Perhaps it is where Jennifer Harman was born that made it natural for her to pursue a career in poker. She was born in Reno, Nevada in 1964. It is also no surprise that she started playing the game at the age of eight. Despite starting to play so early Harman did not think she would pursue a professional career in poker. Rather, she went to the University of Nevada to study biology of all things. It is quite a different track when you consider biology versus poker. It is unclear from the information available to us whether she actually spent some time using her degree before going into poker. What we do know is that Jennifer Harman managed to win a 2000 World Series of Poker bracelet.
The win was quite important because Harman was not playing in the ladies tournaments. Instead, she was at the table with the guys. She actually played Lyle Berman and Steve Zolotow during the game. The event she won her bracelet for was No Limit Deuce to Seven Lowball. What makes this win even more important for Jennifer’s career is how she learned to play. It needs to be mentioned that she actually played the game for the first time in the tournament. With a five minute session to learn how to play she started the game. This is not the only success she has had in the last 12 years. Her second bracelet came in 2002 with $5K limit hold’em. It also needs to be mentioned that Harman has a special seat as a women player of the WSOP because she managed to hold two bracelets as a female, which was something no one else had done in previous years. Now this record has been broken by Vanessa Selbst who managed to gain a second in 2012. The thing about women players is that they are actually quite rare when you count the number of men who have made a name for themselves.
The fact that Harman does not stay within the ladies tournaments is something else of import. Most of the ladies have their own games and in the past there has been a kind of thought that women should not gamble or that they cannot hold their own. It might be the reason that during previous centuries’ women did not make the history books in terms of poker and other table games. She is only one of two that have played in men’s tournaments. Many consider her to be one of the greatest poker players in the sport and definitely the greatest female player in the sport.
Harman’s personal life is of great interest to potential female players because her life has not been an easy one when you consider some of the trouble with her father and her illness. Her father was quite unhappy that she decided to go for professional poker as a career instead of remaining with her studies, but illness has brought the two back together. Harman suffers from kidney disease and has had to have operations for same. She even lost her mother to the same illness. A shining moment for Harman has been her marriage to Marco Traniello and her twin boys.