She dropped out of school in 1992 just one month before finishing her PhD. She her old friend Ben Duke and shifted to Columbus, Montana. As a young couple, the Dukes were pretty much broke. It was because of her brother’s encouragement and guidance that she started playing poker. With her hard work and dedication, things started taking new shapes.
World Series of Poker (WSOP) was the 1st tournament Duke took part in. She performed pretty well and outlived her brother, taking the 13th place. The subsequent wins of over $70,000 made her and her husband sure of the fact, that they should shift to Las Vegas, so that she could engage in being a professional poker player. Since then there was no turning back and her success graph took a steep leap. Duke has always been a consistent player at the table. Duke holds the women’s record for most “in money” finishes at the WSOP as of 2008. She has already won $2,000,000 in the World Series of Poker Tournament of Champions. This record was broken by Annette Obrestad in the year 2007 in a tournament in Europe.
Duke won one World Series of Poker bracelet, in Omaha HiLo and almost $3 million in tournament play. She stood 88th out of more than 8000 participants in the main event of 2006 WSOP. She was one of the two women left when she got eliminated. Till date her total live tournament winnings surpass $3,600,000. Duke won the 2nd annual World Series of Rock Paper Scissors which is an annual event hosted by Phil Gordon. In 2004 she coached Ben Affleck, who won the California State Poker Championship. She also coached Ashton Kutcher and Matt Damon.
Her autobiography called “Annie Duke: How I Raised, Folded, Bluffed, Flirted, Cursed, and Won Millions at the World Series of Poker” was published in 2005.
