Once known to the poker world as the husband of celebrity poker player Jennifer Harman, Marco Traniello has established his own reputation as a top-flight contender in the industry. And this weekend, Traniello entered the
NBC National Heads Up
Poker Championship qualifying event at Caesars Palace Las Vegas and won.
"I was there with Jennifer from the beginning when they [
NHPC coordinators] were working out the structure," said Traniello. He'd watched from the sidelines for two years and the importance of securing a seat in this season's
NHPC was apparent. "I feel like I should be a part of this," he said before heading into the final table.
Seventy-one players paid $230 apiece to compete in the Caesars tournament. The event offered unlimited $200 re-buys during the first level, with a one-time $200 add-on.
At 3 p.m., the cards were in the air and, by the end of round one, tournament staff had tallied up 79 rebuys, plus 62 add-ons, for a total prize pool of $41,128 after deductions.
Action went late into the night and the final nine players included Jim Pittman, Ken James, Marco Traniello, David Taylor, Troy Tennison, Sir Drafton, Ron McMillan, Chris Smith, and James Hoeppner. All had reached the money, but Traniello was the chip leader going into and coming out of the final table, winning $2,500 in prize money and the $20,000
NBC NHPC seat that was up for grabs.
Final table finisher Sir Drafton, currently undergoing treatment for cancer, forwent a daily radiation appointment to compete in the event. He was diagnosed with the disease last year, and in an effort to maintain a positive outlook, Drafton was inspired to create www.imonchemo.com, a portal allowing anyone affected by cancer to network and share experiences.
Among the world-class competition at this year's
NBC NHPC is Traniello's own wife. But what comes first, the love of the spouse or the love of the game? At least for this event, poker wins, hands down: "I will try as hard against her as I would with any of my opponents," said Traniello. "We certainly won't go easy on each other…we're both very competitive, and we both want to win."
If the two do end up going head-to-head, it will the first time they've done so in a tournament, but not the first time ever: "Jen and I have had some pretty intense heads-up play…at our kitchen table," said Traniello. Traniello is cagey as to who usually wins these "kitchen confrontations," as he is when asked what he thinks his chances of winning the NBC NHPC are. Carefully calculating the odds he answers, "1 out of 64."
For more information on the
NBC NHPC, as well as the names of 62 players participating in the event, please
click here.
Marco Traniello made his first splash onto the poker scene during the 2005
World Series of Poker, cashing in seven different events. Since then he's placed in seven other major tournaments, including four at the 2006
WSOP, earning nearly $200,000 in his short career.
