World Poker Tour

Jennifer Harman

Birthplace
Reno, Nevada

Birthday
November 29

Total Winnings
$481,192

Jennifer Harman was born and raised in Reno, and she got her first education in card games from her father, being allowed to sit with him during his home games beginning when she was only eight-years old. In her teenage years, her passion for poker ran deep enough to get a fake ID to play in poker rooms. By the time she left high school, she tried to travel the straight and narrow by attending the University of Nevada to study biology, putting herself through school by working as a waitress, but she always seemed to end up in a poker room. Even after earning a degree, she couldn't see herself in a corporate job and made the decision to play poker on a full-time basis, though she was estranged from her family for years because of her decision.

After two years of playing poker in the Los Angeles area, Jennifer went to Maryland to begin her own business but soon went broke and found herself playing poker to recoup her losses. She moved to Vegas and played medium-level games for years, eventually moving up and adding tournaments to her schedule. By 2000, she won her first World Series of Poker bracelet in the $5000 no-limit deuce-to-seven draw event, one that she claims she knew nothing about until just a short tutoring session just before it began. Then in 2002, she won the $5000 WSOP limit hold'em event. All the while, she became comfortable at World Poker Tour tournaments and finished third at the Aruba Poker Classic during WPT's first season. She also made the final TV table at the Five Diamond World Poker Classic two years later, as well as a PPT final table.

Today, Jennifer plays in the "Big Game" at Bellagio with fellow high-stakes poker players, i.e. Doyle Brunson, Daniel Negreanu, David Benyamine and Barry Greenstein, at the $4000-$8000 level. Cash games remain her forte but she continues to play in as many tournaments as possible. She also donates time to raising money for CODA (Creating Organ Donor Awareness), an organization that she founded after two kidney transplants saved her own life, and the SPCA (Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals). And all of this revolves around her and husband Marco Traniello's primary responsibility: taking care of their twin baby boys.