Marco Traniello

Marco Traniello has made his name as one of the world’s top hairdressers and he is particularly highly regarded in his native Italy. His transition to poker came about because of his wife Jennifer Harman and her home poker games.

Their meeting was one of luck. Traniello was on holiday in America in 1999, staying at the Mirage Hotel in Las Vegas, Nevada. His car was parked next to Harman’s in the car park of the hotel; he chanced his luck and asked her out to a club and Harman, having just lost heavily in the hotel’s casino, decided that she needed cheering up so accepted the offer. The two hit it off instantly and are now happily married with two children.

Traniello learned poked by watching Harman and some of the top players in the game – names like Carlos Mortensen, Daniel Negreanu and Erick Lindgren – in his home. Before meeting Harman, poker held no interest to Traniello as a past time let alone as a possible career move. It is no surprise that he learned from the way they played and developed his game to a professional level. Because he learned following the advice of several top players he has the ability to comfortably switch playing styles making him an extremely difficult player to read.

His career has begun mainly as a cash game player but he has ventured into tournaments. In 2005, around a year after he started playing the game, he entered his first tournament. He played in the 36th annual World Series of Poker and set a new record by remarkably cashing in seven different events. His most impressive performance came in the Pot Limit Hold ‘em where he reached the final and achieved a seventh place finish.

He cashed out a further four times at the following year’s WSOP, as well as earning money at the World Poker Tour in three events in between those two events. Although he, understandably, lives in the shadow of his successful wife Traniello is starting to make a name for himself in the world of poker.

Full Tilt Poker recognised the skill and potential of this player and, with his wife already part of the team, they signed him up to their roster and he often plays online at their home site.

Traniello is a man of many talents; as well as being a leading name in hairstyling and poker, he has worked as an estate agent and as the captain of an oil ship. Nowadays he also writes for Card Player magazine.

He still owns a hairdressing studio in Las Vegas, Marco Traniello Salon and Spa; however, instead of sweeping floors, Traniello spends most of his time these days cleaning up at the table.