Poker Players

Birthdate: September 13, 1965
Birthplace: Concord, New Hampshire
Current Residence: Portland, Oregon

Annie started playing poker at the age of 22 with coaching from her brother Howard Lederer. During graduate school, Lederer invited her to Las Vegas and during the trip he taught her the basic rules of Texas Hold'em. Trips to Vegas planted the poker seed, and in 1992, after five years in graduate school, Duke left school, moved to Montana with her husband and started playing poker in local poker rooms. In 1994, Lederer convinced his sister to play in the World Series. She represented herself quite well in her first appearance at the World Series with a 13th place finish, and then had a second place finish the following year. Annie decided to take poker up professionally and moved her family to Las Vegas. Duke is the only woman to ever win two major tournaments in one year (2004 WSOP $2,000 buy-in Omaha Hi/Lo and the Bellagio $2500 Limit Hold'em). Annie also has started tutoring players to better their games, currently she is working with Ben Affleck.