World Poker Tour Ladies Night

In a special, invitation-only event at The Bicycle Casino in Los Angeles recently, six ladies battled it out on the World Poker Tour stage for bragging rights and the WPT Ladies Night title – plus a $25,000 seat in the WPT Championship event. Ladies Night marks the first women's tournament in the history of televised poker. The roster of players included Annie Duke, Maureen Feduniak, Clonie Gowen, Jennifer Harman, Kathy Liebert, and Evelyn Ng.

Annie Duke: This mother of four may look like the girl next door, but she's a force to be reckoned with at the poker table. One moment she's sweet and humble, the next she's sassy and cocky, and somehow she's convincing in both roles – apparently, a key component of her poker personality and strategy, as well as her success. Annie is currently one of the all-time leading female money winners in professional poker, and a very successful high-limit player. Annie has played in many WPT tournaments, including the WPT Championship at Bellagio.

Maureen Feduniak: Maureen "Mo" Feduniak is a grandmother, and originally hails from England. Mo began playing poker nine years ago, when her husband taught her to play. Mentored by T.J. Cloutier, she played online to make the World Poker Tour PartyPoker.com final table, and beat Howard Lederer heads up in an event at Bellagio in August 2003. She and her husband, Bob, have four children and five grandchildren, and have homes in both Las Vegas and Pebble Beach, California.

Clonie Gowen: Cycalona "Clonie" Gowen is a former travel agency owner, wife, and mother of two. Notoriously competitive (she played basketball and ran track in high school), Clonie started playing poker in high school with a boyfriend and his family. Shortly thereafter she did a lot of traveling, and took her first trip to Las Vegas, where she played in her first "real" game in a cardroom – and lost. The World Poker Tour event in Costa Rica was her first big tournament, in which she placed 10th. Clonie enjoys traveling and scuba diving, and recently sold her travel agency, which she co-owned with her husband, to focus more on playing professional poker tournaments.

Jennifer Harman: Age "thirty something," this diminutive 5-foot-2-inch lady is anything but demure at the poker table. To many, Jennifer is considered not only the best female poker player on the planet, but one of the best players, period. With two world championships to her credit, the only woman to do so, Harman was one of the last two pro players at the World Poker Tour's final table in Aruba in 2002, and recently won a historic cash game pot (that is, nontournament) at a major casino of $1.7 million.

Kathy Liebert: A former Dunn & Bradstreet executive, Kathy is a no-nonsense, businesslike professional who has been very successful on the tournament trail. Raised on Long Island in New York, Liebert attended Marist College in Poughkeepsie, graduating with a degree in business and finance, and then went on to work for Dunn & Bradstreet. Early in her career, however, she discovered she wasn't cut out for corporate life. Her mother encouraged her to do something she loved and the money would follow. During her time at D&B, Kathy played the stock market, doing well enough to quit her job and follow her mother's advice. In 2001, she became the first woman ever to win a major poker tournament and pocket $1 million at the inaugural PartyPoker.com Million. Kathy has also played at the final table of a World Poker Tour event at The Bicycle Casino.

Evelyn Ng: Born in Toronto, Canada, Evelyn "Evy" Ng is a former blackjack/poker dealer who began playing poker 10 years ago. A professional poker player, Evy plays the game five days a week for six hours a day. A former pool, backgammon, chess, and card game hustler, Evy plays mostly cash games and a few tournaments. A media and pop culture addict (she loves movies, music, magazines, books, TV, computers, and MP3s), this highly competitive lady aspires to someday be a DJ, music producer, screenwriter, and director, and to chronicle her gambling experiences in a novel or screenplay. This was her first appearance on the World Poker Tour.

"The great poker instincts demonstrated at the tables by the female players during the production of the first season of the WPT really served as the genesis of the World Poker Tour Ladies Night special," said Steve Lipscomb, CEO and founder of the World Poker Tour. "These women consistently played at the highest level of competition, and their credentials speak for themselves. We at the World Poker Tour felt it was high time they had their own spotlight."

The WPT Ladies Night event will be shown on the Travel Channel on Wednesday, Dec. 10 at 9 p.m. EST/PST. For more information about World Poker Tour tournaments and TV schedules, as well as information on buying the WPT DVD box set, hats, T-shirts, and more, visit www.WorldPokerTour.com.

The WPT Invitational is returning to Commerce Casino. Last year, Norm MacDonald went out first, and Playboy Playmate Brandie Roderick lasted longer than former World Champion Huck Seed. Then, L.A. Lakers owner Jerry Buss went heads up with Layne Flack for the top prize. Will the celebrities outlast the pros this year? Players can size up the competition during the cocktail reception before joining fellow players and top Hollywood stars at the WPT's exclusive freeroll event, the WPT Invitational. With a $200,000 prize pool up for grabs, and the celebrities playing for a special charity prize, this year's WPT Invitational promises to be special.

When: Feb. 25-26, 2004 following the L.A. Poker Classic

Where: Commerce Casino – Commerce, California

By Invitation: Want to play in the WPT Invitational? There are three ways to play in this invitation-only event:

1. Buy in to the $25,000 WPT Championship at Bellagio before Feb. 24 and receive an invitation to play in the WPT Invitational freeroll. Contact the poker room at Bellagio, (702) 693-7290, for information about how to register for the 2004 WPT Championship, to be held April 19-23.

2. Win a buy-in to the $25,000 WPT Championship at Bellagio via a satellite before Feb. 24. Check with WPT member casinos or your local casino for satellite schedules.

3. Win a WPT event. All WPT winners from the first season and through the WPT event at Commerce Casino in February 2004 will be invited.