Custom Poker Tables Profile: Annie Duke

Annie Duke is another perfect example of the highly educated leaving it all for a poker career. Before Annie began playing the custom poker tables she attended Columbia University and double majored in English and Psychology. Her brother, poker professional Howard Lederer, had spent some time playing with and teaching Annie poker. At one point she was playing local tournaments to pay the family’s mortgage payments. Then soon after her brother urged her to play in the World Series of Poker and when she earned $70,000 in her first try – she decided it was time to move to Vegas and embark upon a career in cards.

Born Anne LaBarr Lederer on September 13, 1965, Annie’s career as a professional poker player and author have won her a gold bracelet in the 2004 World Series of Poker $2,000 Omaha Hi-Low Split-8 or Better Event. Her largest paycheck claimed to date was the win at the 2004 World Series of Poker Tournament of Champions, where she earned the winner-take-all prize of $2,000,000. Her style is fueled by aggressive play and she has this ‘I’m a woman and will take you out’ approach and everybody’s folding in fear. Nowadays she refuses to play in women’s only tournaments, saying that “Poker is one of the few sports where a woman can compete on a totally equal footing with a man, so I don’t understand why there’s a ladies only tournament.” Next time you are playing poker, beware of the women I say, they play with 200% aggression and 0% restraint. Since they know that we expect that, you can imagine a bit of bluffing is going on here too – and that combination makes them hard to beat.

As of 2008, Annie holds the women’s record for most “in the money” finishes at the WSOP. Her total live tournament winnings exceeded $3,600,000. Her 35 cashes at the WSOP account for $1,072,231 of those winnings. In the Main Event of the 2006 World Series of Poker, she finished in 88th place (out of 8,773 entrants) for $51,129 in winnings. She was one of two women left in the field when she was eliminated. (The remaining woman, Sabyl Cohen, later finished in 56th place for $123,699.)

This entry was posted on Monday, May 11th, 2009 at 2:46 pm and is filed under Featured Pros. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.