Annie Duke considered herself the best female player, clashed with Daniel Negreanu , and demonstratively refused to participate in women's tournaments. After her resounding victory at the WSOP Tournament of Champions, she received the unofficial title of "Duchess of Poker."
When her career ended, Annie wrote a book about decision-making, “The Betting Principle,” which became a bestseller worldwide. Our article contains the most interesting facts about the biography of one of the main poker stars of the 2000s. Find materials about other poker celebrities in our Hall of Fame.
Annie Duke’s Biography
The name Howard Lederer, winner of two WSOP bracelets and one of the founders of the Full Tilt room, is familiar to all poker fans. But his younger sister also became a professional player and achieved great success in offline tournaments. Meet Annie Duke!
Annie is only one year younger than her brother. She was born on September 13, 1965, to a famous linguist, Richard Lederer, and a school teacher, Rhoda S. Lederer. The parents often played cards, but they treated it as entertainment and did not expect their children to earn millions at the poker table.
Her father strictly controlled his daughter's education from an early age. She graduated from the prestigious private school St. Paul's, where her mother taught, received a degree from Columbia University in New York in Psychology, and entered graduate school at the University of Pennsylvania, where she defended her dissertation in the field of cognitive linguistics.
It seemed that the future life of the future "Duchess of Poker" would be connected with academic work. But in 1991 she unexpectedly abandoned science, and a year later she married Ben Duke and, on the advice of her brother, began a career as a professional poker player.
Beginning of a Poker Career
Annie Duke had been playing poker since she was 22. The girl regularly visited her brother in Las Vegas and often visited local casinos. Howard Lederer noticed his sister's talent and in 1992 suggested that she take up the game seriously. As support, he sent her $2,400 and training books, and also gave her advice over the phone.
Annie began playing regularly in a small local poker room, where there were no serious opponents. The first victories and the support of her brother inspired the girl to take part in the World Series of Poker. In 1994, she came to Vegas and earned more than $70,000 in a month. At the tournament with a buy-in of $2,500, Annie managed to get to the final table for the first time, where she took 5th place. After that, the girl decided to start a career as a professional player.
Annie Duke’s Poker Achievements
Successes at the 1994 WSOP (5th and 14th places in regular tournaments, 36th place in the Main Event) made the public pay attention to the future star. But in the eyes of ordinary people, she remained "the sister of the legendary Lederer" for a long time. Until 1999, she did not have any major victories, and during this time she gave birth to three children, which prevented her from regularly participating in tournaments.
The breakthrough that changed her career happened at the 1999 WSOP. Annie Duke took 2nd place in the $5,000 buy-in tournament and earned a record-breaking $110,000 at the time. And at the 2000 WSOP, the "Duchess of Poker" was just one step short of the final table of the Main Event. She took 10th place, earned more than $52,000 and stopped being just "Howard Lederer's sister."
After her big achievements in 2000, Annie demonstratively refused to play in women's tournaments and continued to compete with men. It was during this period of her career that her main victories took place.
- $2,000,000 at the 2004 WSOP Tournament of Champions. Annie's win at the Tournament of Champions gave her the largest prize ever for a woman. She managed to beat not only her brother, but also other world-class poker players Daniel Negreanu and Phil Hellmuth.
- $500,000 NBC National Heads-Up Championship. In 2010, Annie Duke became the first woman to win this prestigious tournament. She beat Hall of Famer and talented musician Erik Seidel at the final table .
- $137,000 at the 2004 WSOP Omaha Hi-Lo Split. 2004 was the most successful year in the career of the "Duchess". She managed to not only earn record prize money, but also to get her only WSOP champion bracelet. Surprisingly, this victory did not come in her favorite Texas Hold'em, but in Omaha Hi-Lo.
Annie Duke retired in 2012. Over her 18-year career, she earned over $4,200,000 and is ranked #5 on the All Time Money List among women for 2023.
Through her online poker sponsorships, poker winnings, books, and other ventures, Annie Duke appears to have a net worth of around $8 million. It is always difficult to find specific net worth information about poker players, but because of her business dealings and popularity, this seems to be a reasonable estimate.
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Annie Duke’s Books
Annie Duke is not only a professional player, but also the author of several books on poker and decision making. Let's talk about the most famous of them.
- "How I Raised, Folded, Bluffed, Flirted, Cursed , and Won Millions at the World Series of Poker." In 2005, Annie Duke released an autobiography. In it, she talked about her childhood, growing up, and the difficult path to the top of poker. Annie is extremely frank with readers: we learned that in 1992, she married a man she had never met before and started playing poker because of money problems.
- Decide to Play Great Poker : A Strategy Guide to No-Limit Texas Hold'Em. This book takes a look at poker strategy, hand selection, and all the factors you need to consider before making a decision at the table. After reading this book, beginners will understand that ABC poker strategy is not always enough to win.
- "Thinking in Bets: Making Smarter Decisions When You Don't Have All the Facts". "Thinking in Bets" is Annie Duke's most popular book. It has been translated into many languages. The author chose an original approach to decision-making in business, planning, and personal relationships. Each step is a bet with a probability of winning, and the main factors that influence the result are skill and luck.
If improving at poker is interesting, but books aren’t, we recommend checking our catalog for all the strategy you need. When you’ve found something to practice, take it to the freerolls. We offer a constantly updated schedule where you can find the prize pools, passwords, and registration links.
