Inductees

 

2010 INDUCTEES – Billie Brown, Jennifer Harman & Kathy Liebert

Billie Brown
Billie Brown started her career as an educator choosing to teach mentally handicapped children. Throughout her life, she would continue her commitment to community service and her emphasis on the importance of education.

After graduation from UCLA, Billie found work as a Ford model and quickly moved into the role as couturier, taking world famous fashion designers’ clothing lines around the world. Her clients included Debbie Reynolds and Elizabeth Taylor. She coordinated major fashion week shows around the world for famous designers including Mary McFadden, Albert Nipon, and Ralph Lauren. Billie even traveled with the infamous Rat Pack, dating Peter Lawford for a spell.

Her work took her to all corners of the world. In Las Vegas and her home base of Los Angeles, she perfected the game of poker that would change her life. In the mid-70s, she was one of the few women in the cardrooms of Las Vegas. Within the poker industry, Billie Brown achieved the title of visionary. She established a solid reputation as an innovator, creating exciting tournaments and promotions that changed the face of poker. In the early 80’s, Billie was the first person to create a guaranteed purse in a major poker tournament. She committed a major casino, the Riviera Hotel, as the tournament venue. The “Draw for the Gold Tournament” guaranteed $350,000 in its first year. The second and third year guaranteed $450,000 and the fourth year had the first $1,000,000 guarantee. That promotion built a player base of 2500 people, unheard of in those days.

She parlayed that success into creating an ongoing business of bringing players from New York and Los Angeles to Las Vegas. She worked with Commerce Casino creating promotions including “Play for the Gold,” and worked with several of the Indian casinos in San Diego, assisting them in building their poker rooms and Asian games.

The last decade of her life was committed to helping market and expand Ocean’s Eleven Casino in Oceanside, California. As the casino’s Marketing Director, she created and hosted the beloved California State Ladies Poker Championship, an event that still draws women from all over the country. Her tournament wasn’t just about poker; it was an opportunity for women in the industry to bond.

Billie Brown will be remembered as a savvy and accomplished poker player, a poker visionary, and a mother of three daughters and grandmother of three. Her influence lives on today, as poker continues to grow exponentially with opportunities for so many . . . just as she envisioned.

Jennifer Harman
Jennifer Harman was born in Reno, Nevada.  Harman learned about by poker watching he dad play at 8 years old. In the mid 80s she turned pro.  She has found the most success playing in high stakes cash games.  She is married to fellow poker pro Marco Traniello, who she taught how to play poker. Her years of experience at high-stakes cash games, playing every type of poker, have made her one the best all-around poker players.

In 2000, Harman played a No Limit Hold’em 2-7 Draw event at the WSOP and won her first bracelet.  Remarkably, she had never played NL 2-7 Draw before the event.  She received a short tutorial from Howard Lederer right before the event.  In her career Jennifer has made 5 WSOP final tables and won 2 bracelets.

 

 

 

 

Kathy Liebert
Born in Tennessee, but raised on Long Island in New York, Kathy attended Marist College in Poughkeepsie, NY, graduating with a degree in business and finance.

A friend encouraged Kathy to try her hand at tournament poker. She headed for Las Vegas. Kathy surprised herself, finishing second in her first tournament, Omaha Hi-lo. A week later she entered her first Texas Holdem tournament—and took home another second. After one week of tournament poker she had won $34,000.

It was the beginning of her tournament career. Kathy has had many repeat performances and successes in television poker tournaments. Some memorable events include the GSN series Poker Royale, the very popular Poker SuperStars and the many appearances on the Travel Channels World Poker Tour.

Kathy is the top ranked woman poker tournament player in history with cash earnings over $5.7 million dollars. She also owns a WSOP gold bracelet and has several WPT final tables to add to her career standings.

 

 

2009 INDUCTEES – JUNE FIELD, JAN FISHER & CYNDY VIOLETTE!

June FieldSome might not know June Field, but they benefit from her contribution to the poker world. Though she won a WSOP bracelet in the Ladies seven-card stud tournament in 1982, it was her background in journalism that led her to make her mark in poker. June founded Card Player magazine in 1988. “I wanted a media vehicle that would be a reliable source for advertisers and readers alike…one they could turn to and find out what’s happening, where it’s happening, and who is making it happen. Our slogan was “the magazine for those who play to win,” said June. She also founded Card Player Cruises and Classic Poker Cruises. After some time, she founded another poker magazine called Poker Digest, which later merged with Casino Player magazine. She is now retired and living in Las Vegas.

