PokerWorks

Jennifer Harman is well-known and highly regarded tournament and high-limit cash-game player making up to a million dollars per year. Harman is often mistakenly referred to as the best woman player in the world, but she is much more - one of the best poker players in the world - male or female - in both tournaments and live action. Harman says she's a perfectionist when it comes to poker and the hard part for her is realizing that it's a game that you can never play perfectly.

Jennifer Harman was born in Reno NV. She first fell in love with the game of poker at the age of 8 when her father and his friends used to play at their house. Sometimes when he was losing two or three hundred, he’d put her in the game to get him out and she usually did. Since then she has climbed all the way to the top of what traditionally has been a man's world. She says: "It probably helps me to be a woman. In general, most men don't think women can play. So, what often happens is that they try to run over me. They bluff their money off to me. I guess they see me as a meek little girl and think that I'm easily bluffed. I'm not!"

She officially started playing poker for a living when she was about 21. Before that, she worked odd jobs, mostly as a cocktail waitress. Back then, she played mostly $10-$20, and a little later moved up to $20-$40 and $30-$60. She spent long seven years playing $20-$40, and no higher than $50-$100, then about another eight years playing from $75-$150 to $200-$400. She saved money to take shots at the bigger games and eventually move up to $3,000-$6,000 games. When lost, she again played in low limit games. It was a circle that lasted for a long time, but it was worth of doing. Even though poker has been her only source of income since she was 21, she has been always investing her money and this has helped to manage her bankroll.

Jennifer likes to stay home and play with her dogs as well as going to movies or chilling out with friends. She is married and her husband also plays poker sometimes, she says: "I think the fact that he plays sometimes now makes things easier on me. Sometimes when I have a big loss, I come home in a bad mood and can be really cranky. I think now that Marco knows how I feel and lets me vent my frustration without taking anything personal. Poker can be very frustrating, and I wear my emotions on my sleeves, but Marco has been extremely supportive of my career."

Her major accomplishments include:

• Mar 05 Rio ESPN-WSOP 2nd $383000
• Dec 04 Bellagio WPT NLHE 4th $299000
• May 02 WSOP $5000 buy in LHE 1st $221000
• May 00 WSOP Lowball 1st $146000

Today, Jennifer Harman is working to improve her tournament skills and hopes to play more tournaments in the future. She admits that her male opponents often underestimate her play, but that doesn’t bother her. She is much more interested in earning the respect of her family and loved ones than her poker opponents.