October 15th, 2009 by Lyndsie

Annie Duke learned poker the hard way, with neither her father nor her brother letting her get off easy when they played the game in their home.

This is a player to watch, because she is a smart player. She went to Columbia University — that’s the Ivy League, folks — and double majored in English and Psychology. From there it was on to the University of Pennsylvania. However, five years into her doctorate, she married Ben Duke and they made the move to Montana. Times were hard there, and Annie chanced on some of the back room poker games in Billings. She put in hour upon hour, and she got very good — so good that times were no longer hard.

Now she has $1,581,476 worth of winnings under her belt, forty seven cashes, two first place finishes, one WSOP bracelet — and she is only forty four (not that she looks it, of course).