 

 

 

 

 

Jan FisherJan Fisher started her poker career in 1977 when she moved to Las Vegas to become a poker dealer. She dealt for 15 years before moving on to semi-professional playing and poker management. She is a partner in Card Player Cruises and also a co- founder of the Tournament Directors Association. She has served as the tournament director for the highly successful PartyPoker.com Million events and hosts various tournaments around the country. Jan wrote the Poker 101 column for Card Player for ten years and currently writes the column “Fishing Around” for Poker Player. She is on the Board of Directors for the Poker Players Alliance, Ladies Poker Association, and Ladies International Poker Series. Jan was seen on the Travel Channel as the live studio announcer for the Professional Poker Tour and was the statistician for the World Poker Tour for its first six seasons. She gives poker seminars and lessons around the country, is an instructor for WPT Boot Camp, and is involved in many charity projects.

 

 

 

 

Cyndy VioletteCyndy Violette dealt blackjack and poker in Las Vegas and started playing tournament poker in 1984. She built a small bankroll with her tournament winnings and decided to make poker her profession. Before long, she was setting records for most-money won by a female tournament player. In 1994, she moved to Atlantic City to play poker, enjoy life, and pursue her passion for healthy vegetarian cooking. In 2004, she achieved one of her dreams of winning a gold bracelet in the stud/8 tournament at the World Series of Poker. In 2005, she made three final WSOP tables and had six cashes. She was featured in television appearances on The Superstars of Poker, Poker Royale: Pro/Celebrity, and the World Series of Poker. Today, she spends most of her time in Las Vegas and Los Angeles playing high-stakes cash games. She attends major tournaments but still finds time to work on her line of poker-inspired clothing and motivational items.

 

 

 

 

 

2008 Inductees

Marsha Waggoner, Linda Johnson, Susie Isaacs and Barbara Enright

If you missed out on one of the most wonderful moments in poker history, then you need to make it a point to never miss it again!

The Inaugural Induction event exceeded the expectations of those in attendance. It was a first class affair being led by Master of Ceremony Mike Sexton and Featured Key Note Speaker Jan Fisher.

The event was orchestrated by Professional Event Director Gyla Whitlow of Houston, Texas. She created a moving photo montage of each inductee and women in poker history in general.

For media coverage of this event, please Click here.

Barbara Enright A true class act, this top female player became the first woman to ever win a major open World Series of Poker event when she won the pot-limit hold’em title in 1996. In addition to holding an open-event bracelet, Enright has also won two bracelets in the WSOP ladies championship. The only woman to make the WSOP $10,000 main event final table, Enright has also received the all-around best player award at the 2000 Legends of Poker tournament series. In 2007, Enright was the first woman ever inducted into the Poker Hall of Fame.

Susie Isaacs This southern poker professional was born in Nashville, Tennessee, but has been working the Las Vegas tables since 1986. Susie Isaacs won back-to-back ladies championships at the World Series of Poker in 1996 and 1997. Isaacs was also featured on the show Poker Royale: The James Woods Gang vs. The Unabombers and has been a frequent contributor to Card Player magazine.

Linda Johnson The former publisher of Card Player magazine, Johnson is the current World Poker Tour announcer, a Card Player author, and a well-respected player. She won a World Series of Poker bracelet in 1997 in the $1,500 seven-card Razz event. When not working with the WPT, Johnson is the organizer of Card Player Cruises, the host of several “at sea” poker tournaments. She was a co-founder of the World Poker Industry Conference, the World Poker Players Conference, and the Tournament Directors Association. She was the original chairperson for the Poker Players Alliance and still serves on its board of directors. Today, Linda teaches for the WPT Boot Camp and hosts charity events and seminars in cardrooms around the world. Known as “The First Lady of Poker,” Johnson has been worthy ambassador to the game over the years.

Marsha Waggoner Marsha Waggoner was born and raised in Australia. She spent some time as a blackjack dealer in Sydney but made most of her money playing in poker games on her nights off. In the 1980s, Waggoner moved to the United States with her three children. She settled in the Los Angeles area and supported her family by playing poker. Waggoner has cashed in more than 100 major tournaments, including 18 times at the World Series of Poker. She has close to a million dollars in career tournament winnings.