Annie Duke - Poker Legend

Annie Duke is renowned for being one of the worlds best poker players – not an easy achievement in a competitive environment dominated by men. Sister to another poker legend, Howard Lederer, Duke has climbed the professional poker ladder and earned herself millions in the process.

Born and raised in Concord, New Hampshire, Duke grew up in a competitive, card playing family where everybody not only wanted to win but needed to win. Duke struggled to fit in as a liberal product of two teachers on prestigious and privileged grounds of St. Paul’s prep school so at the age of 18, Duke matriculated at Columbia University and thought to try her luck in the big city.

And if you thought that poker was the only trick up Duke’s sleeve you’d be very wrong. Majoring in English and Psychology at Columbia University with the intention of following in the footsteps of her parents and becoming a teacher, Duke changed career path and enrolled as a graduate student at the University of Pennsylvania for Cognitive Psychology.

So how do you go from Cognitive Psychology to Poker? Well, if you’re Duke, you propose marriage to your friend, pack up your doctorate research, live in romantic poverty with your husband and start playing poker in local poker rooms to help pay for the mortgage!

This local poker playing led Duke to finally enter her first WSOP event in Vegas in 1994 at the suggestion of her brother Howard Lederer. She ended up knocking him out coming in 13th place. After winning 70K in her first month of competition, Duke and her husband made the move to Las Vegas so she could pursue poker professionally.

And if you thought poker was all about the big boys then think again because over the course of the next decade, Duke established herself as one of the best poker players in the world, beating out an assembly of 234 players in the WSOP $2000 buy-in Omaha Hi/Lo Split to win her first WSOP bracelet in 2004.

In August of the same year, Duke knocked out 8 of the worlds’ greatest poker legends and won $2 million in the No-Limit Texas Hold'em winner-take-all, invitation-only WSOP Tournament of Champions, established by ESPN and Harrah’s Entertainment.

So what does Duke do in her free time? With four children, an autobiography, a sitcom and a consultancy position for UltimateBet.com, Duke is plenty busy and very happy!

Could you beat a Poker Legend?

You could get the chance to play against one of these legends at the World Poker Tour. To find out how you could be taking on a legend check out my Free World Poker Tour Satellite entry page. Just Click Here for more info.