People
The women who changed poker
Words Divya
From the first final tables to the rule books themselves. A short history of the women who changed the game, and the room around it.
Divya Guest writer
/ 2 min read
For most of its history, poker's public face was a man in a cowboy hat. The real history is more interesting. Women have been at the table, and running it, for as long as there has been a table. Here are a few who changed the game.
Barbara Enright: the first final table
In 1995, Barbara Enright became the first woman to reach the final table of the World Series of Poker Main Event. She finished fifth. She won three WSOP bracelets in her career, and in 2007 she became the first woman inducted into the Poker Hall of Fame. For years afterwards, she was the answer to a trivia question that should never have been a trivia question.
Linda Johnson: the first lady of poker
Linda Johnson won a WSOP bracelet in 1997, but her bigger mark is on the room itself. She owned Card Player magazine for years and helped found the Tournament Directors Association, the group that wrote the common rule book many tournaments use today. If you have ever had a dispute settled by a rule that sounded fair and consistent, you have probably met her work.
Jennifer Harman: the biggest game in town
Jennifer Harman spent years in the biggest cash game in Las Vegas, the one players simply called "the big game", sitting with the best in the world. She won two WSOP bracelets and joined the Hall of Fame in 2015. She did it while managing serious health problems, which she spoke about openly.
Annette Obrestad: eighteen and fearless
In 2007, Annette Obrestad of Norway won the first World Series of Poker Europe Main Event in London, a day before her nineteenth birthday. She had learned on the internet and played with a confidence that startled older players. She became the face of a new generation that came to live poker from a screen.
Vanessa Selbst: the record
Vanessa Selbst won three WSOP bracelets and became one of the most successful tournament players of her era, man or woman, then left the game in 2018 for a career in finance. Her style, aggressive and fearless, changed how people thought about who could dominate a table.
In India, now
India's own story is still being written. More women sit down in city clubs every year, and more work in the room itself: as dealers, cashiers, floor managers and owners. When we visit rooms for Suited, we will be asking them about it.
If you are one of them, we would like to hear your story. Pitch it to us.
Every Friday
The Friday mail
One email a week. The best new stories, the tournaments coming up, and the rooms worth the trip.
Keep reading
People
Ten years at the table in Toronto
He left home games with friends for a nine-table club in Toronto. In his own words: what surprised him, what he misses, and the one outer he still remembers.
Nikkhil Mannocha
People
Jim Ramm and the long game
He came to poker through home games in the Caribbean and stayed to build the game across South Asia: on river boats in Goa, in a Colombo room with one table's worth of players, and through a casino licence carried all the way to a Ministry. The man behind Jim's Poker Room on trust, discipline and the night he never went home.
Nikkhil Mannocha
People
Joy Das: from a casino ship to the poker floor
He went to a ship for a steward's job and came out a dealer. Eighteen years later, the freelance floor manager talks about high-stakes games, family first and what makes a great floor.
Nikkhil Mannocha