The Scoop -- Kathy Liebert

Kathy Liebert has been one of the most consistent tournament players in the history of poker, and she recently topped the $5 million mark in lifetime winnings. She has a World Series of Poker bracelet and three World Poker Tour televised final-table appearances. Now a successful poker professional, Liebert seemed to be on a different path after college.

Diego Cordovez: I respect people who have withstood the test of time. Not that I don't respect the younger guys who have a lot of evident talent …

Adam Schoenfeld: You call them punks a lot [laughing].

DC: … but to stick with it and endure through all these eras, that is legit. Kathy and I started playing at roughly the same time. Back then, if you became a poker pro, there were no sponsorships, there was no online play. It was an act of fate to become a poker pro.

Kathy Liebert: Right. We used to play $100, $200, or $300 tournaments. A $1,000 tournament was big back when we started.

DC: That's the crazy thing, too. You would travel hundreds or thousands of miles, and then you'd play a tournament that had a $300 buy-in.

AS: That's a very good point. People know that things were different and that it wasn't seven figures for the main events, but every known player would be in a $100 tournament on a Tuesday at noon, playing Omaha eight.

DC: You would play a $100 event and Erik Seidel or Allen Cunningham would be in the field.

KL: Right. I used to play with those guys a lot in those smaller events. I actually played with Chris Ferguson in the first Omaha eight-or-better tournament that I won. It had a $100 buy-in, and first place was like $4,000. Chris Ferguson came like fourth or fifth. This was back when he was first starting out.

DC: The other crazy thing is that now, if you are a good player, you can make a good living. There are a lot of games, and you can play online. Back then, you had to be a super player to overcome all of this, because if you are playing a $100 tournament, you're paying $69 for your hotel room, and you have to finish in the top three in the tournament every other time just to make it all work.

AS: Everyone knows you were working at Dun & Bradstreet in a corporate career. Just from knowing you now, I'd venture that you were going to be successful. People didn't know there was a poker tour; how did it occur to you to play poker?

KL: I was all set for working in the corporate world. I graduated from college with a business degree, and was ready to be a businesswoman. I went out and bought $3,000 in business suits, and worked for Dun & Bradstreet. I worked there for about a year, and my boss actually came up to me and said, "Keep working as hard as you're working and you'll get promoted; you'll do well here." I realized, wow, I'm working so hard, I'm working all these long hours; it was my whole life, and I asked myself, "Do I really want to do this for years and years?" I'd come home after work, and I wouldn't have a lot of time for myself. My mom asked me, "Do you love what you are doing?" I said no.

AS: That's a dangerous question to ask.

KL: I mean, I was geared up to be in the corporate world, I really was, but she [Kathy's mom] had just read this book, Do What You Love, the Money Will Follow. I started thinking about it, and I had a lot of other job offers because I talked to a lot of businesspeople. I just thought I could find something that I could really enjoy more, because it got to be pretty much the same thing every day. I realized that this was not how I wanted to spend the rest of my life.