Background
Annie Duke belonged to a poker family from Concord where her father and her brother Howard were both strong poker players. She attended the Columbia University and after five years into her doctorate she packed and moved to Montana with her husband Ben Duke. The move proved to be quite hard since they were struggling to make the ends meet. Annie then decided to try out the poker games. Her professional poker player brother helped out with her bankroll and with that Annie was able to put in countless hours into the game and became a good player.
Over time their financial problems evaporated and in 1994 they decided to move to Las Vegas since Annie Duke managed to win $70,000 at her first ever WSOP event. She had found her calling in poker and continued to prove that she was a strong contender.
Professional Career
Since her first WSOP event, Annie never looked back. In the year 2000 she narrowly missed the final table at the main event and even today she never competes in a women only event. In the year 2004,
Annie won her first ever WSOP bracelet at the Omaha Hi-Lo event. She was invited to the Tournaments of Champions organized by WSOP where she made her way through 9 of the best poker players in the world which included Howard Lederer, her brother to win the champion’s status. She won a total of $137,860 in that event which was then the biggest prize won by a woman.
Annie Duke became a celebrity and she was soon a poker poster girl. She went on to prove that poker is not just a man’s game. She released her book which became quite successful and also appeared on plenty of television programs. She became a popular figure even in Hollywood. She took in Ben Affleck as a pupil and taught him all of her skills which eventually led him to win the California State poker Championship in the year 2004.
Even today Annie Duke continues to play the game and is a very active participant in many prestigious poker tournaments. In the year 2007 she participated in three events in WSOP and ended up at the final table. At the first ever WSOP Europe Championship she placed 21st.
When Annie is not playing poker she acts as a member of the UB Poker Team. However, family comes first for her. In the year 2004, she got divorced and moved to LA with her four children. Annie now lives with Joe Reitman, her boyfriend, fellow poker player, producer and actor. Her goal in life is to be able to handle her poker career while still being a good mother to her children. During her career Annie has managed to win quite a lot of accolades with more than $3.5 million through just tournament wins alone and therefore she definitely deserves the title of one of the best female poker players of all times.