Annie Duke's Biography

Annie Duke, nicknamed 'The Duchess', was born in Concord, New Hampshire. She is the sister of the acclaimed poker player Howard Lederer. Their father was an English professor. Her parents met at a card table, playing bridge.

Annie Duke completed a major in English and Psychology at Columbia University and enrolled as a graduate student at the University of Pennsylvania for Cognitive Psychology. Her doctoral thesis was on syntactic boot-strapping.

In 1991, Annie married Ben Duke. They have four children.

In 1994, Annie Duke ended up 13th in her first World Series of Poker tournament.

In 2004, Annie Duke won the World Series of Poker $2000 buy-in Omaha Hi/Lo Split and won her first WSOP bracelet. It was a great year for Annie Duke, who also won $2 million in the No-Limit Texas Hold'em winner-take-all, WSOP Tournament of Champions.

Annie Duke is regarded by many as the world's leading woman poker player, although in 2007 Annette Obrestad won the Main Event of WSOP Europe.

Annie Duke has taught poker to Ben Affleck, Matt Damon, Ashton Kutcher and Charles Barkley.

Annie Duke is involved with several charities including Ante Up for Africa, and on Celebrity Apprentice in 2009 Duke elected to play for the charity, Refugees International. Annie Duke ended up runner-up to Joan Rivers in Celebrity Apprentice.

Annie Duke told The Guardian about poker, "You make money by lots of iterations of a small edge."

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