 Name: Kathy Liebert Date of Birth: 01/10/1967 Place of Birth: Nashville, Tennessee Profile
Kathy Liebert got the attention of the poker world when she became the first woman ever to win a major poker tournament and pocket a $1 million payday at the inaugural PartyPoker.com Million in 2001. But she’d already given everyone a wake-up call the year before when she finished second in the World Series of Poker, going nose-to-nose with some of the toughest competitors in the game. Ranked in the top handful of women on the all time money list at the World Series, Liebert, in her mid-thirties, is a no-nonsense, business-like professional. She could easily be mistaken for the Dunn & Bradstreet executive she once was before “discarding” the corporate world for the world of cards.Born in Tennessee, but raised on Long Island in New York, Liebert attended Marist College in Poughkeepsie, NY, graduating with a degree in business and finance. She was immediate hired at Dunn & Bradstreet, but it became evident very shortly she wasn’t cut out for corporate life. Her mother encouraged her to do something she loved and the money would follow. During her time at D&B, she had played the stock market, doing well enough to quit her job and follow her mother’s advice.Undecided about what precisely to do, Liebert just began traveling, making a short stop in Las Vegas where she played casino poker for the first time. She’d learned the game when her parents invited friends into their home for occasional nickel-dime competitions. Despite her interest in poker while in college, she was consistently turned away from dorm games because of her gender.Eventually, Liebert ended up in Colorado, attracted by the prospect of skiing in the Rockies. Central City and Blackhawk, communities in the mountains, had just legalized gambling, and Liebert went up to play $5-limit poker. She learned the rudiments of the game playing weekly, and, in 1994, was soon invited to become a “paid” player by the casinos to keep the action going on the poker tables. She further improved her game reading books by top pros.A friend encouraged Liebert to try her hand at tournament poker, and she entered a top tournament in Las Vegas. She surprised herself, finishing second in her first tournament, which featured Omaha, a form of seven-card stud. A week later she entered her first Texas Hold ‘Em tournament—and took home another second—only it paid her $34,000.It was the beginning of her bankroll, which has enabled her to buy houses in Las Vegas and South Gate, CA, and to create a lifestyle that fits her intensely individualistic personality. Liebert still plays the stock market conservatively, keeping her assets tucked away so that she will never see the low end of a gambler’s life.Today, Liebert splits her time between playing card clubs in Los Angeles, casinos in Las Vegas and major tournaments like the PartyPoker.com Million on the World Poker Tour. | |
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