Amanda Musumeci cuts a tiny waif like figure in the maelstrom of a poker table, but don’t let that fool you into believing she is a pushover. Musumeci is a powerhouse with close to $1m in live tournament earnings and a capacity to dig down deep and grind with the best of them.
The Philly girl made the money seven times at this years World Series of Poker (WSOP) following on from her two final tables the year prior, when she came within a whisker of becoming one of the few women to win a bracelet in an open event.
The aroma surrounding the poker room is usually dense with testosterone, and none come much thicker than the poker rooms in South Africa. So how has Musumeci found her time at the tables in this part of the world?
“It has actually been really interesting. I have noticed that the dealers act very differently to what I am accustomed to when I am in the US. A lot of the female dealers seem extremely timid, and do not like to enforce the rules at the tables. I think this is related to the history, and cultural differences in Africa, particularly reflective on how certain systems {Apartheid} have recently changed. I’ll see people talking on their phones during hands and the dealers are too scared to tell them to stop. It doesn’t bother me, instead it’s more an interesting facet that I have noticed.”
Female poker is on the up and up. The numbers of participants are rising and as you would expect there has also been an increase in success. The WPT Emperors Palace Poker Classic in Johannesburg seems to be a thriving hotbed of female activity, with Ronit Chamani winning the High Roller and a flurry of females dominating the Six Max side event that was won by Diana Svensk.
“When we were 10-handed {Six Max side event} there were four females left, which is a pretty astonishing ratio. Obviously, females are getting better and getting out there a bit more. Also as online poker starts to trickle back into people’s houses it will also bring more females into the game. Females who can’t leave the house so easily and can now satellite into events, or just create a small bankroll that they might not have otherwise been able to do. Hopefully, as we see online poker return to the US we will see even more female players enter the game.”
Musumeci spends most of her time traveling between Philadelphia and Atlantic City where she takes care of her Grandmother and grinds the live poker circuit. Pretty soon she is going to be able to create a third flow of energy and that will be online poker.
“Online poker is returning to New Jersey on Nov 26th so hopefully I can get back on the grind soon. It is going to be a lot bigger than the success that Nevada has had as there is a ton of interest with several big gaming companies already securing gaming licenses, or in the process of getting a license, and I think we are going to see a pretty big surge when the action kicks off.
“Just in the Tri-state area of New Jersey you have New York, Maryland and Delaware; and all these places have really great poker playing clientele. The casinos get a lot of poker players and as I have been traveling around this year, people have been saying they would move to New Jersey once online poker returns. The Borgata has some amazing poker tournaments throughout the year and so players will come, chill and play live and online poker. I can’t wait.”
