Having been a single mom of only one child, I of course asked her how she possibly managed with four. Annie is well aware that she has what can only be considered an ideal situation, as far as a two-household family goes. Annie and her ex-husband get a long very well and live near enough each other that they are able to share the responsibility of the children (and the joy). On weeks that her kids are at her house, Annie does not schedule anything in the mornings before school or from when they get home from school until bedtime. She says during that time they have her full attention, always. By scheduling heavily during weeks that they are with their father, she is able to lighten her workload when they are home so that their time together is her only priority.
One of Annie’s many passions is Bikram Yoga, which she describes not as a workout, but a system of health. It consists of two breathing exercises and 26 postures which are completed over 90 minutes in a room heated to 105 degrees with 90% humidity. While to some of us that may seem like torture, she says it is the only workout she needs anymore. While I’ve stayed away from “hot” yoga so far, I do practice Vinyasa Power Yoga so I know how physically challenging it can be. Often Yoga is mistaken for simple stretching, a show of flexibility rather than strength, when in reality it engages your muscles in ways traditional workouts just can’t. Annie hasn’t touched weights since March, and says her muscles are tighter and more cut than they’ve ever been, and she has achieved the ever elusive six-pack abs. I asked her about the criticism I’ve heard about this type of yoga – that it dehydrates you – and she said that while you have to make sure you go into the class hydrated and drink more water after you are done, you’ll be fine. She drinks 16 ounces before and after each class and continues to drink water throughout the day.
Another benefit of yoga is concentration and focus. There are many poses in yoga that require a great deal of balance, which starts in your mind. If you are not focused mentally you will fall, no matter your physical shape. Annie says this has helped her in poker as well – she used to listen to her iPod to reduce distraction when she plays and now she doesn’t have to. She just tunes out the world around her (no easy feat in a loud casino with players around you whose goal is to distract) and focuses on each hand that comes her way.
Its not often that one gets to speak to one of the world’s leading authorities on an activity they participate in, but here I was, on the phone with THE Annie Duke. I asked her about what I consider my biggest weakness in poker, which is that I don’t remember what happens from hand to hand so I’m not good at reading opponents. Her answer – that reading the other players isn’t as important you might think, and that “It’s only important when it’s important”. She explained that most of the time in poker the decision is clear. It comes down to the math of the hand, simple math, and there’s generally a clear cut call or fold response that has nothing to do with what the other players are doing. In fact, if you are trying too hard to read your opponents it may backfire, causing you to make poor decisions. She says poker should be looked at like an investment, money in, money out, nothing more. It is important to read another player is when the math is close. When there isn’t a clear cut answer to “call or fold”, that is when you need to read the other player and decide what cards you think they have.
Annie has a new book coming out based on this idea that poker is simply a series of decisions. It’s called ‘Decide to Play Great Poker” and it should drop first quarter of 2009. She says it’s a great book for both beginners and advanced players because it teaches how to make the best decisions possible, even with incomplete information. It should help you learn to make your decisions easier, even when the other players are trying to make them harder.
Annie has been able to use what she knows about making decisions to help the Decision Education Foundation (decisioneducation.org), where she serves on the Board of Directors. The mission of the DEF is to improve the lives of young people by teaching them how to make better decisions. They have developed curriculum for schools that will add outstanding value to the standard math/science/history education that our children get. Our kids are taught how to read and write, add and subtract, but aren’t taught how to think through the decision making process, how to look forward to potential consequences of actions, how to take responsibility for the outcomes of the decisions. DEF’s program teaches “Whether my decision is good or bad depends on how I make it, not on the outcome”, an important lesson to learn. Poor decisions don’t always have a bad outcome – if you shoplift a shirt, you might not get caught, but it was still a bad decision with potentially harsh consequences. The key is to think things through in a logical and thoughtful manner. Using the poker metaphor, sometimes a bad hand will win and a good hand will lose, but over time the more good decisions you make, the more money you will take home from the table.
This brought us back around to her children, Lucy’s application to be the family dog-feeder again, and the subject of punishment and consequences. Annie feels it is extremely important to make any “punishment” follow what the natural consequences of the behavior would be. So, Lucy watches TV instead of feeding the dogs, she could have been grounded or gone without desert, but instead the consequence is what would be a real-life consequence – she lost her job. A good parenting reminder for all of us I think!
Annie Duke is a great reminder of many things for us…how important it is to follow your heart, find passions in your life, give back to the community around you, and make sure your children are priority number one!
In additon to Decision Education Foundation, Annie is also involved in various other charitable organizations such as the Make-A-Wish Foundation, Ante Up for Africa (a project with Actor Don Cheadle, Brad Pitt, George Clooney, Matt Damon and Ben Affleck), The Children’s Hospital and The Decision Education Foundation.
