The new poker champion Annie Duke has beaten her older brother
and eight other poker legends to win $2 million and the
World Series of Poker Tournament of Champions.
The 39-year-old Duke outlasted the other players in a grueling
game held earlier this month at the Rio hotel-casino.
ESPN telecast the event, the results of which had been kept
secret, in a nearly three-hour broadcast.
In a great comeback, Duke, the only woman to play in the No-Limit
Texas Hold'Em event, knocked out the garrulous Phil Hellmuth
to take the title after being on the verge of elimination most
of the event.
The players included four past World Series of Poker champions:
Greg Raymer, Doyle Brunson, Johnny Chan and Hellmuth. Brother
Howard Lederer, T.J. Cloutier, Phil Ivey, Daniel Negreanu and
Chip Reese also competed.
Duke, a Las Vegas mother of four, holds a double major from
Columbia University and did graduate studies in cognitive psychology
at the University of Pennsylvania.
The winner-take-all, invitation-only tournament was established
by Harrah's Entertainment and ESPN, who are teaming up to broadcast
the World Series of Poker Circuit in 2005. ESPN has an option
to televise the new points-based seven-event tournament circuit
for 2006 and 2007.
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