Poker Stories: Jennifer Harman

Jennifer Harman is one of the most prolific card players in history, having played for higher stakes than nearly anyone else in poker. The Reno-native used to play cards around the family dinner table, before becoming hooked on poker while working her way through college. After moving to Los Angeles, she began to grind her way up the cash game ranks, determined to play the biggest game available. She eventually made her way to Las Vegas, and found her place at table one at Bellagio, and later Bobby's Room among some of the most legendary players of all time.  

Harman was one of the most important players for The Corporation, which was a group of poker players who pooled their money together to take on billionaire banker Andy Beal in a series of seven-figure heads-up matches. At one point in the series of games, Harman beat Beal three consecutive sessions, winning $3 million each time, and even took him on at stakes of $100,000-$200,000 when he returned for more action. Harman has two World Series of Poker bracelets, the first coming in the 2000 $5,000 no-limit 2-7 lowball event, and the second coming in the 2002 $5,000 limit hold'em event. The accomplishment made her the first woman to win two open events in WSOP history. In 2015, she was inducted into the Poker Hall of Fame.

Highlights from this interview include the acoustics of live poker, mom's bar room pinochle games, burying the printing press in the backyard, not using her degree in biology, the recognizable cadaver of Reno, hand shakes, using her fake ID to play, finding poker in an LA grocery store, setting her eyes on the biggest game in the room, the non-issue of gender, Phil Ivey's struggles at $400-$800, Doyle Brunson's nickname for her, Chip Reese's $300k practical joke, investing in the Corporation while in surgery, proving Amarillo Slim wrong, losing her bracelets twice, the rigorous filming schedule of reality TV, the Poker Hall of Fame, seven-figure pots at $100k-$200k, profiting off of Daniel Negreanu's tournament success, being cheated in a New York home game, betting the wrong side with David Oppenheim, working as a "songwriter," and the perks of Air Force One.