Melanie Weisner plays online at Full Tilt Poker

Hailing from Houston, Texas, Melanie discovered poker when her brother won $50K playing online and decided that she wanted to learn the game. At the time she was studying Musical Theater at NYU and began her poker career by playing ring games. She didn’t enjoy much success at first, but was very stubborn and vowed to improve. She switched to playing Multi Table Tournaments and after winning a $3 tournament she devoted herself to learning MTT strategy.

Learning mainly through experience, Melanie enjoyed increased success as she gradually moved up levels. Alongside the MTTs, Melanie developed a huge affinity for heads-up poker due to the large number of hands that she was able to play with a much different dynamic than full-ring games. She enjoys the nature of the one-on-one battle where each hand becomes much more valuable and she could build up her experience much quicker.

Having enjoyed success online playing both MTTs and heads up, Melanie looked to transfer her skills into the live environment. After graduating NYU she began to travel the live circuit, where she won the EPT Ladies Event in Prague in December, 2009, followed by the EPT Ladies Event in Monte Carlo in April, 2010. She also went deep in the main event at EPT Monte Carlo, cashing for €25,000.

At her first visit to the World Series of Poker in 2010, Melanie entered the $10,000 No-Limit Hold ‘em - Heads Up Championship. Starting in a field of 256 players, she battled her way through the first three rounds before finally succumbing in the last 32 for her first WSOP cash. She made another run in the last no-limit event before the Main Event, a $2500 buy-in where she finished 57th out of 1,942 players for $11,600.

The most valuable skill she has worked on is her ability to trust her instincts. "Do not over rationalize and talk yourself out of your instincts. If you’ve put the necessary work into your game, you need to trust your instincts. If you have extra information available to you to make a non-standard play in some form, take that edge."

She continues to pursue her passion for the performing arts.

Melanie Weisner can be found playing online at Full Tilt Poker.