[benfranklin]

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I played with at Duke's table for much of WSOP event #3 (and knocked her out after she was short stacked) and was briefly at her table for event 1. The entire time she was polite to everyone at the table including the dealers.

If you want to make your determination about someone strictly from second hand stories...toss this one in the mix...

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Unlike you and a few others, most everyone here knows only what we see on TV. As we all SHOULD know, TV is heavily edited for drama. So what we generally see of Annie Duke or anyone else on TV is a few highlights of high pressure decisions, and reactions to the outcome.

Given all of that, it is my personal opinion that Annie is a poor loser, and I don't like that. What I have seen on TV is sufficient evidence of that for me, and cannot be offset by any amount of otherwise graciousness.

On TV, she comes across, or is made out to be, about a 90% bitch. Many here do not look beyond that image. I am quite willing to believe that she is 90% or even 99% gracious and polite. I still don't like her. That reflects my values and how I think professionals should behave.

The highly competitive nature and upbringing of Annie and her brother are well documented. The difference in their behaviour when thing don't go their way is like night and day. I respect them both for their skills. I respect Howard for his professionalism.

Norman Chad had a line about Hellmuth being not only a poor loser, but a poor winner. Annie is a gracious winner. She could stand a lot of improvement on the other end of the spectrum.

I also think that she is an elitest, and feels that playing with anyone other than the top 1% of players in the world is demeaning to her. This may also be TV image, but I have seen enough of it to make up my mind, and to feel that no amount of politeness the other 95% of the time makes up for that.