Annie Duke is one of 2 poker players in the Lederer family, and she's the sister to Howard Lederer.

Some might argue that Annie has the edge in her family's poker war stories, since she put her brother out of no less than 4 World Series of Poker events.

But Howard early on gave Annie instruction at cards, which she credits with making her the player she is today. Though Howard is known as the "Professor", Annie was the one who ended a month short of a doctorate in cognitive psychology from the Pennsylvania University.

Annie Duke's Life Before Poker

Annie grew up in Concord, New Hampshire, the child of an author and teacher of linguistics. Richard Lederer taught his children to play cards.

The Lederer family was both scholastic and competitive, spurred on by their father's natural competitive streak. The children were expected to seek out higher education, which is exactly what Annie did.

Annie attended Columbia University in New York City, where she earned a double major in English and Psychology. She spent the next several years pursuing graduate work at the University of Pennsylvania, where Annie hoped to start a career-- not unlike her father's--as a professor of psycholinguistics. But fate interceded and Annie met her later husband, Ben Duke. She left the university a month before defending her dissertation to pursue marriage with Mr. Duke.

Becoming the Duchess of Poker

In 1992, the Dukes moved to Montana, where Annie began to play a little poker. Annie's brother, Howard, had given Annie a few lessons to sharpen up her card skills. But by the early 1990's, Howard was a successful poker player in cash games. The two became the only brother-sister combination to ever sit at a final table of the World Series of Poker in 1994.

Annie has accomplished much as a poker player.

Over the years, Annie gained several monikers, from the "Duchess of Poker" to "Annie Legend" to simply "the Duke". At one time, she was best known for finishing 10th in a WSOP event while 8 months pregnant.

Annie has accumulated well over $3 million in tournament earnings.

It should be enough to say that she is a respected player in her own right, without the tag "woman" poker player before it.

Annie won a 2004 World Series of Poker High Low event, gaining her first bracelet. She finished 2nd in 2 other WSOP tournaments, a pair of Limit Holdem events, one in 1999 and another in 2003.

Also in 2004, Annie won the 1st Annual World Series of Poker Tournament of Champions, defeating a distraught Phil Hellmuth in a heads-up showdown for the victory. This netted Annie $2 million.

Annie Duke is a spokesman for Ultimate Bet, where she has written online articles since 2000. Annie and her brother also host a Poker Fantasy Camp.

The two have also collaborated to promote a 2005 poker video game. Annie has also written her autobiography, Annie Duke: How I Raised, Folded, Bluffed, Flirted, Cursed and Won Millions at the World Series of Poker.

I would say that title says it all.

This page was last updated on January 12, 2006.