Jennifer Harman Net Worth and Bio Of the Female Poker Icon!

Featured image: courtesy of flipchip (left) and WPT (right)

The poker industry is very competitive, but Jennifer Harman braved her way into becoming one of the icons in this very same community.

She is a professional female poker player who didn’t have a sizeable bankroll to start with. If you are in for an inspiring story, then hers is definitely something you should read about.

She got exposed to the game at a very young age – 8! Now that she’s 57, you’d think she probably already retired, but Jennifer is still playing cards every now and then. We can all guess she loves poker that much, can’t we?

Harman also has an amazing record. She won 2 WSOP bracelets, something not very many female players have achieved. Plus, she was also a nominee for the Poker Hall of Fame.

Full Name: Jennifer C. Harman
DOB: November 29, 1964
Birthplace: Reno, Nevada
Profession: Pro poker player, actress
Husband: Marco Traniello (Divorced)
WSOP Bracelets: 2
Net Worth & Career Earnings: $15+ Million

Table of Contents

Jennifer Harman Bio

Jennifer was born in November 29, 1964. She was born and raised in Reno, Nevada.

Her father loved playing poker, so she was introduced to the game rather early than other pro players. But despite her getting hooked to poker at a young age, she didn’t drop out of school to play. In fact, she was able to graduate at the University of Nevada, with a degree in Biology.

Before she pursued a professional poker career, she was busy doing odd jobs to get by. For years, she struggled working just so she could support herself and with the goal of building up her bankroll.

She tried waiting tables and other jobs not related to her academic degree. Rather, she soon followed her heart to pursue a poker career professionally.

When she finally went on to chase her dream of playing on the felt officially, she had a falling-out with her father. But it was revealed that years later, they were able to reconcile and respect their differences.

If you think she had a smooth start, then you’re wrong. For her, it was tough.

Poker Career

It’s not so surprising that Jennifer became a pro card player.

When she was still young, she was used to seeing her dad play poker at home on a weekly basis. After watching him play many times, she got interested in the game and asked her father to teach her. Since she was persistent, her dad agreed and that’s where it all began.

Since she started young and online poker wasn’t a thing yet back then, she even had to use a fake ID just to play in local casinos. She revealed that she even tried sneaking into several casinos in her city just so she could play.

Nothing stopped her from living her dream.

During the early 2000s, she’s played a lot on TV with famous players like Daniel Negreanu (who’s her best friend), Sammy Farha, Antonio Esfandiari, Barry Greenstein, Mike Matusow, Phil Hellmuth, Eli Elezra, Frank Kassela, Maria Ho, and many others.

She also appeared in PokerStars’ Shark Cage tournament first season where she played against Lex Veldhuis, Phil Laak, Jason Alexander, Tony Dunst, and an online qualifier (similar to the Big Game TV show).

Check out Jen’s greatest poker moments below:

After graduation, she moved to Los Angeles and worked as a bartender. But after 3 days, her friend encouraged her to check Bicycle Casino and there she felt what she needed to do. So she quit her job after just starting several days ago and decided to become a full-time card player.

But things didn’t always turn out for the better. There were moments when she had almost no money left after losing several times. This prompted her to take a break from the felt.

She decided to build her own business and moved to Maryland. But even that failed. So after a year, she went back to Vegas and borrowed funds from a friend to get back on her feet.

She always played cash games before. But in 1994, she entered her first live tournament. Just a year later, she was winning more and more which only inspired her to become better. In 1995, she also won 6th place in a tourney and brought home a prize of $12,320.

It was in the year 2000 when she got her first WSOP bracelet after winning 1st place in the $5,000 No-Limit Deuce to Seven Draw. She won almost $150,000 from that tournament.

(By the way, Jennifer, with her very petite and fragile physique, misled many opponents. For them it was very difficult to view such a ‘small’ person as a serious rival.

Whatever the case, two years later, Harman won a WSOP bracelet in a Texas Hold’em tournament again. The next bracelet was achieved in 2002, winning her just a little over than $200,000.

It is a fact that unlike some lucky champions, Harman’s poker career didn’t immediately go uphill. In fact, before winning, she lost her bankroll several times.

Every time, again climbing up and trying to subdue the capricious card fate, Jennifer tried not only to believe in luck, but also to help her. So, she has read a lot of poker books and guides, and got to know many opinions of famous poker players (including Daniel Negreanu, Doyle Brunson, Antonio Esfandiari).

As a result, over time, Jennifer was able to develop her own strategy, which later was able to give her the opportunity to earn a living from the game.

Incidentally, Jennifer Harman is also the author of a ‘Bible of Poker’ chapter on Texas Limit Hold’em in Doyle Brunson‘s Super System 2 book.

Every year Harman holds a charity poker tournament, the proceeds of which go to support the Nevada Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (NSPCA).

Personal Life

Harman married Marco Traniello. He is a professional stylist from Italy. He also became a professional poker player sponsored by Full Tilt.

Jennifer and Marco had twins, but they later decided to get a divorce. Other than that, not much information has been revealed about Harman’s personal life.

It is also known that in 2004, Jennifer retired from the game for a year – she needed another kidney transplant. After that, Harman became the founder of ‘Creating Organ Donation Awareness’ (CODA), a non-profit organization to help people in need of organ transplants.