Jennifer Harman is a two-time World Series of Poker bracelet winner and one of the most respected female poker players in the world. In the history of WSOP poker, Jennifer Harman is the only woman to win two bracelets. Ironically, Jennifer Harman has a reputation more as a cash game specialist than a tournament poker player.
Jennifer Harman Poker Profile
Jennifer was born in Reno, Nevada, but currently lives with her husband in Las Vegas, Nevada. Harman was born in 1964. When she first told her father about her desire to become a professional poker player, it caused an estrangement with her father. The two did not speak for years, but have since reconciled as Harman's career choice has worked out. Naturally enough, Jennifer Harman learned poker from her father, and she began watching her father's home games when she was 8. Jennifer learned enough poker that she became her father's ringer when he was down, and she often won back his lost money.
By the time she was 16, Jennifer Harman was using a fake id to get into casinos to play poker. Jennifer Harman learned the game the hard way, because her early trips to the casinos didn't go very well. She worked as a cocktail waitress at a casino (and played when off-duty) while attending the University of Nevada, and continued to hone her game.
When she graduated (with a degree in biology), Jennifer Harman moved to Los Angeles. In L.A., Jennifer Harman became a bartender. Three days into her bartending gig, Jennifer Harman attended the Bicycle Casino on the advice of a friend. Two days later, she quit her job as a bartender to devote herself full time to poker. This is when she fell out with her dad.
Poker Interlude - Jennifer Harman
Two years later, Jennifer Harman moved to Washington state to leave poker and start a business. This lasted less than a year and ended with Harman bankrupt. Borrowing money from a friend, Jennifer Harman moved to Las Vegas to begin her professional poker career. She played for years at the middle-rung blinds (around $50/$100), but she hit the skids in 1993, when was forced to take out another loan to keep playing. This time, she began to grow her bankroll and the Jennifer Harman poker bankroll has never been depleted since.
In the mid-1990's, Jennifer Harman began turning up at poker tournaments. She finished 6th at a WSOP event in 1995 and later won events at the Commerce Casino in LA and Orleans Open. Her big win at the 2000 World Series of Poker would propel Jennifer Harman into the upper strata of the poker world.
Jennifer Harman Poker Mastery
Jennifer Harman has 22 money finishes in the World Series of Poker, 2 final tables on the World Poker Tour and 11 money finishes on the WPT. Throughout her career in poker, Jennifer Harman has won over $2.2 million in tournament winnings. She is better known as a cash game specialist, though, so Jennifer Harman's poker winnings are much larger, if this is kept in mind.
Jennifer Harman has appeared on professional poker dream team shows such as Poker After Dark (NBC) and High Stakes Poker (GSN), while she has traveled across the ocean to compete at the World Series of Poker Europe. She is also affiliated with Full Tilt Poker and is a major member of Team Full Tilt. While she is respected in the poker community mainly for her amazing cash game career, the poker public still recognizes Jennifer Harman for her World Series of Poker accomplishments.
2000 WSOP No Limit Deuce-to-Seven Lowball
Jennifer Harman's first World Series of Poker bracelet came in the 2000 WSOP tournament. She entered the NL Deuce-to-7 Lowball event, even though she had never played Deuce-to-Seven Lowball before. Howard Lederer gave Jennifer a short lesson on the game prior to the event. At the final table, Harman defeated seasoned pros like Steve "Bald Eagle" Zolotow and Lyle Berman.
2002 WSOP $5,000 Limit Hold 'em
In 2002, Jennifer Harman won her second WSOP bracelet by winning one of the largest pots in the tournament. This was a Limit Holdem event with a $5K buy-in. In this event, Jennifer Harmen defeated such players as Allen "Clever Piggy" Cunningham, "the Shark" Humberto Brenes and Mimi Tran. Through the Jennifer Harman poker career at the World Series of pOker, Jennifer has finished in the money 22 times.
Jennifer Harman Nude
Jennifer Harman has not posed nude. Her website, jenniferharman.com, has a gallery of professional non-nude photos and stills from poker plays.
Jennifer Harman Personal Life
Jennifer Harman is married to Italian hair stylist, Marco Traniello, and her legal name is Jennifer Harman-Traniello. Marco has begun playing poker professionally. Marco Traniello has become a solid player, finishing in the money 7 times at the 2005 WSOP (tying for the lead). He has 20 overall money finishes in the World Series of Poker, though he's only been playing the tournament since 2005.
Jennifer Harman is a regular in the "Big Game", the famous high-stakes poker game held at the Bellagio Casino in Las Vegas. Harman also authored the chapter on limit holdem for Super System II, which also included sections by Johnny Chan, Todd Brunson, Mike Caro, Daniel Negreanu, Lyle Berman, Steve Zolotow, Bobby Baldwin and Crandell Addington.
Harman was also the only woman who was a member of the Corporation. The Corporation was a group of professional poker players who formed a combination in order to take on Andy Beal in high stakes poker games. Beal believed that, if the poker stakes were high enough, he could influence the play of even the top professional poker players in the world. The blinds at these games reached $100,000/$200,000 and the money on the table in these heads-up matches reached $20,000,000.
Players such as Jennifer Harman, Phil Ivey, Howard Lederer, Ted Forest, Todd Brunson, Doyle Brunson, Gus Hansen and Barry Greenstein pooled their resources to accept Beal's challenge. The full story of the Corporation is told in the book "The Professor, the Banker and the Suicide King".
Jennifer Harmen left poker for a year in 2004, when she underwent her second kidney transplant surgery. Harman has a genetic kidney disorder (shared by her mother and sister) which has forced her to have these surgeries. Jennifer Harman is a started her own organ donation foundation, Creating Organ Donation Awareness or CODA. CODA raises awareness for organ donation, as well as money.
