Michael Craig's Journal

I have lots to tell you about Jennifer Harman.

Unfortunately, I don’t have the time now to tell it all. But there are several reasons why I have to tell you at least some of it. First, an important subplot of so many of these journal entries is the number of smart, talented, really attractive women I end up hanging around in my poker adventures. My mother-in-law (Hello, Elaine! And thanks for reading!) has even noticed it and asked Jo Anne about it. (Trust me, E. These women have no romantic interest in me, and one of the reasons I bring up Jennifer H is to demonstrate that.) Second, I have mentioned almost nothing about Jennifer, despite the fact that she was one of the main characters of SUICIDE KING, the BLUFF articles about the 2006 games, and is one of the truly remarkable people I have met during my 2 1/2 years in poker. Third, I received an e-mail from her today in which she insisted she wasn’t very good at tournament poker, so I had to say something.

All I can give you in the abbreviated time I have is the following:

1. Jennifer, more than anyone else except possibly for Ted Forrest, “made” SUICIDE KING. She is a phenomenal storyteller - great memory for details, a sense of what is unusual about a situation, and a remarkable ability to recreate the mood as it existed in the story. So when she’s telling me about being ill almost to the point of death and nevertheless going to the Bellagio to play Andy Beal in May 2004, her recreation of the story has her looking sick and miserable, yet it is easy to understand from the tone of her voice and her expressions how she roused herself from a doctor’s office to play the highest-stakes game in the history of poker.

2. She was such a great storyteller, and such a great help, and she looked so fragile (this was just about a month after she came home from kidney-transplant surgery) that I was smitten. I don’t mean that I was physically in love with her, but I’d have given her a kidney if she asked for it, and maybe right there on her kitchen table next to the box of gigantic chocolate strawberries she offered me, a gift from Rene Angelil and Celien Dion.

3. Since that first meeting, my relationship with Jennifer has been unlike that of any person in poker. I’ve had, by my count, six disagreements with professional poker players. Five have been with Jennifer. I make no comment on the merits of any of these disagreements. Yet I STILL really like her. I’ve caught her in some very stressful situations - substituting for Doyle Brunson to organize the group opposing Andy Beal, having me be the messenger of a bad piece of information. I also know that she has to take a variety of medications for her kidney and some of them can be mood-altering. Then there’s my approach. I’m a pretty empathetic person, but I’m used to dealing with Mike Matusow, for whom no subject is out of bounds, and Ted Forrest, who is unfazable. It’s easy to blunder into a bad situation after dealing with those guys and thinking poker players are never bothered by anything, never care what you ask or what you say.

She told me at one point during the Series. “I’m not a social person.” I disputed it but she said, “I just don’t like being around people.”

Jennifer is a very social person … except when she’s not.

Her mood can turn on a dime, but she can be friendly, charming, helpful. She could charitably be called “high maintenance” but she’s worth it. She just oozes charisma, both on camera and in some personal interactions.

4. I had mentioned the Full Tilt book on a few occasions, though I never asked her for a commitment. Jennifer told me horror stories about working on the limit hold ‘em chapter of SUPERSYSTEM II (which is really excellent - I highly recommend it): “I hate writing.” “I can’t write at all.” “Daniel [Negraneau] looked at it and said, ‘You write like a third grader.’” “I’m never writing anything again.”

But I’m getting near the deadline so I have to go around to everyone who might be on the fence to see if they are interested. (And it’s not like I couldn’t use the help in some of the remaining sections.) Jennifer wrote back asking me to call to talk about it - we missed each other in a couple subsequent calls - but concluded in her e-mail, “I’m not very good at tournament poker.”

Let me repeat that so it sinks in: I’M NOT VERY GOOD AT TOURNAMENT POKER.

Keep in mind when I tell you about her accomplishments that while she has clearly devoted the time and money to doing well in tournaments, she spends a lot more time than most accomplished tournament players in cash games. In fact, the number of high-stakes cash-game players who have BETTER tournament results is very short.

*11th out of nearly 3,000 in the first full-field event at this year’s Series.

*7 cashes in the the 2005 and 2006 WSOP, including 5 in 2005.

*2nd place in the first WSOP Circuit event, including a poker-ninja/movie-star caliber performance for ESPN.

*9 cashes in WPT events, including a 4th at the Bellagio in December 2004 and 2 times as the bubble-girl (7th place).

*Oh, and I almost forgot, 2 bracelets. But I guess that was back when they were easy to win.

Maybe she’ll help me with the book and maybe not. But one thing I know is that Jennifer Harman isn’t going to convince me that she’s not good enough to give advice on how to play a poker tournament.

This entry was posted on Thursday, August 17th, 2006 at 2:42 am and is filed under My favourites:.