Annie Duke the best female poker player in the world?
No, but I think some posters are going a bit far in deriding her as a terrible player. She is probably one of the top 10. Her tournament winnings at $4.7m are second only to Kathy Liebert:
http://pokerdb.thehendonmob.com/ranking/137#2
and it is not fair to dismiss the whole list as a few lucky cashes:
http://pokerdb.thehendonmob.com/player.php?a=r&n=74
However, some of the big wins were definitely in less challenging circumstances than others, especially the $2m which was in an 8-player invitational. Also, there are no recent major cashes.
I think it would be fair to say she was once a contender for best female player but most would have put her behind Jen Harman. Today she is definitely not the best but I think that is partly because she no longer puts in the hours etc, prefering to spend her life in different ways.
Whatever the case, I think people lose respect by making bold self-promotional claims which are not clearly anchored in fact. She should qualify the claim by stating on what measure she is judged the best and by who. Her claim is in effect disrespectful to other top female players with stronger claims like Kathy, Annette and Jen.
Even if she were clearly the best player on the planet it would be better to let others say it rather than plastering it all over the media herself.
Annie Duke right about the women in poker?
It is difficult to nail down her position here. I think her comments on the womens event would carry more weight if she didn't write books like this:
http://www.amazon.com/Annie-Duke-Blu...7297412&sr=1-1
and make DVDs like this:
http://www.amazon.com/Masters-Poker-...7296145&sr=1-6
It is inconsistent to say on the one hand that women and men should be treated equally in poker while at the same time producing products aimed at female poker players and making claims about her status among that subgroup. Does she think that the sex of the player is a meaningful distinction to make or not?
Annie Duke a nice person?
I don't know. Like most people here I don't know her personally. I have never sat on her table in a tournament. I can comment on her (self created) media image though. I think she is very intelligent and has a strong drive to succeed and I admire her charitable endeavours. If she wasn't (i) involved with UB (where it seems obvious she is more than just a "consultant") and (ii) so self-promotional, I would regard her as one of the more positive characters in poker.