Annie Duke
Annie Duke didn't simply become famous for being the little sister of poker great, Howard Lederer. Instead she carved her own place by being one of the most competitive female poker opponents around.
Phil Hellmuth once said that she is the best all-around woman poker player in the world today and many of her peers will agree.
Duke was born in Concord, New Hampshire where she attended school at St. Paul. She then went on to Columbia where she double-majored in psychology and English. Duke was so in love with learning she next attended the University of Pennsylvania to pursue a doctoral degree in psycholinguistics.
She left the program to start playing poker under the tutelage of her brother, Howard.
All the training paid off. In 2004 she proved her poker prowess beating 10 other super poker celebrities, which included her own brother Howard, Hellmuth, and Phil Ivey, to win the $2,000,000 inaugural World Series of Poker Tournament of Champions.
Duke is very much active in the poker scene and has been involved in many poker related activities. She is a frequent tournament player, a columnist and a poker camp co-owner. She has written a successful book called, How I Raised, Folded, Bluffed, Flirted, Cursed And Won Millions at the World Series of Poker and once penned a TV sitcom.
She's also a spokesperson for the online poker site, UltimateBet and just recently, Duke launched her own TV show titled Annie Duke Takes On The World that premiered on GSN last month.
Oh, and she's also a mom to four kids.
So what can this woman not do? We haven't discovered that yet. All we know is Annie Duke is a super poker mom slash everything else she puts her mind into.
