Thursday, August 20, 2009 - Annie Duke
This week is a sad one for me. Ken Bacon, President of Refugees International, passed away this week. Ken was an extraordinary individual with an amazing passion for finding lasting solutions to the refugee problem around the world. He was a Wall Street Journal reporter who became chief Pentagon spokesman under Clinton. He joined RI in 2001.
I met Ken Bacon in October, during the filming of The Celebrity Apprentice. Because Ante Up for Africa was in the process of becoming a 501c3 while the Apprentice was filming, I couldn’t play directly for my own charity. So I played for RI which is aligned in its mission with the mission of AUFA. At my first meeting with Ken I presented him with a $245K check from winning a task on Celebrity Apprentice and to say his reaction was reserved would be a drastic understatement. I was a little taken aback until I figured out the he was just an incredible sincere individual. We ended up chatting for a very long time about the issues in Sudan and Darfur and I could see the passion and real commitment to the issue that this man had.
I saw Ken a few times after that, once at the filming of the final task of the Apprentice where without Ken’s help I don’t think I could have pulled the auction off. The last time I saw him was for the 30th Anniversary Gala of Refugees International where I presented that $245K check again to a much greater reaction.
Ken brought a passion to the cause that I hope to emulate. We should all be so lucky to have someone like Ken Bacon fighting for us and the things we believe in. I am truly lucky to have known him, if even for such a brief time. I am certainly a better person for the time I got with him.
Tags: Ante Up For Africa, Celebrity Apprentice, Clinton, Ken Bacon, refugees international
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Monday, August 10, 2009 - Annie Duke
So I have been back from DC now for a week and really feeling settled in for the first time since the WSOP ended. I left for Vegas at the end of May and came back mid July. That is a long time away from home and I really wanted to just settled back in to my routine in LA. But I turned around less than a week later to head to DC to lobby for the Poker Players Alliance (www.joinpps.org) and for Refugees International and Enough Project (www.refugeesinernational.org www.enoughproject.org) . That all went great with movement on both fronts. I am happy to say that Senator Menendez dropped his bill to legalize peer to peer games this week. You can read all about the bill at http://theppa.org/special/s1597/ This kind of movement on the legislative front is huge and is what the PPA has been working towards for the past three years. On the House of Representatives side of things, the frontier is looking rosy as well with Rep. Frank introducing H.R. 2166. http://theppa.org/special/dc/ which calls for the licensing and regulation of the online gaming industry which would bring us in line with hour The UK and 25 other countries handle online gaming. These pieces of legislation both have bipartisan support which shows that this is an issue that crosses party lines because across the board from the standpoint of consumer protection, civil liberties, protection of minors, world trade, etc. UIGEA is just bad government policy and members of both parties are recognizing that. It is really gratifying to see the work that many of us have done taking frequent trips to Capitol Hill to talk to lawmakers coming to fruition. And the support of the over 1 million people who have joined the PPA is responsible for those efforts and the powerful voice that poker players have in our nation’s capital. We should all be patting ourselves on the back for taking action.
On the Sudan front, the people we met with were very receptive to reexamining the Comprehensive Peace Agreement between North and South Sudan. It was a very educational day for me listening to Omer Ismail and Melanie Tiff talk about the issues. I am very familiar with how to lobby the poker issue. Watching these passionate individuals talk the Sudan issue was incredible and really reaffirmed my passion for the issue.
After I was done lobbying, my family and I spent the rest of the vacation doing the monuments and Smithsonians. The Holocaust Museum is a must for anyone going to DC. Obviously, it is so moving to see the artifacts and stories from Nazi Germany but they also have a section in there on Sudan and I was able to bring my children through there and touch them about the work that Ante Up for Africa does in a way that just talking to them about it could never do. They have an amazing interactive section of the museum where the kids could read personal stories from people affected by the conflict there. And the fact that it was related to the holocaust really helped bring it home for them. They saw the idea that when we say, “Never again” that we really need to live that because if we let our guards down then “never again” means nothing as it will happen again and again as it has throughout human history.
Anyway, the whole experience was really moving. But we are all happy to be home. And I am ecstatic to be sleeping in my own bed every night, doing Bikram everyday and cooking dinner for my kids in my own kitchen again.
Tags: Annie Duke, Ante Up For Africa, Enough Project, Gaming Regulations, poker players alliance, refugees international, Vegas, WSOP
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Saturday, May 30, 2009 - Gene Bromberg
I never quite understood the saying I used as the title of my post–what else do you do with lemons aside from making lemonade? Squirt some on a piece of fish, use the juice to keep apples from browning…I dunno. Maybe I should take cooking lessons.
Know who got taught a lesson this afternoon? ESPN’s Norman Chad, who was schooled and ruled by Annie Duke in a little contest held outside the Amazon Room earlier today. The two squared off in a competition to see who could sell the most cups of lemonade to the thirsty masses crowding the Rio. With cameras and boom mikes swarming and curious interlopers pressing close, Annie and Norman chatted a bit before getting down to the serious business of cut-throat capitalism. First they had to make signs for their stands…
…and I think Annie won the artistic portion of the competion
And yes, you read that right–in addition to a refreshing glass of lemonade you’d also get a kiss from Annie. Already on the defensive Chad had to make up ground by developing a better product, but come now–who do you think is getting the most juice out of those lemons, Norm with his half-hearted one-handed technique or Annie with her double-fisted smush:
Desperate times call for desperate measures. First Chad went for simple character assassination:
But that didn’t work, as the first customer went right up to Annie, got her lemonade, and got a hug to boot:
People bee-lined to Annie, many of them with copies of this month’s Bluff magazine (with Annie on the cover) to be autographed. The situation spiraling out of control, Norm moved to childish defacement of Annie’s picture in hopes of swaying the crowd:
The crowd was decided unswayed, with Annie saying to Norm, “I’m running out of lemonade, can I have some of yours?” He was spared that humiliation when Annie’s pitchers were replenished, and a struggling Chad announced to the crowd that anyone who bought a glass from him would receive an autographed photo of Lon McEachern. Let’s just say the masses were unmoved. And that’s when the desperate Chad had a moment of inspiration:
Norman lassoed the Milwaukee’s Best Light girls, and for a moment I thought this masterstroke would turn the tide. Especially as the next customer in line was WSOP Commissioner Jeffrey Pollack–a sale to the World Series’ head honcho would at the very least help Chad save some face. But after shaking hands with Norm and his lovely assistants, Pollack said that he’d be taking his business three feet to his right. Which made someone very happy:
Norman accepted Pollack’s decision with a quiet dignity. Well, no, that’s a total lie–I think the expression of Chad’s face could be used in the dictionary as the definition of “sneer”:
In the end Annie raised $327 for her charity, Refugees International. A modest sum, but hopefully the ESPN segment showing Annie squeezing the life out of Norm will bring Refugees International to the attention of even more people. And now if you’ll excuse me, I’m suddenly very thirsty. Lemonade…that sounds good…
Tags: 2009 world series of poker, 2009 wsop, Annie Duke, annie duke espn lemonade, annie duke lemonade, annie duke vs norman chad, jeffrey pollack, norman chad, refugees international, world series of poker, world series of poker lemonade, WSOP, wsop lemonade
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