WSOP bracelet winner proud to strike blow for women

Nahrain Tamero had to correct a report that referred to Tamero recently winning “his” first World Series of Poker bracelet.

“I kind of take that personal sometimes — ‘his.’ I’m like, ‘Hey, it’s a her. Come on, give us some credit here. It’s a girl,’ ” she said, laughing.

Tamero won the final event of the U.S. portion of the WSOP Online on Saturday, the $1,000 buy-in No-limit Hold’em Championship, earning $310,831.83.

The stay-at-home mom from El Cajon, California, was the only woman to claim a bracelet in the 31 events held on WSOP.com in July. Tamero said she has learned how to deal with men at the poker table after playing seriously for four years.

“When I play, especially live, and I’m sitting at the table with a bunch of guys, they always underestimate me,” she said. “They’re always trying to bully me out or mess with me. Sometimes it would get me all flustered, but throughout the years I’ve learned how to control it, how to maneuver around it, how to make those folds and not let it get to me.”

She said she has also navigated male-dominated spaces all of her life as a woman of Middle Eastern descent. Tamero was born in Detroit, but her family are Chaldeans, members of northern Iraq’s Christian minority.

Her screen name, “2Rivers,” cites her name and heritage. “Nahrain” means “the land between two rivers,” she said, referring to the Tigris and Euphrates rivers in Iraq.

Tamero, 33, said she and her husband, Martin, made a last-minute decision to come to Las Vegas to play in the WSOP Online finale. (Players had to be in Nevada or New Jersey to participate.)

Their plane landed around noon Friday, she said, with the event set to begin at 3 p.m. They checked in at The Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas but had trouble getting their accounts set up and funded.

She eventually succeeded and registered for the tournament late about 5 p.m. He didn’t travel with the necessary documents and was forced to sit on the sidelines.

“He’s like, ‘All right, I guess it’s all you then,’ ” Nahrain Tamero said. “I looked at him and was like, ‘I’ll bring it home for you. Don’t worry.’ ”

She said the tournament went well from the start. She gradually accumulated chips as the massive field of 2,126 entries was whittled down.

“When there were 15 players left, I was happy,” she said. “I was like, ‘My trip is paid for, and I have some extra spending money now.’ And then I just kept advancing up and chipping up, and I was like, ‘OK, I think this is it, you guys.’ ”

Tamero finally arrived at heads-up play at a 3-1 chip deficit. First, she called a bluff from Norman Michalek to take over the chip lead, then she picked off another bluff attempt to win the bracelet in the early morning hours of Saturday.

Stunned, she walked away from the balcony at her hotel room and told her husband, her longtime poker coach and mentor.

“We just started screaming,” she said. “He looked at me and was like, ‘You got a bracelet before me.’ I was like, ‘Yeah, I got bragging rights on you now.’ ”

Jack Effel, the vice president of the WSOP, said he was impressed to see Tamero prevail in a field that included many of the top American players, including bracelet winner Andrew Lichtenberger, who finished third.

“I’m real proud of her,” Effel said. “I think it’s a great story, and I’d love to see her continue on and win more bracelets and continue to battle the big shots.”

Tamero said she hasn’t had much time to celebrate. She and her husband flew home Sunday, then went right back into their busy life, including a new home, her husband’s new business and taking care of their son, Royal.

“Everything’s happening at once,” she said. “I’m renovating a house and moving in and unpacking and I have a 5-year-old — no school. Then I’ve had people walking in and out of my house all day because of plumbing issues, and something just keeps coming up.

“It’s been crazy, but it’s a good crazy. It couldn’t have come at a better time. God works in mysterious ways. I’m truly blessed.”

Tamero said she was looking forward to playing at a live WSOP at the Rio next year, especially the women’s $1,000 championship. She also said she was excited to see Kristen Bicknell recently win her third career bracelet in an international WSOP event.

“I hope that a lot more women come forward and start playing more,” she said, “and they enjoy it just like I do.”

Contact Jim Barnes at jbarnes@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0277. Follow @JimBarnesLV on Twitter.