Annie Duke is as much a part of the poker community these days as her brother Howard Lederer. Yet mainstream media outlets continue to interview her as if she is. Forbes recently spoke with the former poker pro to discuss cryptocurrency trading tips. As per usual, the interviewer refrained from addressing the elephant in the room — her Epic Poker League and Ultimate Bet scandals.
Prior to 2012, Duke was a mostly respected poker pro, much like her brother. She certainly had her detractors in poker back then, most notably Daniel Negreanu. But, she built up a reputation as one of the top female poker players in the world.
In 2004, she won a WSOP bracelet in the $2,000 Omaha Hi-Lo 8-or-Better event for $137,860. Six years later, she won the NBC National Heads-Up Poker Championship, beating her friend Erik Seidel in the finals. She also won the 2004 WSOP Tournament of Champions for $2 million, her biggest score ever.
But, she was ostracized from the poker community in 2012 after she failed to deliver on her promise to host a $1 million freeroll in the start-up Epic Poker League, which lasted just three events before running out of money. Despite the league she helped create going under financially, and failing to host the promised $1 million season-ending freeroll, she still took a six-figure salary from the league’s funds.
For that reason, the poker community turned on her and she disappeared from the industry. Since 2012, she hasn’t competed in any live tournaments and is no longer spotted in any card rooms. That doesn’t stop the mainstream media from connecting her to poker.
Duke Talks Crypto
Duke’s days of creating failed poker leagues are long done. These days, she’s a professional speaker and author who recently chatted with Forbes about Bitcoin trading tips. The interview began with the author, Steven Ehrlich, referring to Duke as “one of the most famous poker champions of all time,” which is highly debatable.
“Ultimately in 2012, I rolled out of poker and made the consultant work much more full time and continued writing,” Duke said of her career change.
“Rolled out” is an interesting way to describe it, but we digress. Duke discussed Bitcoin and various types of cryptocurrency investments.
“Right now we know less about crypto than something like tech stocks. But just to be clear, we also know less about tech stocks than we think we do,” she said. “If I’m buying bitcoin as a hedge against inflation, what I need to make explicit is that I believe inflation is imminent. What that does is make you look to see if inflation is actually on the near-term horizon, or within the time period that I’m saying it would have to occur,” Duke advised.
The discussion never drifted to the Epic Poker League scandal from 2012. It never does when Duke speaks with the non-poker media.
