Part II: Poker"s Modern Day Female Warriors
Poker has certainly come a long way since the days of illegal back alley tournaments and Mafia run card houses during the Prohibition. Although poker in America received a setback that sent everyone back to the 1960"s due to Congress banning all forms of online gambling save dog and horse racing (go figure how those remained legal). For years women poker players were the exception as opposed to a regular fixture at the felt tables, but nowadays the majority of poker players are still men but women are rapidly catching on and are slowly making their mark in poker tournaments all over the country.
Unfortunately it will likely be many years before women reach an equal representation at poker tables, but there are increasingly many outstanding women who have begun to dominate the tables they show up at. Below, in no particular order, is a list of the best of the best - the women who are making men respect the fair sex all over the world:
Jennifer Harman
It"s difficult to discuss poker"s best female players without mentioning Jennifer Harman. To date, she has two WSOP bracelets around her wrist that she earned at the time she became a professional card player at the age of 21. Nowadays she can be found playing at some of the most impressive high roller tables in the world including the Big Game at the Bellagio. She was also part of the group of poker players who went up against multi-millionaire Andy Beal, and during this match she raked the largest known pot in a cash game in history, a sum reaching over $1.7 million dollars. She is a regular at the $3000 / $6000 limit Hold"em tables, and her total career tournament winnings sit just shy of $2 million nowadays. Arguably, Harman"s biggest accomplishment came in 2000 when she won the WSOP 2-7 Triple Draw tournament: amazingly, she had never even played the game before the tournament!
Annie Duke
Another mainstay on the poker scene, Annie Duke holds the honor of being the most successful female poker player in the history of the World Series of Poker. To date, she has made it to 11 final tables and has accumulated more than $500,000 in winnings. The sister of accomplished poker star Howard "The Professor" Lederer, Annie Duke has had no problem emerging from the shadow of her brother. During her first WSOP event in 2004 she actually knocked him out early on in the Main Event and went on to win the Tournament of Champions along with a $2 million prize. Her total career winnings have now surpassed $3,476,942. Most importantly, Duke has been an outspoken critic of the US government for banning online gambling and has been consistently working towards its re-legalization.
Barbara Enright
Barbara Enright began playing poker at home while she was only four years old. A passionate player, she began playing in card rooms in 1976. Since then she has become one of the most recognized professional female poker players in the world. Over the years Barbara has accumulated an impressive stack of titles and records. More importantly, she has been one of the founding spokesman for women in the game as an author and magazine editor. She is also a WSOP bracelet winner. Her career winnings have easily exceeded $1 million at this point. For years she was the only person to reach the final table at the WSOP Main Event but now other women share this accomplishment.
Kathy Liebert
Kathy Liebert, who made the number one spot of the highest earning woman poker player of all time on pokernews.com, is easily one of the best women poker players that have ever lived. Liebert recently passed the $4 million mark which is more than any other woman has one in tournament play by far. She has been playing poker for over 15 years and has an impressive record to show for it: she has garnered multiple first-place finishes as well as earning a WSOP bracelet, and she has made it to more final tables than any other woman so far, including 23 cashes at the WSOP and 13 cases at the WPT (five of which were earned at the final table.) Besides playing poker, Liebert is also active in the stock market and also holds a blue belt in Karate.
Cyndy Violette
Poker"s spiritual and health guru, Cyndy Violette is one of the most recognizable faces in poker today. Although she is small in stare, this fearsome poker player demands respect. Raised in Atlantic City, Violette has now been playing poker professionally for over 23 years, and she has accumulated an impressing $1.3 million throughout various tournaments. During the 2006 WSOP Cyndy Violette went on a rampage cashing in an impressive seven events - it felt as if one could not watch a final table during the 2006 WSOP without seeing the familiar bubbly blonde all over the television screens. Unfortunately she was not able to claim a bracelet that year, but she did manage to wrap one of the coveted bracelets over her wrist after winning the 2004 WSOP $2,000 Seven Card Stud Hi-Lo Split.
Annette Obrestad
Last but not least on our list is the young Norwegian poker phenomenon Annette Obrestad. Obrestad began playing poker online at the age of 15 and quickly caught on to the finer points of the game. To date, she is the youngest person ever to win a WSOP bracelet and is also considered to be one of the best online multi-table tournament players in the world. She has earned the bulk of her money on Pokerstars as well as UltimateBet and her nickname "Annette15" is one of the most feared on these sites. On September 17th 2007 Obrestad made poker history when she won the inaugural World Series of Poker Europe Main Event the day before she turned 19. Her winnings totaled one million-pound sterling or US $2.1 million. In the short years since this incredible young woman began playing poker she has accumulated a more than impressive $2,481,868. One day soon Annette Obrestad may very well go down as the greatest professional female poker player of all time.
Although these women have showed the world that women can play cards just as well as any man, there is still a long way before women reach an equal status with their male peers. Despite the fact that the growth of women in the game is now higher than men, the image of women in the poker world is unacceptable. The sexualization of the female body is a travesty in the poker world. Part III of Women and Poker will examine the way in which the female form is constantly exploited for its sexual appeal in the poker world.