MEET LINDA JOHNSON AND JAN FISHER
Linda Johnson – When you think of poker, you think of Linda Johnson, nicknamed “First Lady of Poker.” She moved to Las Vegas in 1980 to become a professional poker player and excelled at that endeavor. Highlights of her career include winning a WSOP gold bracelet in 1997, co-founding the Tournament Directors Association (TDA), and being elected to the Poker Hall of Fame and the Women in Poker Hall of Fame. She also holds the distinction of being the first person inducted into the WPT Honors Program. If she looks familiar, it may be from watching her perform as the live studio announcer during the first six years of the World Poker Tour.
Linda went on the first Card Player Cruises voyage as a passenger in 1992, and loved it so much that she and some friends ended up buying the company. She was the publisher/editor of Card Player Magazine for many years. Linda has hosted more than 150 poker cruises and currently a co-owner of Card Player Cruises.
Jan Fisher – Jan started her poker career in 1977 when she moved from Seattle, Washington to Las Vegas, Nevada to become a poker dealer. Having dealt in many of the cardrooms in Las Vegas during about a 15-year period, Jan moved on to semi-professional playing and poker management.
Besides being a partner in Card Player Cruises, she also hosts and directs the semi-annual Eureka Open poker tournament held at the Eureka Resort and Casino in Mesquite, Nevada. She is a founder of the Tournament Directors Association and has served as the tournament director for the highly successful PartyPoker.com Million events.
Jan wrote the Poker 101 column for Card Player magazine for ten years and currently writes the column “Fishing Around” for Poker Player newspaper. She is a past member of the Board of Directors for the Poker Players Alliance and still is very active in the PPA and their mission. Jan was seen on the Travel Channel as the live studio announcer for the Professional Poker Tour and also was the statistician for the World Poker Tour for its first six seasons. She gives poker seminars and lessons around the country, is an instructor for WPT Boot Camp, and is involved in many charity projects.
As a co-founder of Poker Gives, she is realizing a dream of truly making a difference to so many worthwhile organizations.
Jan was inducted into the Women in Poker Hall of Fame, in June of 2009.