Date of Birth: September 13, 1965
Birthplace: Concord, New Hampshire
Previous Occupation: Student
Personal Information: Divorced, with four children
Official Web Site: http://www.annieduke.com/index.php
Achievements: 1 WSOP bracelet, Winner of the inaugural World Series of Poker Tournament Champions along with various other final table results.
Annie was born on Sept. 13, 1965 in Concord, New Hampshire, the second child of writer and linguist Richard Lederer and his wife, Rhonda Ann. Card playing was favorite family activity as well as the glue that held the family together. Even in her childhood, Duke always struggled to fit in. At the age of eighteen, Annie Duke applied to Columbia University to try her luck in the big city. Pretty, smart and popular, she completed a major in English and Psychology at Columbia University intending to follow the footsteps of her parents and becoming a teacher. Instead, she had enrolled as a graduate student at the University of Pennsylvania for Cognitive Psychology. In 1991, Duke has drastically changed her life by proposing marriage to an old friend. In fact, she had to leave University of Pennsylvania and move to Montana. Living in romantic poverty with her husband, Duke began to play poker in local pokers rooms to pay the mortgage on their first home. In 1994, at the suggestion of her brother, famed poker player Howard Lederer, Duke tried her hand at the World Series of Poker in Las Vegas. In her very first World Series of Poker 10.000 dollars championship event, she knocked out her teacher, the renowned Howard Lederer. After several poker victories, Duke and her husband made the move to Las Vegas so she could pursue poker professionally.
Over the course of events, Duke established herself as one of the best poker players in the world. In 2004, Duke had a triumph over an assembly of 234 players in the WSOP 2000 dollars buy-in Omaha Hi/Lo Split and won her first WSOP bracelet. In August of the same year, Annie was chosen from a large group of poker pros to play in the first Tournament of Champions. The 2004 event brought together ten of the greatest, most popular players for a winner-take-all, and two million dollars prize. Annie Duke is a media favorite these days. Now she serves as a consultant and a spokesperson for the online poker site UltimateBet.com where she can be found playing poker on occasion. Furthermore, because of her vast poker skills, Duke had actually coaching Ben Affleck and Matt Damon. Recently, Duke endorsed The ESPN Poker Club product line, which offers quality poker products, style and authenticity. The line, which was launched in May 2005, includes poker chip sets, tabletops, tables and other poker accessories. Besides successful poker career, Duke wrote an autobiography named: Annie Duke: How I raised, folded, bluffed, flirted, cursed and won millions at the World Series of Poker. While doing all this, she still enjoyed a successful family life raising her four children: Maud, Leo, Lucy and Nelly.
