Linda Johnson
Aug 29, 2012 Poker Players Women Poker Players
Before venturing into the world of poker, 
was an employee of the United States Postal Services. Today, she is one of the few women poker players to be inducted into the Poker Hall of Fame. She is an excellent poker player with more than 5 money finishes at different events. She also won a bracelet at the World Series of Poker.
Linda is also a consultant and journalist and has been playing poker professionally since more than 3 decades of her life. Actually, she was persuaded by her father to take up professionally since he thought it was one profession where gambling was at its best. Even when she worked at the postal services, she was promoted to higher posts because she was a sharp and skilled worker. She did her job until she was old enough to gamble legally and then she took to poker, never turning back.
To grasp everything about poker, Linda made it a point to read a lot of books about the game. She earned some additional cash through the game as she put her pay cheque money on the game tables. She was really scared to lose all her hard earned money and that is why she studied the game before playing for high stakes.
Her efforts paid off as soon she became a sought after poker player. She was so good at poker that she frequently defeated her postal services staff at the game; they were very intimidated by her play and even stopped playing with her.To satisfy her hunger for the game, she started playing at the casinos of California and Las Vegas. It was here that she played her first tournament in the year 1978.
In those times, a woman playing so much of poker and winning a lot was not common. Also, Linda was only one to be registered. This fact gave her a hard time as she was teased and made fun of, flirted with and mocked. But this lasted only until she made to the final table of a game. Finding her winning too much, the guys made a team and competed with her to bring her down. But even then she did not lose her confidence and played on, her stakes were sky rocketing and she was on fire.
She quit her job with the postal services and started playing poker professionally. When she was 27, she participated in the World Series of Poker and won the fifth spot in the Ladies Seven Card Stud event. In 1997, which was one of her successful years as a player, she won a bracelet at the World Series of Poker after she won the $1500 Seven Card Razz event for $96,000.
She was fondly called as ‘the First Lady of Poker’ because she was a poker player for a really long time. She made an appearance on the show Poker Royale- Comedians Vs Pro Series. She was the publisher of the CardPlayer Magazine for a period of 8 years which she later sold to Barry Shulman. Even today, she contributes through articles to this magazine. She was the one to found the Tournament Directors Association which set the rules for events like the World Poker Tour and is actively involved in charity.
