Annie Duke beat out her older
brother and eight other poker legends to win $2 million
and the World Series of Poker Tournament of Champions.
The 39-year-old Duke
outlasted the other Texas Holdem players in an grueling
game held earlier this month at the Rio hotel-casino.
ESPN telecast the event, the
results of which had been kept secret, in a nearly
three-hour broadcast Tuesday night.
Duke, the only woman to play
in the No-Limit Texas HoldEm event, knocked out the
garrulous Phil Hellmuth to take the title after being on
the verge of elimination most of the event.
The players included four
past World Series of Poker champions: Greg Raymer, Doyle
Brunson, Johnny Chan and Hellmuth. Brother Howard
Lederer, T.J. Cloutier, Phil Ivey, Daniel Negreanu and
Chip Reese also competed.
Duke, a Las Vegas mother of
four, holds a double major from Columbia University and
did graduate studies in cognitive psychology at the
University of Pennsylvania.
The winner-take-all,
invitation-only tournament was established by Harrah's
Entertainment and ESPN, who are teaming up to broadcast
the World Series of Poker Circuit in 2005. ESPN has an
option to televise the new points-based seven-event
tournament circuit for 2006 and 2007.
