Poker Publicity Gets Dicey with Negreanu Insult of Annie Duke

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Publicity can be a prickly subject, as the professional poker world is finding out in the aftermath of Daniel Negreanu’s unsavory remarks about female player, Annie Duke. While Negreanu’s comments were sexist and demeaning, the verbal sparring between the two players continues to bring more publicity for the game.

After a group men entered and played in the Ladies Championship at this year’s World Series of Poker, Negreanu, a PokerStars pro, ripped the men in his blog for playing in the event, while Duke, a pro at UB.com, basically supported the male players, suggesting that the event showed weakness in the women players.

The friction reached its pinnacle when Negreanu was interviewed recently, saying, “What irked me is that this woman has the audacity on her website to call herself ‘the best female poker player in the world’. He explained by saying, “So on one side of the coin she’s fighting for, ‘Oh, we’re all equal, there shouldn’t be any gender thing,’ but when appropriate she decides to call herself the best female poker player in the world.”

He then goes on to use a highly derogatory slang term about her; a comment which he claims was supposed to be off the record. For her part, Duke has issued a statement saying while he has the right to his opinion, his standing should have pushed PokerStars to publicly denounce his language in attacking her.

While the situation is uncomfortable, it represents another marketing boon for poker. George Cohan once said, “I don’t care what you say about me, as long as you say something about me, and as long as you spell my name right.” With the game growing and tournaments gaining viewing on audiences on television, the controversy between these two well-known players fits that sentiment, adding to the game’s appeal.