Jennifer Harman Traniello

Jennifer Harman began playing poker very early in her life. Aged just 8, her father would regularly ask her to take his seat in his home games when he was enduring a tough session. More often than not, the youngster would get her father back into a more favourable situation.

Harman remained in her hometown of Reno, Nevada, for university where she majored in biology. She used poker and a part time waitressing job to fund her studies, often using a fake ID to get herself into casinos. By the end of her course, Harman had decided that her university qualifications did not lead her down the career path that she wanted to take. When she turned 21 she began playing poker full time. This decision wasn’t welcomed by her family and she was alienated by her father but, after years of not speaking, the two have now reconciled their differences.

Despite being known as a cash game player, Harman is equally adept in tournament play and became the first woman to win two World Series of Poker Bracelets in the open events. She claimed her first in 2000 playing No-Limit Deuce to Seven and her second in 2002 in the $5k Limit Hold ‘em event.

Her expertise in this field was noted and she was asked to write the chapter on Limit Hold ‘em in Doyle Brunson’s Super System 2, one of the most highly respected books on poker. Although an expert in Limit Hold ‘em, legend has it that Harman had never played Deuce to Seven before her WSOP win; after a five-minute lesson from Howard Lederer before the event, she quickly picked up the strategy behind the game and romped to victory.

After failed romances with fellow poker professionals Lederer and Todd Brunson, Harman found true love with card player Marco Traniello. The couple, who now live in Las Vegas, are happily married and, with the help of a surrogate mother, have become parents to twin boys.

Growing up, Harman, like her mother and sister, suffered problems with her kidneys and in 2004 she underwent her second kidney transplant operation. She subsequently started the non-profit organisation Creating Organ Donation Awareness (CODA) which raises awareness and money for the issue. Harman also regularly donates time and money to help the efforts of the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA).

Although being a parent naturally takes up a lot of her time she still enters tournaments as often as possible. On top of this, Harman regularly plays at the $4,000/$8,000 games at Bellagio, alongside some of the best players in the world. She is one of the few regulars at the table and the only woman present making it fair to say that not only is she one of the best female poker players in the world, she is one of the best poker players in the world. By the end of 2006, Harman had accumulated over $1.5million in winnings.