A Word About Tiffany Michelle

Of all the notable plot lines coming out of this year's Main Event, perhaps none is as intriguing or unexpected as the story of Tiffany Michelle. Tiffany is an actress and musician by trade, and currently she is employed by PokerNews as our video interviewer. In the past week though, she has traded in her microphone for a big stack of poker chips. She remains alive with 21 players (and counting) left in the Main Event, and has been the last lady standing for more than a full day's worth of play now, following Lisa Parsons' elimination in 76th place. This represents an accomplishment that is hard to overstate for Tiffany, who has no prior tournament winnings of any note.

Tiffany found herself sitting on chips right from the get-go, and by the end of Day 1, she had managed to tiptoe through the minefield and work her way up just shy of the 50,000 mark. She came out of the gate at a full gallop on Day 2 as well, climbing over 120,000 chips in the first couple hours of play. She took a big hit midway through the day though, when she got tangled up with Tony Antonious.

With the blinds 300/600, A player raised to 2,000 preflop, and Tony called. Action came around to Tiffany, and she re-raised it up to 10,000. The raiser folded, but Tony came along to the flop. It came out . Tony led out with a bet of 16,000, and Tiffany moved all in having her opponent covered. Tony put in his last 65,000 chips, and the hands were shown down.

Antonious:
Michelle:

Tony was well behind and at risk of elimination, but he wasn't ready to leave just yet. The turn was the and the river brought the to make him a full house, tens full of queens. Tiffany was fuming mad, and made it clear to Tony: "How could you call?!" Tony pointed out that he had flopped a flush draw, but Tiffany wasn't buying it: "I made it 10,000 preflop!" Tony, who had already been given a warning for excessive celebration, responded by showing her a photo of his house in Florida and suggesting they should both go fishing after the tournament was over.

That loss bumped Tiffany down to 24,000 chips, and a short time later, she found herself whittled all the way down to just 8,000 with the blinds at 400/800. She hung tough though when everyone -- including myself -- was counting her out. By the end of the day, she had manged to build her stack back up over 100,000. She completed Day 3 with 249,000, and jumped up to 909,000 by the end of the next night.

She kept on matriculating through the field, proving she was no fluke and putting herself among the chip leaders over the course of the next two days. By the end of Day 5, she was in sixth place with 3.438 million and that trend continued yesterday -- Day 6 -- when she finished up in a remarkable third place holding 9.775 million! After play was complete last night, Tiffany executed a little role reversal with another successful female poker player, Maria Ho. Last year, Maria went further than any other woman, finishing in 10th place and earning an interview with Tiffany Michelle. This time though, Maria held the microphone and asked all the questions. Check out their interview below:



With just 18 players left now (and still counting), Tiffany is in the middle of the pack, sitting healthy with over 5 million. While this is certainly an astounding personal achievement for Tiffany, it is also growing ever nearer to a history-making ordeal. The only woman to have ever made the Main Event final table was Barbara Enright in 1995, finishing 5th. There's a monumental difference between the two accomplishments though: Enright outlasted 268 players in earning her final table berth. Tiffany, on the other hand, faced a massive field of 6,844 players, making this run one of the most historically noteworthy among women in poker. She has already set one record by outlasting 99.736% of the field in the Main Event, and if she can make it through the day, she'll have locked up another.

Tiffany is guaranteed a payday of more than $334,000, and she is inching ever closer to becoming a millionaire. Throughout her run, she has shown poise and determination that far surpass her supposed skill level. Say what you will about her, but Tiffany Michelle is putting on a remarkable show -- one worthy of the record books -- here at the 2008 World Series of Poker.