SOURCE: Las Vegas Sun

Given her bona fides as an Academy Award nominee and a poker tournament champion, it's appropriate that Jennifer Tilly has a decidedly theatrical take on the subject of women in poker.

"You know how you hardly ever see women serial killers?" Tilly said. "But when you do see one, she really stands out because of her viciousness. It's kind of the same in poker. The women who are successful playing in tournaments against the men are so competitive, so intense, so strong ... It's kind of amazing how good some of the best female poker players are."

Tilly ("Bullets Over Broadway," "Bride of Chucky"), who began studying poker seriously when she started dating professional player Phil Laak, established her reputation as one of the game's leading female players when she won the 2005 World Series of Poker ladies' championship tournament, beating 600 other entrants to earn the title.

That victory attracted the attention of Las Vegas entrepreneur Lisa Tenner, who invited Tilly to join her inaugural Queen of Hearts charity poker organization, an informal team formed last year to raise money for the American Heart Association during the annual World Series of Poker.

With this year's World Series in full swing at the Rio, Tenner, Tilly and more than a dozen female poker pros, celebrities and business executives have joined together for the 2007 version of the Queen of Hearts team. A portion of any World Series of Poker tournament winnings accrued by the players will be donated to the American Heart Association's "Go Red for Women" campaign and the Nevada Cancer Institute.

"Once Jennifer agreed to participate on last year's team, it was easy to bring many of the other leading women poker players aboard," said Tenner, whose Tenner & Associates Inc. produced the first Rock & Roll Celebrity Poker Tournament on VH1 Classic and other poker events. Tenner was previously behind the music festival and conference Emerging Artists & Technology in Music (EAT'M). Tenner said she launched the Queen of Hearts team after her husband, poker player and author Mark Tenner, declined her request for a $1,000 stake to enter the ladies' event, an annual World Series of Poker tradition.

"That inspired me to go out and do this one myself," Tenner said, although Mark Tenner remains involved in the effort behind the scenes.

This year's team features a number of poker's most recognizable female personalities, including Mimi Rogers, Susie Isaacs (World Series ladies' championship winner in 1996 and 1997, 10th place in the 1998 World Series main event), Mary Jones (2006 ladies' championship winner), Clonie Gowen, J.J. Liu and Vanessa Rousso.

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