Annie Duke - Season 2

[spockwhat]

Originally Posted by tango7

I think Annie will most likely win CA. But I lost a lot of respect for both Annie and Brande when they started playing the high-school ‘let’s shut Melissa out’ game. It reinforces the stereotype of catty, phoney women and I can’t stand that kind of stuff. Melissa shouldn’t have let it get to her.

Mmm. I don't know. Just because Melissa said that was happening, certainly doesn't make it true in my book. I think she took Annie's being nice to Brande (after her alleged bashing of same) as really fake and turned it into something else. Even though Melissa was in charge of jewelery, and Brande clothes, Brande and Melissa went together to pick out clothes. That doesn't really look like "the shut out game" to me? I didn't once see them treating Melissa like crap, only them being nice to each other.

I think Melissa turned it into "they're being mean girls" to try to incite pity for herself. She's a liar and completely entitled, as we've already seen.

[Google]

 

[LadyWyntre]

I really enjoy Annie and hope she makes it to the end. Annie is great!
1) Educated women rock.
2) Women who don't pussyfoot around facts rock. If you know it's the truth, say it. Don't feel like you need to couch it in cotton. Do it.
3) She pulled a Piers (whom I also enjoy watching) on this task. "If we go to the boardroom, I'm bringing the people with me who raised the least $$." Right on. As an employee, I love measurable, non-ambiguous benchmarks.
4) Joan Rivers is nuts. She's in her 70s, so she's allowed to be crotchety, and sometimes she's very funny... but she's nuts. Annie called out Brande in the boardroom, but Brandy had the defense ready: "My job was this, and that's what the execs said they *liked*." Annie's no idiot, so she's not going to push that point.
5) Joan has made this way too personal for no reason.
6) I seriously hope Joan's team loses, and I seriously hope that with all the talking up of the poker world Annie's done, poker players don't stab her in the back by helping Joan's/Natalie's team.
7) Annie's cute and attractive without being all about her sexuality, which is why I like her more than Brande.

Team Annie!

[tinderbox]

I honestly believe Annie is going to win this season's Apprentice. Thus far, it seems she probably deserves it. That said, I don't like her and can't wrap my mind around the reasons for my feelings other than the fact that she appears to be a complete know it all. I hate know it alls.

[Veruka]

Originally Posted by tinderbox

I honestly believe Annie is going to win this season's Apprentice. Thus far, it seems she probably deserves it. That said, I don't like her and can't wrap my mind around the reasons for my feelings other than the fact that she appears to be a complete know it all. I hate know it alls.

I know what you mean about not being able to point specifically to the problems with Annie. The more I think about it, the more I think that she's focused on winning the mental competition more than the business competition. That strategy may very well earn her the win, and if it does, I can't say it's not deserved. But it does make it difficult to root for her.

She seems to have figured out how to work alliances to survive better than anyone to have ever played the game. She forms them, and uses them, but never really lets on to the people she's allying with that they're doing it. She'll cozy up to someone to make it through, and then turn on someone to rile them up and throw them off their game. I think that in many ways, her victorious moments have come not from outstanding work, but from knowing how to push people's buttons. I will give her credit - she was an outstanding auctioneer who knew exactly how to play her people to pull out the money. But other than that, when she's come out on top, I think more of it has been due to other people doing poorly than her really shining.

[tapper01]

I hate users and liars the worst.

She is two faced worse than anyone there. All sweet and nicey nice in the board room and then rips others as soon as they are out of the door.

I work with enough people like that. I can NOT stand them

[Kip]

Well, before last night, my favorites were Herschel, Annie, Jesse, and Brande (in no particular order). Herschel's gone. I don't think Annie's been any more two-faced than any of the other contestants; they all pretty much are nicer to people's faces than in the asides to the camera, but I was definitely put off by her claiming to give a good $(#*@#. I can only imagine how she'll explain that to her kids. I think she'll pay for it, though, in that people won't soon forget it and will reference it for years to come.

