Marsha Waggoner - the Grand Dame of Poker

Of the four initial inductees to the Women in Poker Hall of Fame, Marsha Waggoner is the only one who was born outside the US.

Originally from Brisbane, Australia, the Grand Dame of Poker has not only found a career in cards but also a husband after meeting fellow professional Kenna James in a casino.

How does it feel to be made a charter member of the Women in Poker Hall of Fame?
I am thrilled beyond words. Thank you for asking.

Which players do you expect to join you in the Hall of Fame in the near future?
This is a loaded question. I would have to respectfully decline answering for fear of slighting some very worthy Women in Poker. I can think of so many deserving the honour of being inducted into the Hall of Fame.

How many hours a week do you spend at a table?
I'm happy to spend about twenty hours a week at the poker table playing cash games.

Tournaments are another kettle of fish. One never knows how long it will last, but of course you always enter hoping to go the distance.

How do you prepare for a major tournament?
I think preparation for a major tournament should begin months in advance. concentrate on table presence, strategy, self esteem and, of course, physical fitness.

Perhaps more importantly, would you have the edge over Kenna in a heads-up game?
I seem to remember playing him heads-up and finishing in front. He is a tournament specialist you know.

How did you get into poker and what made you decide that you could make a career from gambling?
Let me say I don't consider myself to be a gambler. I was invited to join a poker game in Sydney, Australia in 1976 and quickly realized if I was going to be involved in poker, I needed to become a winning player right away. My conservative nature helped me to be a good money manager which I believe is absolutely necessary to be successful.

As well as that, I realized I had a natural 'feel' for the cards. Looking back to my childhood, I remember playing cards with my friends and family and somehow, I was always the winner. I thought nothing of it at the time, thinking "Isn''t that what you're supposed to do?" It makes me smile now to think of those times.

Is there anything in the game you still want to accomplish?
The dream for every poker player is to win the main event at the WSOP, but the way poker has evolved during the past five years or so, that is pretty much a fantasy. One needs to play perfect poker for the duration of the tournament, not only have no bad luck, but to also have a lot of good luck. A combination of those three things is very, very difficult and then if you do to have it last for however many weeks they now decide to have the tournament last is still a dream.

If you hadn't become a professional poker player, what direction do you think your life would have gone?
Hmmm... After I had been playing serious poker for a year in Australia, I moved with my children to Reno, Nevada where I had visions of making a living playing blackjack. After a short while doing that, the powers that be in the casino decided they would put a stop to that and asked me not to play any more twenty-one in their casinos.

Not wanting to play the nine to five game, I decided I should look around for a poker game. I quickly found one and learned how to play some poker games I was not already familiar with and that is when my poker career really began.

What advice would you give to someone hoping to make a living out of the game?
I would have to advise them not to quit their day job. Play on the side by all means, but statistics prove to be a long term successful professional poker player is very, very, tough.

Take a break from your job and try poker, but there is so much preparation needed for a career in poker these days, it's very time-consuming and very difficult. To say nothing of the necessary bankroll you will need to weather the storms. Good Luck!