Jennifer Harman was born in Reno, Nevada on 29th September 1964 and she currently resides in Las Vegas, Nevada. By the time Harman was eight years old, she was playing poker for real money and actually winning. Her father would regularly ask her to take his seat in his home games when he was enduring a tough session. Interesting is the fact that, the youngster would get her father back into a more favourable situation.
Harman remained in her hometown of Reno, Nevada, for University where she majored in biology. She used poker and a part time waitressing job to fund her studies. By the end of her course, Harman had decided that her university qualifications did not lead her down the career path she wanted to take, so when she turned 21 she began playing poker full time. However, that was a different decision and was not well taken by her family, but in the mid 1980s, she started playing professionally, despite the disapproval of her parents, and began climbing up the ladder from $50-100 limits to $100-200, then $400-800 and much higher. In present days, she plays in the highest limit games on the planet and is one of the most feared and respected players in the poker world.
Harman has sit down in a $20,000-40,000 game with a million dollars in chips several times. Until now, she has also made seven World Series of Poker final tables and she is the first woman, who won two golden bracelets – one in the Deuce-to-Seven Lowball in 2000 and the other one in the $ 5,000 Limit Hold'em in 2002, where she earned $212,440 including the second bracelet.
She was asked to write the chapter on Limit Hold'em for Doyle Brunson's book, Super-System Two. Although she is claimed to be an expert in that type of game, legend has it that Harman had never played Deuce to Seven before her WSOP win. So Howard Lederer gave her a 5 minute lesson before the event, she quickly picked up the strategy behind the game and became victorious.
Harman is often referred to as the best woman poker player in the world. She, however, usually says it would be more correct to say “one of the best poker players in the world - male or female - in both tournaments and live action.”
Being famous, however, didn’t help too much with her personal life in the beginning. After a couple of failed romances, though, with fellow poker professionals Lederer and Todd Brunson, Harman finally found her happiness in card player Marco Traniello. The couple, who now lives in Las Vegas, looks happy and are now parents to twin boys. Unfortunately it didn’t take long before trouble started again. Because of 2nd kidney transplantation, Harman took a year off from poker in 2004. The transplantation was successful, so as a symbol of her gratitude, Jennifer founded Creating Organ Donation Awareness (CODA). When she recovered, she stepped back on the scene and since her return to the poker tournament circuit, she has finished 4th at the World Poker Tour Five-Diamond World Poker Classic, 5th in the inaugural Professional Poker Tour and 2nd in the WSOP Circuit Championship Event at the Rio. Besides that, she often plays in the "Big Game" - the high-stakes cash game at the Bellagio and she is the only woman who is a regular participant. Participating in as many tournaments as possible, has certainly given its rewards - as of 2008, her total live tournament winnings exceed $2,200,000.