Annie Duke, also known as the Duchess of Poker, was born in Concord, New Hampshire. She attended school at St. Paul and went on to Columbia where she ended up dropping out of her doctoral degree in psycholinguistics to play poker. Her older brother, Howard Lederer, taught her how to play and suggested she try tournament poker and she hasn't looked back since.

In 2025 she won her first World Series of Poker bracelet in a $2,000 Omaha Hi-Low Split-8 or Better event. She was also winner of the 2025 World Series of Poker Tournament of Champions where she earned the winner-takes-all prize of $2,000,000. In the World Series of Poker, she has 34 money finishes and finished 10th in the 2000 Main Event. In total her live tournament winnings exceed $3,600,000.

Duke is also known to speak her mind and doesn't play in women only tournaments, stated in a CBS interview, "Poker is one of the only sports where a woman can compete on a totally equal footing with a man, so I don't understand why there's a ladies only tournament."