[mom2]

In my opinion, the Rivers twins are afraid of her, because she's as strong as they are. I still like her, I don't think the comment she made was appropriate but hey, she's human, and this was small-time compared to many. I loved the way she broke up the attempted sabatoge (sp), and so what that she was yelling ... I'd be yelling too if my coworkers were in on it too. I think Trump is quickly taking notice of her, to the obvious displeasure of the team Rivers.

[FireWoman]

Originally Posted by mom2

In my opinion, the Rivers twins are afraid of her, because she's as strong as they are. I still like her, I don't think the comment she made was appropriate but hey, she's human, and this was small-time compared to many. I loved the way she broke up the attempted sabatoge (sp), and so what that she was yelling ... I'd be yelling too if my coworkers were in on it too. I think Trump is quickly taking notice of her, to the obvious displeasure of the team Rivers.

I STILL love Annie, she is an amazing woman. Shes in a man's world.. at least poker WAS a man's world. People like Annie, Clonie Gowen, Jennifer Harmon, and Evelyn Ng are changing that... and GOOD FOR THEM!

Annie is an extreamly smart and educated woman and she has every right to push the way she does. I have no isses with her yelling at the person on the phone. They gave out someones personal number.. and Nat lied to get it. I would have gone off as well if i was in Annies position. Nat used her name to get it and that makes Annie look bad, person on other end should have thought to contact Annie to confirm this all.

I also do i have issues with her B*** Job comment.. I lauged my head off. It was something I would have said and I HIGHLY doubt someone like Brande was offended. When you have a camera on you ALL THE TIME like they do on the show.. or someone like Annie does all the time, you tend to forget it is there.. her and Brande may have been joking around we dont know.. none the less I still found it funny. She is a great mom as well.. as for her cooking, well i'd order the pasta and meatballs if i ate meat.

As for her being Two Faced.. I agree.. no more so than anyone else. Annie is direct, she has no reason to talk behind someones back.. she would have told them to their face. I LOVED the kill Melissa with kindness that her and Brande threw out there. Melissa cracked.. it was what Annie wanted. Great play.

[LadyWyntre]

Something else I think was very telling... Melissa was whining about no one appreciating her on the task. My DH said "She's got a point." I said "Nope. It doesn't matter *what* Annie says right now. The question is, what does she say in the boardroom?" And true to form, since Melissa did a good job on the jewelry-picking, Annie in the boardroom gave her kudos in front of Trump. I'd much rather have that than I would a private attagirl.

You can call it two-faced to be stoic in the boardroom and angry behind the scenes. I would call it professional.

[mindy384]

Originally Posted by Kip

I wondered about that too as Natalie was making the call. My husband watches a fair bit of poker, so I follow along some. I've never heard any hint of a Hellmuth-Duke rivalry. Hellmuth is a bit of a character and seems to think he's the greatest. When he loses, he criticizes his opponents, no matter who they are (he says stuff like the reason he lost was because his opponent didn't play their hand properly).

Anyway, I think Phil is at least as likely, if not more so, to feel like he needs to come to anorther poker player's aid as he is to try to stop an opponent. In the poker world, everyone is an opponent, but they're all members of the same club.

I can help you out here (my hubby is a poker nut, we watch everything!). Annie and Phil do a show together called The Best Damn Poker Show--they both select teams and those teams compete against each other. They (annie and phil) actually sit in a board room and talk smack to each other and yada yada while their contestants play. Annie 'won' the first season and, per their side bet, made Phil stand up in the casino and announce to everyone that Annie is the best poker player in the world (big thing for Phil since he (as well as many others considering he has 11 bracelets) considers himself to be the best player on the planet).

Outside of the show most of the 'high stakes' players spend a lot of time together both in and outside of the casino. Although Annie does not frequent a lot of the other network shows (Poker After Dark, High Stakes Poker) her brother, Howard Lederer (aka The Professor), plays quite often.

Of course, Annie and many of the other big pros play most of the WSOP and WPT events throughout the year so they constantly see one another. No doubt Annie has many connections in the poker world ($$).

BTW, if anyone could help me with the exact episode (name/#?) when Phil H. or other poker players showed up on TCA, that would be awesome (I'd like to show my husband online).

Thanks!