An Interview With Jennifer Harman

By Justin West

On Friday, April 20, Jennifer Harman will host a charity poker tournament at Caesar's Palace in Las Vegas, Nevada. The entirety of proceeds garnered from the event will directly benefit the Nevada Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (NSPCA).

The tournament will feature a $300-donation buy-in, with unlimited (and encouraged) $200 re-buys and add-ons for the first three rounds. Hoping to add to the donation pool, Jennifer will also be hosting a live auction, to which numerous professional players are expected to donate items upon which anyone may bid. Rumor has it that Robert Williamson, III will be donating his lucky socks.

PokerSchoolOnline, the number one source of education for up and coming poker players, is proud to announce their $10,000 donation to this event, with wishes of the best of luck to Jennifer, the players, and the furry little critters the tournament seeks to support.

I'm also proud to officially state that Jennifer will soon be one of the newest contributors to PokerSchoolOnline! Joining Poker Hall-of-Famer, TJ Cloutier, as the latest in new instructors, Jennifer will be providing new content exclusively to PokerSchoolOnline members each month. She will also be on hand with T.J., Al Spath, Mark Seif, Bob and Maureen Feduniak, Tom McEvoy, and the PSO staff in Las Vegas this summer for the PokerSchoolOnline Convention!

I spoke with Jennifer yesterday, eager to discuss the upcoming charity event and her involvement with PSO.

Justin: So, Jennifer, can you tell me when this charity event came about?

Jennifer: Well, it was actually during the World Series of Poker last year. I was talking to Mitchell Ledis, who was sitting next to me during the tournament, and he was talking about the NSPCA. I'm an animal lover. I want to do everything I can to help with animals. It's just my nature.

Mitch and I started talking about it, and he asked me: "What do you think about doing a charity event?"

I loved the idea. We were trying to get it at different hotels and everybody kept just dropping the ball, and I was getting frustrated. Then I talked to Lisa Wheeler. One night she was driving to L.A. and I was telling her about this charity event, that I was frustrated.

She called me back about three hours later and told me: "Okay, the date is April 20th, at Caesar's.” She made all these phone calls on the way to L.A. and all of a sudden we're having a charity event.

Justin: Was there something that hit you quite close to home at some point that fostered your interest in a charity event like this?

Jennifer: I've always been an animal lover. I've been over the SPCA, and anything I can do to help is great with me. I would love to buy a lot of land and rescue animals. That would be a dream of mine.

Justin: Do you have any pets, yourself?

Jennifer: I have four dogs.

Justin: So, you're a dog person.

Jennifer: Well, because of my [kidney] transplant, cats are probably not good for me. I like birds, and we had a bird - a Macaw, I think. But, again, because of my transplant - apparently they're worse than cats - I ended up giving him to Todd Brunson, who I share custody of my dogs with.

Justin: You have shared custody of your dogs with Todd Brunson? As in, scheduled visitation rights and such?

Jennifer: Yeah. Basically. We share custody. It's an easy arrangement. They're Blue Heelers, like cattle dogs.

Justin: I had a Blue Heeler once. Quite a rambunctious dog, though not quite as bad as my girlfriend's Chihuahua. Tiny little thing, I feel like I'm going to break it every time I touch it.

Jennifer: I have a Chihuahua that's seven lbs.! I also have a Pit Bull that's 80 lbs. The Pit Bull and the Chihuahua were running around the house today, playing, actually. I'm so scared the Pit's just going to step on him.

Justin: So, as an owner of a Pit Bull, do you think they are naturally ill-tempered as people suggest? A lot of people are trying to get them outlawed in certain areas.

Jennifer: I think it all depends on the owner. My Heelers are more aggressive than my Pit Bull. It's not even close. My Pit Bull never barks, never once has been aggressive to anybody or anything. The bird even plays with him. He's great with babies, great with people.

I think Pits are one of the most sensitive dog breeds around. I think that's why they react more - they're so sensitive. You even yell at my Pit Bull and he cowers.

I was scared of Pit Bulls when Marco wanted to get one, and I was saying, "No way." Then we got this one, and anybody that comes over to my house wants to take him home. He's just the most gentle dog in the world.

Justin: So is it true that 100% of the proceeds from this event go to charity?

Jennifer: Absolutely.

Justin: What about the winner? Does the winner get anything?

Jennifer: The winner gets a seat in the World Series of Poker, so there's that. It's funny. I spoke with Lyle Berman, [WPT Chairman,] and I asked him if he wanted to come.

He asked: "What do we win?"

I said: "Well, first gets a seat to the World Series,” which he doesn't care about.

So, basically, I said, “You win nothing. And there's $200 re-buys."

He said: "That's okay. I'll be there."

Justin: PokerSchoolOnline actually donated $10,000 to sponsor this event. Have any other entities donated?

Jennifer: Well, actually, I'm doing a charity event some time in early May for the Cancer Institute. I'm helping them out, so in turn they're going to donate $1,000 to my event, so it's kind of cool. I'm amazed at the turnout that we've gotten, honestly. I know I shouldn't "ride the broom" on myself. You know what that means?

Justin: No clue.

Jennifer: It basically means to jinx myself. Hopefully, everyone will show up that's confirmed, but probably every poker player I know is coming, so it's great.

Justin: Well I do wish you the absolute best of luck. This is a cause that I believe in, myself, being such an animal lover and knowing what goes on inside a lot of the "pounds" people take their dogs to.

Jennifer: That's what it's all about, the animals. I could care less about anything else. I don't care about notoriety, I don't care about anything else. Let's just raise some money for the animals.

Justin: There's legislation on the table that might legalize poker in Texas. Part of the support behind this bill is for charity poker, which currently is in kind of a gray area. What would you say to the legislators, if you could, in support of charity poker events?

Jennifer: I just feel that so many people in America like to play poker, it's just such a social event. Because everybody enjoys it so much it's a really good way to raise money for people that need it. People are having fun while they play it, and it's going to a great cause. I don't think charity events are going to break anybody. It's not a gambling thing, it's more of a social atmosphere where people are having fun.

For more information on the NSPCA, or to pre-register for the event, please check out the official NSPCA website at http://www.nevadaspca.org/. Even if you can't play, all donations are welcome... anything helps!

Justin West is Assistant Editor and a lead author for PokerPages.com. Having played poker since the age of 17, Justin spent more than a year earning a living on the green felt; a modest living, to be sure, but a living nonetheless. His aim was at one point to win the WSOP main event, thus causing Hell to freeze over. However, given his penchant for sin and his extreme dislike of cold weather, Justin has put that dream to rest.

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