Born and raised in Concord, New Hampshire, Annie Duke grew up in a family who had cards and competition in the blood. In a home where card playing was the glue that held the family together, everybody not only wanted to win but needed to win.

Duke completed a major in English and Psychology at Columbia University intending to follow in the footsteps of her parents and becoming a teacher. Instead, she enrolled as a graduate student at the University of Pennsylvania for Cognitive Psychology.

In 1991, while Duke was knee deep in doctorate research, she proposed marriage to an old friend, Ben Duke, packed up her life and research and left academia behind for Billings, CO. Living in romantic poverty with her husband, Duke began to play poker in local pokers rooms to pay the mortgage on their first home.

In 2004, Duke beat out an assembly of 234 players in the WSOP $2000 buy-in Omaha Hi/Lo Split and won her first WSOP bracelet. In August of the same year, Duke knocked out 8 of the worlds’ greatest poker legends and won $2 million in the No-Limit Texas Hold'em winner-take-all, invitation-only WSOP Tournament of Champions, established by ESPN and Harrah’s Entertainment.

Duke now serves as a consultant for the online poker site UltimateBet.com to ensure that their rules of poker and tournament structure match those you would find in the famous poker rooms of the Las Vegas strip.Recently, Duke endorsed The ESPN Poker Club product line which offers poker aficionados premium quality poker products of unmatched quality, style and authenticity. The line, which was launched in May 2005, includes poker chip sets, tabletops, tables and other poker accessories. She's amazing player