wsop commissioner pollack defends annie duke
Jeffrey Pollack, the commissioner of the World Series of Poker said Tuesday that he thinks that professional poker player Annie Duke's presence on reality show "Celebrity Apprentice" will be good for the game, even though there have been insults by Joan Rivers made to Annie Duke and the poker profession in general.
Pollack mentioned Joan Rivers' name during a news conference when a news reporter asked him if he thought a woman would eventually win the series' main event poker tournament.
"We would love to see a woman win the main event ... unless that woman happens to be Joan Rivers," Pollack said.
Pollack also said that for the 2009 WSOP tournament, series organizers planned to monitor players' conduct more closely during the tournaments and to more effectively punish violators.
Joan Rivers called Duke a "Nazi" and said all poker players were "beyond white trash" in an episode of the NBC reality TV show which aired Sunday. Rivers unleashed her fury after her daughter Melissa was fired.
"Your people, you give money with blood on it," Rivers said.
"I met your people in Vegas for 40 years. None of them have last names, none of them," Rivers told Duke. "You're a poker player, a poker player. That's beyond white trash."
Duke, who is a respected professional poker player, responded saying that poker players are "the most awesome people in the world."
Pollack said he believed Duke's presence on the show represented a "quantum leap" for poker.
"Annie is representing poker players beautifully. I think she's playing the game masterfully," Pollack said. "We think the net effect is that it's going to be very good for poker and for the World Series of Poker."
Pollack said tournament officials starting this year will keep a written log of warnings and penalties, using it to better determine appropriate punishments when rules are violated.
"Our intention is to make sure that the behavior of a few does not impact the experience of the many," Pollack said before mentioning "Celebrity Apprentice" again.
"Anyone who thinks that poker players are anything other than a great group of people, that represent not only America and the world, is absolutely wrong," he said. "No one will defend the honor of poker players more than the WSOP."
