Jennifer Harman

30.01.2008

The name Jennifer Harman fits together well with the words high stakes poker games. After several years at cash poker games, she has become an impressive opponent at the poker table. With an interest or passion for poker from an early age, Jennifer is today known as one of the top names in the poker cash scene.

The Beginnings

Jennifer Harman was born in 1964 and grew up in Reno, Nevada. One could say that the seeds for her love of poker were planted when, as an eight year old child, she used to watch her father play poker. Right from the beginning, she was enthralled with the cards and the poker game itself. One day, she was even asked by her father to take his place at the table when he was losing, to see if she would fare any better … and she did.

Jennifer made her way from being a casino waitress and a University graduate along the road to professional poker. She became a professional poker player at the age of 21, which was not to the liking of her father. However, Jennifer found that she was able to make more money this way than in other professions that she tried and she continued to try her hand at the poker table.

Wins Big

Jennifer perhaps looks small with her 5 feet 2 " – but she plays and wins big! Jennifer is the proud recipient of two WSOP bracelets. In May 2000 she came in at first place at the WSOP No Limit Deuce to Seven Lowball and in the same year she finished first at a WSOP Limit Hold'Em event.

Although Jennifer originally made a name for herself as a cash game player, more recently she has also participated successfully in poker tournaments. Jennifer has a particular passion for the game Limit Hold'Em Poker which she has played for years. In addition, demonstrating her expertise on the subject of Limit Hold'Em Poker, Jennifer wrote the Limit Hold'Em chapter in the book 'Super System 2'.

On a more personal note, Jennifer is married to Marco Traniello, who is also a professional poker player. In 2004, she was unfortunately forced to be absent from the poker scene due to a second kidney transplant. After recuperating, she then founded the organization CODA – Creating Organ Donor Awareness - to arouse more awareness and interest towards the importance of the issue of organ donation. Following this year off for health reasons, Jennifer returned to the poker circuit. She completed the World Poker Tour Five Diamond World Poker Classic in fourth position, came in fifth at the inaugural Professional Poker tour event and finished second at the WSOP Circuit Championship at Rio.

Jennifer concentrates on open events rather than women only games as the stakes are usually higher. Although people often refer to her as the best world-wide female player, a more accurate statement would probably refer to her as one of the best world poker players, irrelevant of whether they are male or female.