Poker Forum

<3 Timex

Can someone explain to me how this is an op-ed and not a PR fluff piece?

Annie Duke is a polarizing figure among poker players, and long represented a site that cheated players. Jeffrey Pollack isn't even leaving his day job to pursue this full-time. The Palms is struggling in the Vegas economy, and has little poker tournament experience.
PokerStars and Full Tilt are making millions in profit each week. They have their own stars, tournaments, TV shows, and international marketing. There is no benefit for them to have their contracted pros travel to Las Vegas for this sham.
Ironically, at least 4 of the "superstars" you listed in your article — Tom “durrrr” Dwan, Patrik Antonius, Daniel “jungleman12” Cates, and Viktor “Isildur1” Blom --- wouldn't even qualify for FS+G because of a lack of live tournament wins over time.

I can not think of a poker player with a generally more polarizing personality than Annie Duke. This alone makes it difficult for her to gain the most important thing such a person has to obtain: consensus among players. Her well-publicized feuds with a number of top players mean this will be a very very tough job. Good luck. She is probably a nice person (I do not know her) but this role requires someone that genuinely is liked AND respected, and only a respected old-timer can finesse that job.

CaliGrinder72 wrote

Can someone explain to me how this is an op-ed and not a PR fluff piece?

I think I can - if you take a look here, it might start looking not that much like a PR.

I think we have to look a bit more beyond just Duke and Polack, don't we?