Annie Duke - Annie Duke Poker

Annie Duke has published several books including Decide to Play Great Poker, Heads Up Tournament Poker, The Middle Zone: Mastering the Most Difficult Hands in Hold'em Poker, Annie Duke: How I Raised, Folded, Bluffed, Flirted, Cursed, and Won Millions at the World Series of Poker, and Thinking in Bets: Making Smarter Decisions When You Don't Have All the Facts.

Here at Play Great Poker, we reviewed Annie’s book “Decide to Play Great Poker”.

Annie Duke: Decide to Play Great Poker - Poker Book Review

This Texas Hold’em poker book is by Annie Duke and John Vorhaus. Even though this book has a similar name to this website, they are not associated in any way.

Decide to Play Great Poker is an Annie Duke Book that teaches you how to make the best decisions in a variety of game situations. This book is by many considered one of the best poker books on game theory and decision making in poker.

You won’t find any hand charts in this book. Annie does not dictate a bunch of rules that do not work in every case because every game is different. In this poker book, Annie Duke teaches you to think and make the best decisions, as well as how to stay out of tough situations. This book is a combination of game theory and the math behind every play, whether it’s bet sizing, cbetting or bluffing.

The book starts out with pre-flop covering the basic strategies like position and bet sizing. Annie gives all the math and reasons behind every detail. She provides things like the math on the bet sizing and goals for opening the pot.

Post flop is a thorough analysis that puts the readers into a range of different situations Annie gives lines of play the complement each other so your opponents will not be able to tell if you are playing a big hand, bluffing or on a draw. There are entire chapters dedicated to playing top pair, bluffing, draws and monsters which are three of a kind or better.

For each of these post-flop situations -- top pair, big hands, draws and bluffs, Annie goes through all these common situations in every combination. For every situation Annie provides a strategy for in-position, out of position, heads up, multi-way, web boards and dry boards. So, when you have finished the post flop section of this book, you will have reviewed all these common situations from every position, texture, heads up, and multiway.

Annie emphasizes a strategy to make a goal for every hand and make the best decision on that hand. If you do that, you win whether you win the hand or not.

After the post flop section, the book finishes with a variety of additional information with chapters on things like river play, money management, and discipline. It’s a complete guide to learning poker and a must-read for serious poker players.

Instead of measuring your poker success by how much money you make, this book stresses the real measuring stick is all about making the best decisions. The premise is, that if you make great decisions the money will follow.

If you believe that consistently making the best decisions is the way to win at Texas Hold’em poker, then this poker book is the best poker book for you.

There is also an Audio Book available, and it’s read by Annie Duke herself. Annie is very smooth in the audiobook and it’s easy to listen to. Audiobooks are a great way to learn about poker when you are on your commute or taking a long trip.

This is an excellent book for all players live and online because the game theory of the poker applies to both. But it does not address the online game since it was written before online is what it is today.

This book is one of those books so full of content that you will need to read or listen to it several times. When you finish, you will already want to re-read it or listen to it again. Annie Duke Book is Available on Amazon in all formats

Supplemental Reading for online players

Decide to Play Great Poker provides a solid foundation for all types of poker, but was written before online poker evolved into today's online game. Play Great Poker recommends reading “Fundamentals of Playing Online Texas Holdem Poker” as a supplement to “Decide to Play Great Poker”. The combination of the two will be a fantastic combination for online players.

Fundamentals of Playing Online Texas Holdem Poker

Fundamentals of Playing Online Texas Hold'em is a complete Guide from getting started to becoming a winning online player. This book is perfect for those looking to start online for the first time or are new to online and need help with techniques and strategies, as well as any online poker player interested in enhancing their Poker knowledge. Read More About the Best Poker Book for Online - Fundamentals of Playing Online Texas Holdem

Heads-Up Tournament Poker: Hand-by-Hand

Annie Duke and Vanessa Rousso take you through 600 hands and every decision in the final round of a poker championship tournament. By having two views on a hand, it shows not everyone agrees on how to play every situation. These hands are focused on playing against the best players in the world and shows how to beat opponents at heads-up poker. That being said, these hands were played against high-end poker players. Not your average rec player at a casino or on the internet so this may not reflect the types of opponents in your games. Read More About this Annie Duke and Vanessa Rousso Book on Amazon

The Middle Zone: Mastering the Most Difficult Hands in Hold'em Poker

So often in Texas hold’em poker, you just don’t if you have the best hand, the worse hand, or somewhere in the middle. This Poker Book is much like “Decide to Play Great Poker" in that it does not lay down a bunch of “rules”, but offers a way to think at the poker table. Instead, "The Middle Zone" offers advice on how to avoid disaster with the harder-to-play hands, which they refer to as hands that are in the middle zone. Here Annie Duke and John Vorhaus give the reader advice into the murky decision space of the middle zone, show you what it is, how to avoid it, and what to do if you step in something sticky. For some experienced players, it may not be the best book, but it may be best for less experienced players who are still improving. This poker book is not very long but should be very helpful to most players. Read More About this Annie Duke Book "The Middle Zone" on Amazon

Thinking in Bets: Making Smarter Decisions When You Don't Have All the Facts

Thinking in Bets is not a poker book. We included it in our list of Annie Duke Books to provide the website visitors with a complete list of all her books. This 2018 book, Thinking in Bets, was Annie’s first book for general audiences. This is not a book about poker hands or poker strategy, but how she leverages her vast poker experience to provide the reads with the tools anyone can use to in uncertainty and make better decisions. She teaches you how to get comfortable with uncertainty and make better decisions as a result. The book teaches by shifting your thinking from a need for certainty to a goal of accurately assessing what you know and what you don't, you'll be less vulnerable to reactive emotions, knee-jerk biases, and destructive habits in your decision making. You'll become more confident, calm, compassionate and successful in the long run. Read More About this Annie Duke Book "Thinking in Bets" on Amazon

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

Annie Duke was one of the top women professional poker players. This book is a relatively easy read. It does provide the insights into the world of poker from a woman’s point of view. Not heavy on poker advice but should be a good read for anyone who is interested in poker. It’s a nice diversion from the hard-core poker strategy books. Read More About this Annie Duke Book on Amazon

About Annie Duke

Born September 13, 1965, Annie Duke has been a professional poker player, experienced corporate speaker, and author. In poker, she won more than $4 million in tournament poker. During her career, Annie won a World Series of Poker bracelet.

Annie first started playing poker at age 22 in Las Vegas while visiting her brother there. In 1994 she moved to Las Vegas to pursue a career as a poker player. In the first two tournaments of the 1994 World Series of Poker, Duke placed 14th and 5th and finished 26th in the Main Event.

Annie Duke won the 2004 World Series of Poker Tournament of Champions and the National Heads-Up Poker Championship in 2010.

She is an accomplished poker author with books on poker including Decide to Play Great Poker, Heads-Up Tournament Poker: Hand-by-Hand and The Middle Zone.

In 2005 she published sort of an autobiography -- How I Raised, Folded, Bluffed, Flirted, Cursed, and Won Millions at the World Series of Poker.

This 2018 she published her first book for the general audiences - Thinking in Bets: Making Smarter Decisions When You Don't Have All the Facts, which quickly became a best seller.

Today Annie now spends her time writing, coaching and speaking on a range of topics such as decision fitness, emotional control, and embracing uncertainty. She speaks at corporate conferences, executive teams, and sales organizations.