Tiffany Michelle To Help Open Jamul Casino Poker Room

ESPN's Norman Chad, Pro Erick Lindgren will also play in $50,000-prize-pool tournament

Tiffany-Michelle-Jamul-Casino-Poker-Room
Poker pro Tiffany Michelle will play in the grand-opening tournament of Jamul Casino's Poker Room.
Jamul-Casino
Jamul Casino.

San Diego’s Jamul Casino will celebrate the grand opening of its new poker room with a Texas Hold-Em tournament. Offered: A $50,000 guaranteed prize pool. The Golden Cap tourney on February 15 is expected to draw hundreds of players. Several celebrities are lined up to sweeten the pot, including TV personality/poker pro Tiffany Michelle.

During the 2008 World Series of Poker main event, Michelle was the “Last Woman Standing” out of 6,844 players, earning $334,534 for a 17th-place finish.

“I love traveling to play in new card rooms, and I’d love to find a favorite place in San Diego,” says Michelle. She’s based in Los Angeles and has family who live in San Diego County.

After her stellar performance in the 2008 WSOP event, Michelle teamed up with bestie/poker pro Maria Ho. They competed in Season 15 of the Emmy-Award-winning TV competition show The Amazing Race. The duo finished three episodes shy of the finish line.

Michelle has also twice made Maxim’s list of the “Top 20 Hottest Celebrity Poker Players” and was named one of the “Top 10 Most Fascinating People in Poker” by Casino City Times.

Tiffany-Michelle
Tiffany Michelle stares down the competition.

Tiffany Michelle’s resume

Also on her resume: Appearances on Food Network’s Worst Cooks In America, a recurring role as a villainess on the soap opera DeVanity, and she once died a scripted death on the popular TV drama ER.

Fresh off a trip to London, Michelle spoke to Junkets & Jaunts by phone about Jamul Casino’s Poker Room grand-opening. She chatted about finding minor trends among poker players in all pockets of the world.

“There are certainly aggressive players in England, but in all I’d say they are generally nicer—and have cute accents,” she says. “In Los Angeles, there are a lot of sharks and full-time grinders. I don’t think that’s the case as much in San Diego. It’s less intense there—it’s not as many people playing poker to pay their bills.”

Michelle is impressed by the $50,000 guarantee being offer at Jamul Casino’s tournament. “That’s serious money,” she says. “I’ll be there to have fun, but for that kind of money I’ll definitely be taking the competition very seriously.”

Bringing Poker to Jamul Casino

ESPN-Norman-Chad
ESPN’s Norman Chad.

The Jamul Casino was rebranded in May 2018 after initially opening for business as part of the Hollywood Casino chain. The Jamul Poker Room officially opened on February 11. The high-tech-facilitated room holds 10 tables, offers table-side dining and is accessed by full bar service.

The buy-in for the Golden Cap Tournament is $500 (plus a $50 entry fee). Cards get in the air at noon on February 15. Prior to the start of the tournament, there will be a grand-opening ceremony. Festivities include a ribbon cutting, a tribal blessing and traditional Kumeyaay Bird Singing from a Jamul Indian Village of California tribal council member.

Including Michelle, there will be 10 celebrities in the tournament with $500 prize bounties on their heads, going to any player who knocks them out. Other celebs include two-time WSOP bracelet winner and World Poker Tour champ Erick Lindgren, and insightfully wry ESPN poker commentator Norman Chad.

For more information on the grand-opening tournament go to the Jamul Casino website.  J&J

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