Profile of professional player Annie Duke

Annie Duke had been born in Concord in New Hampshire in 1965. Her entire family played cards with a competitive spirit and her brother Howard Lederer is in fact a famous professional poker player. After college Annie got married and started playing poker in Colorado to help pay the mortage.

Annie’s brother coached her and helped her sharpen her skills. He even loaned her money to play at the tables and soon things began to change for Annie. In 1994 Annie entered the World Series of Poker when her brother urged her. Annie did quite well in her first tournament at the WSOP. She took the 13th place and in fact, performed better than her brother at the game. In a few months time, Annie made over $70,000 which encouraged her husband and her to move to Las Vegas to pursue a professional career.

Throughout her career, Annie had been consistent with her winnings at the table. During her career, Annie’s wins have been recorded in at least 40 different cash games. Annie participated in the WSOP again in 1996 and stood second in the Limit seven card stud game winning a total of $72,000 in winnings.

She participated in the 1999 World Series of Poker and again won the second place in the No Limit Texas Hold’em and this time her earnings were $110,000. At the Ultimate Poker Classic she won the third position and the second place in the Five Star Poker Classic.

2004 was the best year in Annie’s career. In the Five Star Poker Classic she won the first place at the Limit Hold’em game and earned $157,140. She participated in the WSOP that May and won the first place in the Limit Omaha game and won the first bracelet and $137,860. In August the same year she was invited for a WSOP tournament of Champions where she defeated several legendary poker players including her brother and Doyle Brunson.

Interesting Fact: Annie Duke has also been a coach to Ben Affleck who, under her guidance won the State championship in California.

During the final stage of the tournament, Annie went heads up against Phil Hellmuth and defeated him to win $2 million at the tournament. That was the highest ever win recorded earned by a female in one event at that time.

Annie Duke’s autobiography was published in 2005. The co-author on the autobiography was David Diamond and the book talks about her life as a professional player and how she was determined to win the event at WSOP. Her autobiography was an instant hit and it continues to be popular. Annie’s sister had also published a book which talks about the competitive spirit of Annie and their brother Howard.