Melanie Weisner: Meet the Multi-Talented and Fierce Poker Pro

American poker pro Melanie Weisner, aka Callisto5 on PokerStars, is one of today’s most accomplished female poker players.

Let’s take a look at Weisner’s poker accomplishments, including some of the most interesting hands she’s played:

Early Years and Online Poker

The 31-year-old hails from Houston, Texas. Before making a splash in the poker world, she studied vocal performance at New York University.

Weisner was first introduced to poker by her brother, who was a rather successful online player himself. During her studies at NYU, Weisner earned more than $400,000 playing part-time. For the bulk of her online poker career, she was a heads-up sit and go specialist.

In addition to HUSNGs, Weisner has done quite well in online tournaments. Callisto5 has lifetime total winnings nearing $766k according to PocketFives, with her largest online cash coming in February 2016 when she won the PokerStars Sunday 500 for $58,313.

Live Tournament Success

European Poker Tour

Weisner’s biggest career live cash came at the EPT 8 Grand Final, where she finished second in the €5,000 Heads-Up No Limit Hold’em event for a €39,250 ($51,820) payday.

The EPT has been among Weisner’s best venues, accounting for 15 of her total live event cashes. Weisner won the prestigious Player of the Year for Season 8, and is the only player to win two EPT Ladies Championship events.

Wesiner has posted five-figure cashes six times in EPT events, including a 12th-place finish in the EPT 7 Prague Main Event for €30,000 ($39,664).

World Series of Poker

Melanie Weisner is a familiar face in the WSOP payout line as well. Most notably, in 2016, Weisner placed 127^th in the WSOP Main Event, winning $49,108 and finishing as the second-to-last woman standing. During this event she also earned the distinction of being the only female chip-leader in the WSOP during days three and four.

While she has not won a bracelet (yet), Weisner does have an impressive 25 money finishes at the WSOP. She’s cashed in the Main Event four times, including money finishes in 2016, 2017 and 2018.

World Poker Tour

In 2012, Weisner won her first live tournament at the WPT Emperor’s Poker Classic in South Africa, besting a field of 133 players in the $1,000 Six-Handed NLHE tournament and pocketing a respectable $41,289.

Weisner made another Emperor’s Palace Poker Classic final table in 2015, finishing 3rd in the High Roller event for $29,947.

Other achievements

In addition to her EPT, WSOP, and WPT successes, other big scores for Weisner on the live circuit include a second-place finish in the €2,700 NLHE Heads Up tournament at the Partouche Poker Tour’s Main Event in 2010, winning €23,000 ($29,165).

To date, Melanie Weisner has surpassed $840,000 in total live winnings.

Weisner has had a few sponsorship deals as well. Full Tilt Poker sponsored Weisner before she signed with Lock Poker in late 2011 following Full Tilt’s Black Friday seizure.

Of Weisner, Lock Poker said that she was a perfect fit due to her passion, relentless dedication to poker, and incredible intelligence. Not unlike Full Tilt and other sites, Lock Poker eventually closed, mired in scandal, in April 2015.

Weisner in action

Melanie Weisner joined Andrew Lichtenberger, Eric “basebaldy” Baldwin, Doyle Brunson, Annette Obrestad, and Tom “durrr” Dwan in the Poker after Dark $50,000 SNG Idol tournament for a winner-take-all $300,000. 

You can watch her play some hands and explain her thoughts in the director’s cut recap of the week below:

More recently, Weisner returned to Poker After Dark for its Femme Fatale episode which you can catch here if you are a PokerGo subscriber.

Take a look at a few more memorable Melanie Weisner hands:

SNG ladies

In another hand from the SNG Idol tournament, Weisner and Annette Obrestad are both sitting on short stacks and looking to make a move to survive.

Weisner open raises with K♦Q♦ on the small blind and Obrestad 3-bets from the big blind with A♥J♥. Wesiner 4-bets with the remainder of her stack and gets a quick call from Obrestad. Weisner has Obrestad covered and spikes a king on the flop, putting Obrestad in bad shape.

Obrestad picks up a flush draw on the turn as the board reads 5♥K♣6♦8♥, but the 4♠ on the river seals the deal for Weisner and sends Obrestad to the rail. Watch this hand unfold here.

Weisner for the Kill

Perhaps most noteworthy is this hand (also from the SNG Idol tournament) that has Weisner “shooting Brunson with his own bullet.” 

Weisner picks up T♥2♥ in the small blind and the action folds to her, with only Doyle Brunson remaining on the big blind. Weisner siezes the opportunity to play the ten-deuce against Brunson, who famously won the WSOP Main Event two years in a row (in 1976 and 1977) with the ten-deuce as his final hand. 

Brunson calls with the 6♦4♥, and the board runs out about as favorably as it possibly can for Weisner. She picks up a straight on the river when the board comes 5♠9♥8♣7♦J♦, and gets Brunson to pay off her river value bet with his smaller straight.

While slightly cruel, it is nonetheless good-natured even if Brunson admitted through his laughter that it “wasn’t funny.” Watch the hand here:

Luck be a Lady

Today, Weisner resides in Los Angeles, California, where, in addition to playing poker, she sings and has recently directed a play for Pop-Up Theatre LA! 

The self-proclaimed foodie is currently romantically involved with her soulmate, entertainer Jonathan Katz as was recently announced on Poker News’ The WAG Diaries (sorry guys.) Take a look at this couple as Sarah Herring tests how well they know each other.

If you’d like to follow Melanie Weisner, check out her Twitter and Instagram.

Until next time.

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• The Top 20 Female Poker Players of All Time