Breeze Zuckerman
Breeze Zuckerman is a professional poker player and the “Last Woman Standing” of the 2010 World Series of Poker (WSOP) Main Event. Breeze finished 121st out of 7,319 players, earning $57,102.
Breeze grew up in Israel and at age 18 served two and a half years in the Israeli Army as an Operations Officer in a combat unit. She is a graduate of Tel Aviv University studying Sociology, Anthropology and Law. Before moving to the United States in 1996 she had an accomplished career in Journalism as a writer, columnist and Senior Editor. Among her writing publications is a book of poetry. Since 1999 Moorpark, California has been her hometown.
Breeze was introduced to Poker in 2009 when a group of friends decided to get together once a month for dinner and a game of Poker. Since most of the “girls”, including Breeze, never played the game, the host provided cheat sheets showing hand rankings.
At that time her interest in playing Poker was just to have some fun with her friends. She really did not play seriously or that well; but it wasn’t long before she discovered that there was more to the game than she first thought. She became intrigued with the analytical, strategic and psychological aspects of Poker. She realized that these aspects required a special skill set.
A few months later one of Breeze’s friends suggested they go play a tournament at one of the local casinos. Breeze was reluctant but agreed to give it a try. In July 2009 she entered her first tournament, the Legends of Poker Ladies Event at the Bicycle Casino in Bell Gardens, California. Coincidentally, she sat next to Barbara Enright who was the 1995 “WSOP Last Woman Standing” and the only woman to ever make it to the WSOP Main Event Final Table. When Breeze went home she Googled Barbara’s name and was surprised to learn who she was. Barbara became a close friend and mentor to her. Breeze went on to enter the 2010 Queen of Hearts tournament at the Bicycle Casino, where she placed 11th.
On June 21st, 2010 Breeze and her business partner Howard Asher left California at 4:00AM and travelled six hours to the RIO Hotel in Las Vegas to play the “Afternoon Deepstack at the WSOP” tournament. After 15 hours of play she placed 5th out of 540 players, cashing $5000. They then turned around and drove back to California.
On the long drive back they decided that Breeze should play the WSOP Main Event two weeks later, since the structure of that specific tournament well suited to her strengths.
Besides playing professional poker, Breeze is currently attending California Lutheran University to earn her master’s degree in Psychology. She hopes to help those who suffered childhood abuse and trauma. In Poker, her goals for 2011 are to make it to the World Series of Poker Main Event Final Table and to earn the title of the “Last Woman Standing” twice in a row.
