Annie Duke

Annie Duke (born September 13, 1965) is a professional poker player and author.

Duke was born in Concord, New Hampshire where her father, Richard Lederer, a writer and linguist, was teaching at St. Paul’s School. Her brother Howard Lederer is also a professional poker player; her sister Katy Lederer is an author and poet who also wrote a book about the Lederer family, titled Poker Face: A Girlhood Among Gamblers. She has four children: Maud (1995), Leo (1998), Lucy (2000) and Nell (2002).

Annie went to Columbia University where she double majored in English and psychology, and was awarded a NSF Fellowship to attend graduate school at the University of Pennsylvania to study psycholinguistics, a field within cognitive psychology.

She married Ben Duke, a close friend from the same university, and moved to his home inColumbus, Montana. Although originally intending to continue her studies, she decided to leave school in 1992, after five years of graduate school and one month before defending her Ph.D. work. It was at this time that, with the support of her brother, she took up professional poker.

In 2002, she moved to Portland, Oregon to work for ieLogic, a company that produces software for online real time casino gaming. She and Ben were divorced in 2004, but she did win a $500 wager made with fellow pro Steve Zolotow, who bet her that her marriage wouldn’t last five years. In 2005 she and her children moved to the Hollywood Hills neighborhood of Los Angeles, California. Her new Mediterranean-style home and boyfriend, actor and producer Joe Reitman, were featured in the New York Times article At Home With Annie Duke on January 19, 2006.

After leaving her academic work, Duke began playing poker in the legal card rooms in Billings. Her brother Howard was already a successful professional and he both coached and helped finance her play initially. In 1994, she and her husband moved to Las Vegas in order to commence playing poker full time.

In early 2004, Duke received considerable publicity for tutoring actor Ben Affleck, who then went on to win the 2004 California State Poker Championship. Before this time, her main claim to poker fame was her 10th place finish in the 2000 World Series of Poker main event (one position short of the final table) while eight months pregnant with her third child. In the 2004 World Series of Poker she also eliminated her brother Howard Lederer from four separate events, including the Tournament of Champions. During this same World Series, she won her first gold bracelet, in an Omaha Hi-Lo tournament. She was one of three women (Kathy Liebert and Cyndy Violette being the other two) to win an open event in that year’s WSOP.

Annie has several nicknames including “Annie Legend”, “The Duke”, and “The Duchess of Poker”, and unlike her brother, is known for being somewhat emotional at the poker table.

Duke is one of many poker players that take issue with the restrictions placed on players during televised tournaments. Although the players pay mandatory entry fees to enter tournaments, some venues do not allow players to wear sponsorship logos. Duke raised some controversy when she made a statement in a news article regarding this issue: “We [poker players] are not even slaves. We’re people paying to pick the cotton.”

Annie play for Team UB at: Ultimatebet

We here at CGN are very proud of Annie for her many accomplishments on and off the poker battlefield. Here is a youtube video concerning House of Judiciary Committee Hearing on Internet Gaming on 11/14/2007. Way to go Annie, keep up the good work!

If you want to know more about Annie Duke check out her website at: annieduke.com