LoriAnn Persinger is originally from Chicago, Illinois and studied mathematics and dance at Eastern Illinois University before joining the US Navy in 1986. She was crowned Mrs. Ebony World Hawaii 1992, played a 'Graduating Senior' on the original Beverly Hills 90210, was a professional cheerleader, placed top-10 in the 1998 Fitness California Pageant, which qualified her for the 1998 Fitness America Pageant, and has been on seven game shows, winning six.
Persinger loves competition and her fascination with poker began years before the 'Moneymaker Effect ' when she would watch grainy late-night poker productions that had minimal commentary with no hole card cameras. At her husband Rick's urging she decided to try playing instead of just watching, which started with $2/4 limit Hold 'em at the Flamingo poker room when they would travel to Las Vegas on vacation. From there she transitioned to very low stakes daily no-limit Hold 'em tournaments in the San Diego area, and also during that time she began her first stint as a member of the poker media as the SoCal Ambassador for Ante Up magazine and then for Southwest Poker News. As her tournament confidence grew she began making the drive up north to play the tournament series at Commerce Casino where she won Event #18 in the 2015 California State Poker Championship.
After moving to Las Vegas in the summer of 2018, Persinger worked in the Aria poker room before becoming a part-time live tournament reporter, covering the Heartland Poker Tour (HPT), the 2019 WSOP and MSPT and Venetian DeepStacks events. In the summer of 2021 she found her comfort zone and started grinding and doing well in low stakes tournaments around Las Vegas, winning a $300 NLH Event in the Orleans Summer Poker Series followed two days later with a third place finish in the $250 NLH Mega Stack at Southpoint Hotel and Casino. Her first five-figure score came a few months later when she won the $400 NLH event in the Orleans Fall Poker Series for $13,377. In December 2022 Persinger stepped way out of that comfort zone and played in her first-ever $10K buy-in tournament. Thanks to winning a Twitter giveaway from poker vlogger and former WPT Ambassador Andrew Neeme she turned a complete freeroll into a $119K score, her biggest cash, after finishing 30/2960 players in the $15M Guaranteed WPT World Championship.
She and her husband, who met while they were both stationed in New Orleans and got married in Las Vegas in 1990, have a weekly 'Date Day' that always includes a daily or nightly poker tournament.
