The poker world has reacted to the death of Rachel Kranz with messages of shock and sadness, the novelist, writer and much-loved poker player passing away on Monday at the age of 62 from complications connected to her ovarian cancer.
Jennifer Shahade wrote on the passing of her close friend:
“The poignancy of her questions, and the generosity of her attention was unrivalled,” saying that, “if you couldn’t get something out of your mind, whether a hand history, personal interaction, movie or book, she would help you unravel it, rather than move on to the next topic.”
Others who met Rachel as she continued her ‘Adventures in Poker’, the title of the blog she penned, reacted to her death in similar fashion, revealing a wide circle of friends within the game.
Rachel had taken to poker after attending a WPT Boot Camp and combined her career with a slew of cashes in tournaments across the USA, along with a couple of visits to Barcelona, which contributed to her lifetime earnings of $358,686 from poker.
Rachel Kranz was not only a familiar and much-respected face in the poker community, with her Poker Pro Magazine columns revealing her as a deep thinker on and off the felt. As a writer she authored the novel ‘Leaps of Faith’ as well as being ‘a prolific ghostwriter and co-author’ of numerous bestsellers, in a wide range of genres,’ according to Publishersweekly.com.
She had a remarkable resume, with an M.A. in literature from Columbia and a B.A. in history from Carleton College, while she also studied at the Sorbonne and Leningrad University, and her list of clients as a ghostwriter included Robyn O’Brien, Jane Jenkins and Janet Hirshenson among many others.
Her finest poker moment came when she outplayed Chino Rheem heads-up to lift the Seminole Hard Rock Poker Showdown Event, her only tournament title and worth $44,863.
Jennifer Shahade explained in a Facebook tribute to her close friend:
“Rachel encountered plenty of ageism and sexism at the tables, as well as people who didn’t want to deal with her brilliant, sometimes manic energy at the table, who found it annoying without understanding how much they could gain from her insights. Despite her occasional frustration with this, I never heard Rachel say anything unkind about any poker player.”
PokerTube extends its condolences on Rachel’s passing to all her family and friends – the poker world has also lost one of its finest characters.