Who is Kathy Lehne?

It’s not often that someone can amass close to $1million and still be virtually unheard of in the poker world, but that’s exactly what Kathy Lehne has done – this week adding another cool $225,000 to her earnings in the Bahamas!

The 53-year old American mother-of–three isn’t a household name, simply because poker is a hobby for her as opposed to the professionals she pits her skills against. But that’s not to say she doesn’t take the game seriously, or play it extremely well.

Lehne’s main passion in life is her work: she is the Founder, CEO, and President of the wholesale fuel marketer and distributor Sun Coast Resources, which she founded as a young woman back in 1985 with just $2000. Now she is estimated by Forbes magazine to be worth a staggering $340 million!

It is this wealth which affords her the opportunity to play the super-high roller events which she seems to do so well in, picking up $436,500 in the WPT Alpha 8 in St. Kitts back in 2014, followed by another huge cashout of $242,798 at the WPT Five Diamond World Poker Classic in Las Vegas just before Christmas last year.

Her 8th place in last week’s PCA super-high roller at the Atlantis Casino and Resort on Paradise Island confirmed her status as a high-stakes winner, mixing it with some of the world’s best players. Her final table saw the likes of Isaac ‘Ike’ Haxton, Bryn Kenney, Mustapha Kanit and this year’s WSOP Main Event bracelet winner Joe McKeehen – with another 50 also-rans not quite making the grade.

Kenney won out in the end, walking off with $1,687,800, while McKeehen just failed to add to his superlative year – finishing second for $1,220,840 (with another chunk likely to find its way to the taxman – his WSOP taxes came to almost $4million!).

However, it was Lehne who stood out among the top pros for her resourceful and skillful play – and one can only wonder how well she would do if she took the game more seriously than its current hobby status.

It’s unlikely to happen, however, as she has consistently claimed that she loves what she is doing with her company – where her husband, James Kyle Lehne (note that he took her name!) is also an employee – which is the ‘largest woman-owned business in Texas’.

With a fleet of over 500 trucks, Sun Coast Resources reported some $1.8 billion in sales last year – and is notable for providing fuel to areas affected by the disasters wrought by Hurricanes Katrina and Sandy.

Despite the recent global economic crisis, Lehne’s plans for expansion continue apace – and she has repeatedly turned down offers to sell her business – something which does not bode well for any full-time tilt at poker stardom.

Nevertheless, when Lehne does appear at the tables, she brings the same single-mindedness to poker as she does to her work – and with equal success, although the million in prize money she has earned in tournaments fades into ‘pocket change’ compared to her reputed personal business wealth.

As Forbes state on her profile on their site:

So Lehne obviously has a serious ‘poker-face’ at the business table as well as the card table!