Annie Duke. Professional Poker Player

QA-”I’m a nervous wreck!”


Hi Annie! My name is Samantha. I am a remarried mother of three. (ages 2,11,13)I have been playing hold ‘em for about 10 months now. I live 30 minutes from Chicago, in a small town. I play in a tournament every week with about 50 guys. I have done pretty good making it to the [...]

QA-Lara thanks Annie for her great advice


Dear Annie, Thank you so much for the phone lesson on Feb. 5th. I really appreciate the time you spent talking to me. I learned a lot, but more than anything, I felt so confident and motivated after the lesson. I tried your recommendation of going to $5 sit-n-goes and playing like a total maniac. [...]

QA-Linda wants to know if she played this hand properly


SSCallery is the button. Precards: Rounder63 posts the small blind $25, onesilygrl posts the big blind $50. Preflop: onesilygrl is dealt Kd Jc (9 active)6 folds, SSCallery raises to $150, Rounder63 calls $125, onesilygrl calls $100. Flop: Qc 3c Td ($450, 3 active)Rounder63 checks, onesilygrl bets $250, SSCallery folds, Rounder63 calls $250. Turn: Qc 3c [...]

QA-Debbie wants to know how to balance family and a poker career


I am in my 30′s and haved loved and learned poker since I was very young, before it became so popular. I live in Ohio away from all the big tournaments. How do you realistically start pro when you have a family and career? I’ve wanted this for so long and have gotten very good. [...]

QA-Jon wants to know when to laydown a big hand preflop


In the general scheme of things in no limit hold ‘em, how much of an indication of skill is the ability to get off a very big starting hand? For example folding QQ or AK suited before the flop in the face of an all in re-raise.  Both times I encountered this situation, once with QQ vs AA and [...]

QA-Joanne wants to know more about Limit Tournament play


I just played my first Limit Tournament at the Pendleton Roundup and finished just 4 off the money. What strategy hints can you give for Limit tournaments? I think I’ve found my niche, and I think the drawing hands are more important than the high pair starters. Would you agree with that? Limit tournaments are [...]

QA-Allan wants to know more about odds.


Dear Annie: I’ve always been curious about this.  Lets say I flop a flush draw. I of course have 9 outs to catch it.  The advice from your brother was to multiply 9 by 4 to get a pct. of roughly 36 to get it.  But is that assuming that all 9 cards that you [...]

QA- Ron asks Annie her opinion on the recent unlawful gaming legislation.


Dear Annie: I am an avid poker player that has to curtail my desires to play brick and mortar games by playing online, The casinos are too far away and having 4 kids makes it difficult to take the ‘short’ vacations I would like to Las Vegas. With the introduction of the Unlawful Internet Gaming [...]

QA- Jordan asks about OHL Software


Hi Annie, Two quick OHL questions for you— 1) Is there any decent software for this game? I know you can play it online at a couple of sites, but what about poker programs you can simply load onto your machine without having to go on the Internet, etc.? 2) Would you say OHL is [...]

QA- Jeremy Asks About 80/20 Favored Hands.


Hi Annie, Im sure your life is swamped, but I would appreciate any advice you may be able to offer.  I have one question. What would you recommend a poker player do if they find themselves losing a lot of tournaments with hands that are favored around 80/20. I have had people tell me, don’t [...]