Karina Jett

Like father like son; like mother like daughter. Karina Jett’s mum was a successful poker player, specialising in Seven Card Stud, who taught her daughter from an early age, even taking her along to the casino when there was no one available to look after her.

Jett was born in Saigon, Vietnam, before moving to St Petersburg, Russia, when she was nine months old. This move, and the following relocation, was because of her father’s involvement in the army. With Jett just two years old, the colonel was stationed in Las Vegas’ Nellis Air Force Base.

She left home to study at college, majoring in political science, but Jett was forced to cut her studies short when her mother requested her help running the family businesses – a jewellery shop and a Chinese restaurant – in Las Vegas.

Having returned to her old neighbourhood, Jett caught up with some old friends from the casino. Soon she was visiting them weekly, using her natural poker talent to bring a bit of extra income in for the family. She began on her mother’s favourite, Seven Card Stud, before switching to the more lucrative No Limit Hold ‘em in 1997. Seven years later, Jett is considered to be one of the top women in the game and, with consecutive fourth place finishes at the ladies World Series of Poker events, the stats back up those claims.

Jett also made it to the final table of the Poker Royale Battle of the Sexes. Before the close of 2006, her biggest cash prize to date came in the 2005 London Open where she finished 8th, collecting $45,000. As well as a stack of poker chips – reported winnings of over $100,000 at the end of 2006 – poker helped she bagged herself an entirely different kind of Chip.

Chip Jett and Karina Mikelis, as she was then known, were introduced by a mutual friend in 2001. After a mere five weeks together the two got married at the infamous Little White Chapel in Vegas. The couple went on to make poker history in the 2005 London Open as they became the first married pair to sit at a final table of a $10,000 championship event.

The Jetts have now had two children together – one daughter and one son. The daughter, Athena, was born during the Four Queens Tournament and even though she forced her mother to leave the event when she was leading, there are no hard feelings towards her.

Settled back into their old routine, the Jetts now appear on tables around the world and in the Card Player magazine where they write a column together in the tried and tested ‘he said/she said’ manner.