Defining Moments in her Career
The first defining moment in her career came when she entered her first seven-card stud tournament in Lake Tahoe. This was after she had small stints as a blackjack and a poker dealer in Las Vegas. Cyndy created a storm by not only winning this tournament but also by netting a cool sum of $74,000, a highest ever prize money won by any woman poker player. This gave her an instant fame and recognition. This famous win was a reason enough for her to be featured in the ‘Playboy’ magazine. It was a featured article and she never appeared nude.
The win at Lake Tahoe also prompted her to take some vital decisions regarding her life. It was at this point of time that she decided playing poker was a much better option than dealing. She quickly made up her mind and quit her dealing job and became a professional player. Her winnings allowed her to move up the order from $30-60 games to the newer and innovative $75-150 games, where she beat just showing her same level of performance as she had the lower games.
Her second big win came in 1990 at Caesar's Palace. This win came after a hiatus of two years. Not that she was not able to win but because she purposefully kept herself at bay from the casino tables, at the request of her husband. At Caesar's Palace she netted almost $62,000 at the Super Bowl of Poker tournament. By the time she won this much of money there were enough problems in her married life, which brought the realization that her marriage was probably not destined to last long. She ultimately got divorced in 1993, which enabled her to devote all her energies to full time poker.
In 1993, when the poker got legalized in the Atlantic city, she set up shop at the Taj Mahal poker room. These days she lives in Absecon and spends lot of time playing in Atlantic City. She is currently ranked 7th on the all time women’s money list, with over $640,000 in lifetime winnings.
Since 1995, she was able to cash in around 5 events at the WSOP, and that too mostly in her core area of seven-card stud. She is one of those rare players who has won money in almost all the forms of poker category. Be it Seven-card Stud, Holdem, Pot-limit and full-table No-limit Holdem, Horse, and Shoe tournaments she can be very competitive.
Her remarkable persona reflects the kind of credentials that she possesses. Indeed there are very few players, male or female, sport the kind of resume Violette has. She attributes her success to maintaining a balance in her life. For her, maintaining a work life balance is not all that difficult. Ideally she would spend half the week playing poker and the rest of the time is devoted in her house. Above all she is very passionate about yoga and aromatherapy.
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