Female Poker Player

Few women have made as large a mark on the world of female poker players as Annie Duke, the woman who known by the title “Duchess of Poker.” And that’s not just a give-away title, either – Duke has more than earned the designation.

History and Personal Life

Born in 1965 in Concord, New Hampshire, Duke never set out to become a major figure in the world of women’s poker. In fact, she fully expected to lead a normal, quiet life. She married Ben Duke while the two were in college, earning her graduate degree in psycholinguistics and continuing doctoral work in the same field.

However, in 1992, just a month before defending her dissertation, she left graduate school to become a professional poker player. This decision was made after seeing her brother, Howard Lederer, succeed as a professional poker player for years. In fact, Howard became her coach and even helped support her financially during her first few years.

Two years later, the Dukes moved to Las Vegas so that Annie could begin playing full-time. This decision quickly paid off. In 2000, she finished tenth in the World Series of Poker main event – doing so while pregnant, no less. In 2004, she picked up her first gold bracelet and defeated her brother and coach Howard in several events – making her one of only three women to win an open event at the 2004 World Series of Poker.

While 2004 saw her professional career pick up, it also marked the end of her marriage to Ben Duke. However, Annie found victory even in this defeat – she’d bet $500 to fellow professional poker player Steve Zolotow that her marriage wouldn’t last five years. Following her divorce, she moved to Los Angeles with her four children.

Winnings

Out of all the female poker players of 2008, Annie currently holds the record for “in the money” finishes at the World Series for Poker. And before Annette Obrestad’s win in 2007, Annie held the record for the most money ever paid to a female player at one event, for her $2,000,000 win at the first World Series of Poker Tournament of Champions in 2004.

Other Notable Facts

In addition to her monetary winnings, Annie also gained fame for tutoring actor Ben Affleck in poker. As the result of her tutelage, Affleck later won the 2004 California State Poker Championship. She’s also had her own television show on GSN called “Annie Duke Takes on the World” and has appeared on “Ultimate Blackjack Tour” and on NBC’s “1 vs. 100″ as part of the Mob. She was the only celebrity out of her Mob group who was not eliminated by answering 35 questions correctly. Her most recent television appearance as of 2008 was on the hit game show “Deal or No Deal.”

Like many professional female poker players, Annie sees poker as one of the games where there’s no difference between male and female players. Because of beliefs, she doesn’t see the point of women-only tournaments and has turned down every invitation to play in them.

There are many different poker tournaments out there, and while all of them are open to women, some of them are specifically women-only competitions. These tournaments have brought up some interesting issues over the years from both men and women – so you may want to think about them carefully before you decide to play in one.

Of course, all the major poker tournaments are open to women. This includes the World Series of Poker – which is perhaps the most well-known poker tournament in the world. Many women, including Annie Duke, Kathy Liebert, Sabyl Cohen, and Cyndy Violette, have won huge amounts of money at these tournaments. In fact, Annie Duke won the first World Series of Poker Tournament of Champions in 2004 – an event that invited the top ten best players in the poker world to compete together. At the time, Duke was the only woman at the table.

So what’s so bad about women-only tournaments? After all, there are women’s divisions of sports at every level, women-only gyms, and even entire television stations aimed exclusively at women. Well, unlike other sports, poker is primarily a game of the mind. Many of the top female poker players find it insulting that they’re being told their minds aren’t as good as those of the male poker players. And if Annie Duke can defeat nine of the top ranked poker players in a tournament, then why hold women-only games? There’s no physical reason for it.

Many men are opposed to the idea, too. There aren’t male-only tournaments, they say, and there would be a huge stir if anyone even suggested the idea. These men welcome the challenge that playing against women represents. Many studies do suggest that men do think differently than women – differently, not better – and these distinctions can be seen in how men and women approach the game of poker. Mixed gender games can therefore be more challenging, which many players welcome.

One good thing that can be said about female-only tournaments is that they encourage more women to become involved in the sport. Women who are just starting out may be intimidated by more experienced male competitors, causing them to shy away from highly-publicized tournaments. Women-only tournaments allow these women to build their skills in a more comfortable atmosphere before making the leap to traditional mixed-gender tournaments.

Despite this controversy, many women-only tournaments still exist. Since some women prefer to play against women only, organizations exist to cater to these groups. Strictly female poker associations, like the Women’s Poker Club, sponsor women-only tournaments on a regular basis. The prize money is generally on the same level as open tournaments, but these ladies-only games don’t garner quite the attention that tournaments like the World Series of Poker do, because of their lack of history and prestige and since some women players refuse to play in them.

No matter what the future of poker, one thing is certain – wanted or not, women have a seat at the table and there’s nothing anyone can do about that. As to whether every seat should be filled by a woman, only time will tell what happens to women-only poker tournaments.