This is hidden brain.
I'm Shankar Vedantam.
We begin today in Las Vegas, the year 2004.
The a high stakes poker game.
Our protagonist is a woman named Annie Duke.
She's about to win $2 million.
I'm all in.
And with that top pair, Phil Hellmuth going all in with his 450,000 chips.
Annie Duke put the pressure on Phil when she check raised him.
This was the final hand of the world Series of poker, tournament of champions.
They had these incredible hall of Fame players, like Doyle Brunson, who was a hall of famer, Johnny Chan, who was a Hall of famer, and then Phil Hellmuth, who has the most championships of anyone in the history of the World Series of poker.
And then there was me.
And he calls the all in.
And Phil sees what he's up against.
Annie and this guy Phil were the last two at the table.
And Annie is overcome with emotion, seeing how close she is to winning this championship.
Annie's crying.
Phil standing up, pacing back and forth, the dealers laying out the cards that will determine who wins.
Annie has control of his hand.
Now here comes the turn.