The game of poker is a very male dominated game. In recent years, that image has changed a bit as many high caliber female players have risen in the ranks and proven that they can play poker just as well as men. While the Americans tend to corner the market on top female players, Tiffany Williamson of London has risen to become one of the best European female Texas Holdem players.
By day, Williamson is a corporate lawyer for Davis Polk & Wardell in London but by night she is a feared poker player that has proven her worth on the biggest stages in the game. She first burst onto the live poker scene in 2005 after qualifying online for the 2005 World Series of Poker Main Event.
Williamson won her $10,000 buy-in entry via an online satellite tournament and took her spot in the field in Las Vegas, NV amongst a field of 5,619 players. At the time, this was the largest field for a poker tournament in the history of the game. An amazing $7.5 Million in prize money was to go to first place.
Only one woman has ever made the WSOP Main Event final table in Vegas and as the event started to enter the later stages, Williamson looked poised to become the second. She became the last woman standing in the field and was still alive with two tables left. Ultimately, Williamson would fall short of the final table and finished in 15th place.
While not quite the final table of nine, her 15th place finish was the 3rd highest finish ever for a female player and the highest finish ever for a black woman in the WSOP Main Event. She took home $400,000 for her finish.
Since her deep run in the 2005 Main Event, Williamson has played in various professional poker tournaments but on a part time basis. Her no-nonsense fearless approach has not made her many friends while at the poker table, but her opponents still respect her play.
Williamson has had some mild success in event since her deep run and has a total career earning just shy of $500,000. This is good enough for 34th on the Women’s All-Time money list and she even ranks 125th all-time for England’s all-time list.
Williamson has proven that European women have much to offer to the poker world. She has successfully balance her career and her love for poker and has been able to become successful in both. Hopefully more women poker players will take inspiration from Williamson’s story and aspire for greatness in the game.