Annie Duke | |
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Duke in 2016
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Nickname(s) | The Duchess of Poker |
Residence | Los Angeles, California, U.S. |
Born | Anne LaBarr Lederer September 13, 1965 Concord, New Hampshire, U.S. |
World Series of Poker | |
Bracelet(s) | 1 |
Money finish(es) | 38 |
Highest ITM Main Event finish |
10th, 2000 |
World Poker Tour | |
Money finish(es) | 4 |
Anne LaBarr "Annie" Duke (née Lederer; September 13, 1965) is an American professional poker player and author. She holds a World Series of Poker (WSOP) gold bracelet from 2004 and used to be the leading money winner among women in WSOP history (a title now held by Vanessa Selbst). Duke won the 2004 World Series of Poker Tournament of Champions and the National Heads-Up Poker Championship in 2010. She has written a number of instructional books for poker players, including Decide to Play Great Poker and The Middle Zone, and she published her autobiography, How I Raised, Folded, Bluffed, Flirted, Cursed, and Won Millions at the World Series of Poker, in 2005.
Duke co-founded the non-profit Ante Up for Africa with actor Don Cheadle in 2007 to benefit charities working in African nations, and has raised money for other charities and non-profits through playing in and hosting charitable poker tournaments. She has been involved in advocacy on a number of poker-related issues including advocating for the legality of online gambling and for players' rights to control their own image. Duke was co-founder, executive vice president, and commissioner of the Epic Poker League from 2011-12 which failed in 2012 and is now bankrupt with many investors upset over how it was managed.
Duke, born as Anne LaBarr Lederer, grew up in Concord, New Hampshire, where her father, writer and linguist Richard Lederer, taught English literature at St. Paul's School and her mother, Rhoda Lederer, taught at Concord High School. Her parents were both card players and Duke became interested in cards from an early age. Her siblings are professional poker player Howard Lederer and author/poet Katy Lederer, who published a memoir about the Lederer family.