Annie Duke: How I Raised, Folded, Bluffed, Flirted, Cursed, and Won Millions at the World Series of Poker

One evening bored out of my tree, I tuned into Celebrity Apprentice where I "met" Annie Duke. I had never heard of her but I found her intriguing; enough that I watched the entire series. I was curious about this person who was so attractive, so self-assured, and yet so sweetly and subversively manipulative. Of course eventually the other contestants and Donald Trump caught onto her and she lost, primarily because of her arrogance and abrasive ways. At the end no one liked her, which I think truly surprised her. After the TV series ended, I looked her up and bought this book. You have to understand where I was coming from. I knew poker was a card game played by men and that it involved chips, money, and booze and that it was generally played in dark smoke-filled rooms. That's about it. After reading Annie's book I now know that I was slightly mistaken. The smoke is gone, the rooms are no longer hidden away in some dark den, and women can now play with the big boys. But the thrill of the game comes through loud and clear in Annie's writing. Her book tells why and how she advanced from an absolute novice to the highest paid female player in the world at the same time being married and having a family. The book is also a tutorial on how to play poker, hand by hand, pot by pot, scoping out your table mates looking for the slightest edge and how to use other's foibles to your advantage. Annie is very very good at what she does, and even though I skipped over some of the minute details of each game, the book is an informative, easy and interesting read. I have no intention of ever picking up a deck of cards to learn how to play poker, but I at least have a decent idea of what the attraction is. If you want another book on poker, one written by someone whose love of the game got out of hand and almost caused a disaster, buy "Hats & Eyeglasses - A Family Love Affair with Gambling" by Martha Frankel. Her personality is the opposite of Annie. Annie is take-no-prisoners, gung-ho, full-speed-ahead, while Martha comes across as sweet and gentle but nevertheless she's the one who became obsessed with playing poker, day and night, win or lose. Well, that's it. No more poker books for me. I've had enough exploring that world. Bottom line: I definitely recommend both books. Both are well written and give enlightenment in an enjoyable way.

This is not one of the typical how-to hold'em books that have flooded the market. While there is a sizable amount of material focused on poker, it is not all hold'em either, it is really two great stories woven into one book. The recounting of Annie's win of her WSOP bracelet in Omaha 8 is well told and interesting. There isn't too big a focus on hand-by-hand play. The tips she gives on this form of poker are great, too. This part of the book fueled my interest in expanding my poker prowess into this game. The other story is Annie's bio. I was really intrigued to read about the roots she came from to the bracelet winning pro poker player she is today. And she includes the hard times in her life, too, which I found particularly poignant. It is one of my favorite poker books, partly because it's not all poker, and one I'd recommend to anyone with a love of the game.

This is a fascinating, entertaining book. Annie Duke is an incredible person -- in part because of her caring personality and her character strengths, and in part because of the turmoil that she's gone though in life while still emerging as a stong successful person. All these interesting aspects of her life come out as you read the book, together with some insight into how to play poker (both Omaha Hi-Lo and Texas Hold-Em). Duke's life provides a new twist on a Horatio Alger story -- she started with nothing, playing poker to earn her $125/month mortgage payment, and ended up winning $2 million at the ESPN Tournament of Champions. She endured ups and downs to get there, in poker and in life, and it's clear that she's come out a stronger, more emotionally balanced person as a result. This book helped teach me how to play better poker, but -- more importantly -- it gave me inspiration for how to live a flourishing balanced life.

The two best reasons for reading ANNIE DUKE are for its point of view on big-time tournament poker and its honest self-examination of the life a controversial poker pro. Duke and co-author David Diamond succeed in revealing a view from the table at high-pressure poker tournaments. The book goes through Duke's win at the World Series of Poker in 2004, then at the Tournament of Champions later that year. The vivid details and notes on the hands (the book isn't overly technical and contains explanations of the terms and rules of play, but part of the book's draw is that it takes you "inside," and that includes playing some poker hands) help understand the swirl of emotions and details that can fill a player's head when they get into this unusual environment. The second reason for recommending the book is Duke's willingness to reveal how she became a professional poker player and celebrity through the circuitous route of a competitive family, academia, marriage, and motherhood. Plenty has been written about Annie Duke's story (including her sister Katy Lederer's POKER FACE, which also tells the story of their unusual and remarkable family). Her own version has some new details, but its best feature is its honesty. Duke thinks highly of her poker abilities and says so, but she also shares stories of her losses, insecurities, and bad decisions. She does a great job explaining the decisions that brought her into poker as well as those that led to her backing away from the biggest cash games. Duke and Diamond also structured the book in a very readable fashion, shifting chapter-to-chapter between the action in her two big poker wins and her life story. As a matter of disclosure, I wrote a book about professional poker players this year, but never spoke with Duke in connection with it. One of my sources on that book was Annie Duke's brother, Howard Lederer. But many other sources were players who did not like Duke and whose attacks on her are mentioned (though she doesn't give out their names) in her book.