Columnist Annie Duke joined the Versus franchise.
Appropriately, the 30-minute show kicked off with discussion of the National Heads-Up Poker Championship, which featured four former World Series of Poker (WSOP) Main Event champions in the final eight. In addition, the Final Four were all over the age of 40. “Poker2Nite” host Joe Sebok told viewers, “In a game dominated by youngsters, it seemed not to be that way in this tournament.” Sebok also questioned the need to have seven online qualifiers join the field of 64; six were eliminated in the first round.
“Poker2Nite” also touched on the robbery of the European Poker Tour (EPT) Berlin Main Event, where Sebok remarked that thieves made off with $272,000, although that figure has varied widely. Results from the World Poker Tour’s (WPT) Celebrity Invitational and L.A. Poker Classic aired along with a recap of professional golfer Tiger Woods turning down a $75 million sponsorship offer from Paddy Power Poker.
Following footage from the National Heads-Up Poker Championship draw party, which included interviews with Erick Lindgren, Jennifer Tilly, Joe Cada, and Jamie Gold, Duke joined the set. The UB.com pro is fresh off a deep run in the L.A. Poker Classic and a $500,000 win in the National Heads-Up Poker Championship. She told Sebok and co-host Scott Huff, “I took from October to February off mainly because I realized that when I was going into a lot of tournaments, I was taking an attitude of resenting poker because it was taking away from time with my kids.”
Duke noted that being mentally prepared to play poker is critically important: “When you’re not in the mood to play, you lose some of those small edges.” The UB.com pro was on her way to San Jose, California for the Bay 101 Shooting Star event, explaining that a fundamentally solid performance was important: “This is going to be a big test of how hungry I am because I’m really tired.” Duke ultimately busted on Day 1B after committing her stack with A-K on a flop of 10-6-3 and running into Yukinori Yamazaki’s pocket aces.
Duke faced a gauntlet of poker talent in the National Heads-Up Poker Championship, including Full Tilt Poker math whiz Andy Bloch, her first round opponent. On getting past the former MIT Blackjack Team member, Duke commented, “Once I got past him, it was a huge confidence boost, like a monkey off my back.” Duke then bested Darvin Moon, Paul Wasicka, Jerry Yang, and Dennis Phillips before battling eight-time bracelet winner Erik Seidel in the finals. Duke dubbed Seidel “really good.”
Snowboarder Hannah Teter, who won a silver medal in the women’s halfpipe during the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver, joined “Poker2Nite” via Skype to discuss her love for poker. She explained that the game was an integral part of her preparations for the Winter Olympics: “We played poker while training this summer, but during the winter, we’re in the zone.” Instead of cash, Teter and company typically played for candy. She added that she’d like to head to the WSOP this year to play in a charity event.
“Poker2Nite” host Dana Workman did not have an in-studio guest this week for the “Girls of Poker” segment, but presented the “Poker2Nite Online” vignette highlighting the groundbreaking Tweets and online news of the week. They included Scotty Nguyen, Brian Balsbaugh, and Annette “Annette_15” Obrestad blasting Twitter messages about the National Heads-Up Poker Championship and a picture that appeared on PokerListings of Lindgren and Erica Schoenberg getting cozy. Also addressed during the update was whether Sebok should continue to rock his beard.
Next week, PokerStars North American Poker Tour (NAPT) hostess Joanna Krupa will join “Poker2Nite.” You can catch the series every Wednesday at 11:00pm ET on Versus.
