Melanie Weisner, Poker Biography

by Jennifer Newell

It is no surprise that Melanie Weisner is one of the most searched poker players on PokerPages. Her five years as a player have led to several years of big tournament scores and much attention from the poker media.

Melanie Weisner's Profile

Born on September 30, 1986, Weisner grew up in Houston, Texas, but moved to New York City to attend New York University. She studied musical theater and trained as a singer and dancer before graduation. But it was during her time at NYU that she discovered poker through her brother, who won $50K playing online poker.

Amidst her studies, she began playing online poker and earned more than $400K as "Callisto 5." Some of her big online finishes included final tables in the PokerStars Turbo Takedown and Sunday 500, as well as Full Tilt's Double Deuce. She became a heads-up SNG specialist.

Meanwhile, Weisner won seats through online satellites to some of the biggest live events in the world. After her graduation from college in May 2009, she played more live poker and immediately found success. Her first cash was in 2009 at the U.S. Poker Championship in Atlantic City, and her first win was the following month in the Ladies Event at EPT Prague. In January or 2010, she final tabled the Ladies Event at EPT Deauville as well. And several months later, she won the EPT Grand Final Ladies Event in Monte Carlo for €23,000.

Weisner didn't limit herself to ladies-only events, though. She began final tabling other big tournaments, like the 2010 EPT San Remo NLHE side event and the Partouche Poker Tour Heads-up Main Event in Cannes later that year, where she finished second for €23,000. She also racked up cashes in events like the Borgata Winter Open Championship, EPT Grand Final Main Event, and the World Series of Poker.

She finished the year 2010 with one of her biggest finishes to that point, coming in 12th in the EPT Prague Main Event for €30K. As a full-time professional poker player, she also began to make appearances and participate in interviews with poker media, widening her exposure. She was a contributor to an online poker radio show, and she appeared in 2011 on an episode of NBC's "Poker After Dark" with players like Tom Dwan, Doyle Brunson, and Annette Obrestad. She took third place in the $50K buy-in event.

Weisner had another solid year in 2011, starting with a cash at the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure and the EPT Grand Final in Madrid. She had five World Series of Poker cashes in Las Vegas, her best being a 14th place finish in a $1,500 NLHE that consisted of nearly 2,200 players. From there, she traveled to London for the EPT festivities, and she made the final table of the Ł5K NLHE Heads-Up tournament for fourth place and Ł20K.

Late in the year, she appeared on the UK's "Late Night Poker" television show, a $10K buy-in SNG in which she finished third. She then cashed in the WSOP Europe Main Event in Cannes, finishing 33rd in that €10K tournament for €27,500, and she cashed in the EPT San Remo Main Event one week later.

Starting 2012 in Melbourne for the Aussie Millions, Weisner again scored with a cash in the NLHE Bounty event. She continues to travel the world as a poker player, and as the newest sponsored pro player with Lock Poker, she intends to represent the site in tournaments around the globe. With nearly $400K in live tournament earnings to go with her online poker success, there's no stopping this young poker star.

Read Melanie Weisner's Profile for more information including tournament results and total winnings.

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Jennifer Newell is a freelance writer, originally from St. Louis but now living in Los Angeles. She fell in love with poker while working at WPT and began writing about it in 2005.