Las Vegas, NV
Originally from the suburbs of Chicago, Illinois, Susan has been a resident of Las Vegas since 1979, and comes from a family with a long-standing tradition with games of skill. Her mother, a Life Master in the game of bridge, was a high-stakes Maj Jong player, and was one of the first women to play in the Maj Jong tournaments in Las Vegas in the 1970s, with Hong Kong male players. When not playing Maj Jong or bridge, she could frequently be found at the blackjack tables. Her father made a life-time study of ten cent craps games (in the days when there were such things as ten cent craps games), but unfortunately never really developed a completely winning strategy.
However, Susan mostly took after her uncle, who in addition to being her mother’s bridge tournament partner, was an avid stud poker player. An attorney by profession, Uncle Doo Doo (long story, short for Darwin) retired from corporate practice after a lengthy illness and became a full-time poker player in Las Vegas in the late 1980s until his death in the middle 90s. He strongly believed that poker was a “thinking person’s” game of skill and strategy, and on weekends, Susan accompanied him on his regular rounds of Strip poker rooms, sitting with him for hours on end, watching the game and listening to her uncle’s description of the action.
It wasn’t until some years after her uncle’s death that Susan regularly began playing poker. In the early years, she played primarily $10/$20 limit hold ‘em, but eventually turned to no limit tournament play, which fit well with her competitive nature! Susan has cashed in many tournaments and counts among her tournament victories the 2010 the WSOP Ladies Circuit event at Harrah’s Rincon, outside San Diego.
Susan retired from Clark County Social Service in 2016, after serving 30 years overseeing long term care services for Clark County residents. She continues to be very active in the long-term care community, focusing legislation and public policy. She and her husband love to travel and can frequently be found cruising with Card Player Cruises, which combines the love of travel with the love of the game of poker! She also oversees the funds and finances for the WPDG $!0K poker league in which she plays and is very proud to be an advocate for the game itself as well as the WPA.Share