Top Ten Lady Poker Players of 2007 – Melissa Hayden

Melissa Hayden (Credit: World Poker Tour) 

2007 was a breakout year for Melissa Hayden. The former photog and live-in galpal of Allen Cunningham was invited to play in the WPT’s Ladies Night V event. She finished in fifth place, being knocked out by the eventual champ Kristy Gazes. Hayden, who came up through the ranks at the famous Mayfair Club in New York, the one where Howard Lederer, Erik Seidel and Dan Harrington used to play, certainly has the talent and aspirations to take down the “Big One.”

She came close at the WPT Spanish Championship. Hayden was the top femme finisher, taking eighteenth place. Hayden added another $18,000 to her lifetime tournament earnings of more than $750,000. Also in ’07, Hayden took first in the Five Star World Poker Classic Super Satellite and earned over $46,000 at the WPT Championship.

Hayden has been a fixture on the professional circuit for more than a decade and once beat Stu Ungar heads-up in a $5,000 freezeout, an event which would turn out to be among the poker icon’s last.

Quick Links

Poker Cash Match Paddypowerpoker's free poker odds and opponent stats calculator $600 from Paddy Power Poker (use code PPP600) $100 StanJamesPoker $600 BlueSquare Poker Pokerstars.com (use code First2008 for $50 bonus) $500 free Titan Poker (no code req'd) $600 free Full Tilt Poker (no code req'd) $100 free PartyPoker (no code req'd) $100 free PacificPoker (888.com software, no code req'd) $500 free Labdrokes poker (Proprietary, no code req'd) $100 free UltimateBet (Proprietary, no code req'd)