Annie Duke Wins World Series of Poker Tournament of Champions

22.09.2004, Lesen Sie hier den Bericht über «Annie Duke Wins World Series of Poker Tournament of Champions».

LAS VEGAS, It's official - Annie Duke reigns as the world's best poker player. The mother of four outlasted nine poker legends - including her brother - to win the first-ever World Series of Poker Tournament of Champions and its $2 million prize.

Duke, who holds a double major from Columbia University and did graduate studies in cognitive psychology at the University of Pennsylvania, can add another feather to her cap: the first woman to win a multi-million-dollar payday in poker while changing the face of a game that until recently was dominated by men.

The winner-take-all, invitation-only tournament was established by Harrah's Entertainment, Inc., which owns the World Series of Poker, and ESPN to determine the world's greatest poker player. The 10 participants were elected by a vote of their peers. "This was an unbelievable opportunity, and the biggest win of my career," Duke said. "I hope that a lot of women will now enter this game and realize it's not just your husband's, boyfriend's or brother's Wednesday night poker game - that this is something that you can do on an equal footing with men, that you don't need to be separated out like it's football.

This is a sport where you can really compete with everybody." Duke, the only woman to play in the Tournament of Champions, bested the biggest names in poker, including her brother, Howard Lederer, who finished third. Duke took the title after knocking out 1989 World Series of Poker champion Phil Hellmuth.

Two-time World Series of Poker champions Doyle "Texas Dolly" Brunson ('76, '77) and Johnny Chan ('87, '88), 2004 champion Greg Raymer as well as T.J. Cloutier, Phil Ivey, Daniel Negreanu and Chip Reese rounded out the competition.

ESPN aired the World Series of Poker Tournament of Champions Sept. 21 from 8:10 p.m. to 11 p.m. Eastern. It will re-air the special at 1 p.m. Eastern on Friday, Sept. 24.

Duke has long been among the premier players at the World Series of Poker, earning well in excess of $500,000 prior to winning the Tournament of Champions. Her cash finishes include a run during the 2000 World Series of Poker in which she finished 10th while nine months pregnant. "Annie is an incredible player," said Ginny Shanks, senior vice president of acquisition marketing for Harrah's. "She had an amazing run at this year's World Series of Poker, winning a gold bracelet in the Omaha High-Low $2,000 buy-in, and now she caps off the summer with an unprecedented victory. We can't wait to see what she has in store for us at the 2005 World Series of Poker."

Founded 66 years ago, Harrah's Entertainment, Inc. owns or manages through various subsidiaries 28 casinos in the United States, primarily under the Harrah's brand name. Harrah's Entertainment is focused on building loyalty and value with its valued customers through a unique combination of great service, excellent products, unsurpassed distribution, operational excellence and technology leadership. More information about Harrah's is available at http://www.harrahs.com.

ESPN Original Entertainment is developing a wide variety of branded programming to add to the network's comprehensive event and sports news coverage. Using a collection of genres - original movies, reality-based shows, dramatic series, documentaries, game shows and more - ESPN's goal is to broaden its audience by more strongly appealing to newer and more casual sports fans.

Über World Series of Poker (WSOP):

Die World Series of Poker, oder kurz WSOP, ist eine Reihe von Pokerturnieren, die jedes Jahr in Las Vegas ausgetragen werden.

Die World Series of Poker finden jährlich im Rio All-Suite Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas statt.

Die World Series of Poker ist die grösste und prestigeträchtigste Pokerveranstaltung der Welt. Mit einer umfassenden Liste von Turnieren in allen wichtigen Pokervarianten ist die WSOP das am längsten laufende Pokerturnier der Welt und geht auf das Jahr 1970 zurück.

Darüber hinaus hat die WSOP bahnbrechende Allianzen in den Bereichen Rundfunk, digitale Medien und Unternehmenssponsoring gebildet und die Marke mit der Einführung der WSOP Europe im Jahr 2007 und der WSOP Asia-Pacific im Jahr 2013 sowie der WSOP International Circuit Series im Jahr 2015 erfolgreich international ausgebaut.

Ursprünglich wurden die Tourniere in Las Vegas Downtown im Binion's Horseshoe Casino ausgetragen. Im Jahre 2005 kaufte Caesars den Brand WSOP. Seit diesem Datum werden die Pokermeisterschaften im Rio All Suite Hotel and Casino durchgeführt.

Gewinner der letzten Jahre des WSOP-Championship-Mainevent

2020: Damian Salas 2019: Hossein Ensan 2018: John Cynn 2017: Scott Blumstein 2016: Qui Nguyen 2015: Joe McKeehen 2014: Martin Jacobson 2013: Ryan Riess 2012: Greg Merson 2011: Pius Heinz 2010: Jonathan Duhamel 2009: Joe Cada 2008: Peter Eastgate 2007: Jerry Yang 2006: Jamie Gold 2005: Joe Hachem 2004: Greg "Fossil Man" Raymer 2003: Chris Moneymaker 2002: Robert Varkonyi 2001: Carlos Mortensen 2000: Chris "Jesus" Ferguson 1999: J.J. "Noel" Furlong 1998: Scotty Nguyen 1997: Stu Ungar 1996: Huck Seed 1995: Dan Harrington 1994: Russ Hamilton 1993: Jim Bechtel 1992: Hamid Dastmalchi 1991: Brad Daugherty 1990: Mansour Matloubi 1989: Phil Hellmuth Jr. 1988: Johnny Chan 1987: Johnny Chan 1986: Berry Johnston 1985: Bill Smith 1984: Jack Keller 1983: Tom McEvoy 1982: Jack Strauss 1981: Stu Ungar 1980: Stu Ungar 1979: Hal Fowler 1978: Bobby Baldwin 1977: Doyle Brunson 1976: Doyle Brunson 1975: Sailor Roberts 1974: Johnny Moss 1973: Puggy Pearson 1972: Amarillo Slim Preston 1971: Johnny Moss 1970: Johnny Moss

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