Poker and 'The Apprentice'

I like to watch the program, The Apprentice. The last version of this popular show that features Donald Trump firing people was a shameful exhibition of how business should be run. Toward the end of the show four contestants remained: blue-collar Jesse James, comedienne Joan Rivers, former Playboy bunny Brandi Roderick, and poker player Annie Duke.

The judges picked Duke and Rivers because a great deal of animosity developed between them, and this duo would make the best TV-not because both of them had won at that point. When it came down to choosing the winner, the Donald changed the criteria so that Joan Rivers would win. Shame on you, Donald. Annie Duke was robbed.

I was a guest on the Joan Rivers Show a number of years ago. I found her to be much brighter than I expected, with a great facility for quickly grasping new concepts. Joan was also a good hostess, and knew how to make people feel comfortable and get the best out of them for her show.

In playing this game Rivers accused Duke of being like Adolph Hitler, and because she was a poker player she was just "white trash." In my opinion Rivers owes the poker world a public apology. Rivers became emotionally upset when her daughter, Melissa, was manipulated out of the game by Duke. She even walked off the show, but came back for the next episode.

Annie Duke is the consummate poker player. She is very bright but often ruthless and manipulative. This may work at the poker table, but not in the business world where a good manager creates a win-win situation, not a win-lose game as in poker.

Annie Duke did not use Melissa when she was the project manager. Instead, she abused her. In my opinion, Duke was playing the wrong game. She thought she was playing "Survivor," a show also produced by Mark Burnett.

That's the reason she should have lost, not the BS that was made up by whoever ran that show. After all, it wouldn't look good for a "low-life" poker player to defeat an energetic and venerable old lady, would it??

Although it made interesting television, and probably got good ratings, it was a shameful distortion of the way the business world should work, and an insult to all of us who play poker.

Annie Duke may have improved her personal visibility, but the net result was not good for poker in general. This isn't the first time she has done this. She went to Washington DC to speak to legislators, accomplishing nothing. Again, she was playing the wrong game. Perhaps it would be better if she stuck to her day job.