Barbara Enright is the first woman to ever make the final table of the World Series of Poker Main Event. In 1995, Barbara Enright headlined a final tabled that featured Chuck Thompson, Captain Tom Franklin, and eventual champion Dan Harrington. It took an unlucky outdraw by Brent Carter to eliminate her from the event, but her legend remained.

Enright followed up her performance in 1995 by becoming the first woman to ever win an open event at the World Series of Poker. She took down the 1996 Pot Limit Holdem event for $180,000 and the coveted gold bracelet. This was her third overall bracelet. She won bracelets in the Women’s Seven Card Stud event in both 1986 and 1994.

Enright is known around the poker world for her ability as a stud player. In fact, many of her earlier tournament wins and cashes were in Stud. She has proven herself as a competent No Limit Holdem player as well, holding numerous cashes and 4 titles in No Limit Holdem. In 2007, Enright was inducted into the Professional Poker Hall of Fame with 11 time bracelet winner Phil Hellmuth.

2008 has been a banner year for Enright. She has 10 cashes so far this year in tournaments, including 6 final tables and 3 wins. Earlier in 2008, Enright was inducted into the Women’s Poker Hall of Fame. A tournament was held as part of the induction festivities. Enright showed the field why she was in the Hall of Fame by winning the event.

I actually know Barbara from traveling around the tournament circuit and she is one of the friendliest professionals that you will ever meet. She can play every game inside of a casino and she plays them better than most men. Her friendly personality is not just an act she puts on either. Whether I see her in LA, Las Vegas, or wherever, she always is friendly to anyone that approaches her and is very gracious in either victory or defeat. Barbara also was gracious enough to teach me a thing or two about the game of Razz and her advice got me started on becoming a solid Razz player.

Some of us were sitting with Enright in the 2006 Orleans Open discussing the issue of Women’s Only No Limit Holdem events. Barbara spoke up and said that she enjoys playing in them for the fact that she can go in them and be very aggressive. She says that most women play the game too soft and that when a woman goes into a tournament and plays aggressive like a man, they can do very well.

Barbara Enright is an old school professional poker player that has been around the block quite a few times. Even at her age, she is more than a match for many of the players that she faces. Regardless of the fact that people claim poker to be a young person’s game, Enright proves that anyone at any age can play this game at a high level.