Amanda Musumeci Signs with Bodog, David Williams Out

On Sunday, Amanda Musumeci became the newest member of Team Bodog, replacing David Williams, who took down the 2010 World Poker Tour (WPT) Championship last month. Musumeci joins Evelyn Ng as the lone members of Team Bodog.

Musumeci was turned on to becoming a Bodog sponsored pro after the USA-friendly online poker site and sports book ran a promotion searching for a new female player. She can be found under the moniker “manderbutt” on the site and boasts recent cashes that include a second place showing in the PokerStars $100,000 Guaranteed, a win in the PokerStars $40,000 Guaranteed, and a third place effort in the Full Tilt Poker $150,000 Guaranteed.

Musumeci was born in Philadelphia in 1984 and attended Kutztown University. She was a Speech and Mass Communications major and received a minor in Political Science and Public Relations. She’s also dabbled in theater and fine arts to broaden her horizons. Musumeci got her start on Bodog and in the first week of playing multi-table tournaments (MTTs), won the site’s $10 and $12 rebuys. After two years of play on Bodog, her total haul comes just shy of $200,000.

On her decision to sign with Bodog, Musumeci told Poker News Daily, “It’s where I started. I think sometimes I can be a little bit of a pessimist, but I never expected to be successful like this. When it happens, it’s mind-boggling. It means a lot to be able to help the site grow again. When I started, there were a lot of regulars who I got to know.” Along the way, she befriended Anna Wroblewski, who finished fourth in a $2,000 buy-in No Limit Hold’em event during the 2007 World Series of Poker (WSOP) for $192,000.

While enrolled in Kutztown University, Musumeci paid for her schooling with poker money. Musumeci then headed to the Aussie Millions, where she met Wroblewski, who was close friends with Barry Greenstein. Besides networking with Wroblewski and the Bodog regulars, Musumeci has also learned from an arsenal of top online poker players including Dan “djk123” Kelly, Mark “dipthrong” Herm, David “The Maven” Chicotsky, “Bodog Ari” Engel, Tom “titantom32” Braband, Ryan “ryanbluf” Karp, DoylesRoom pro Steve “gboro780” Gross, and Scott “SCTrojans” Freeman.

As you’d expect, much of Musumeci’s interest in Bodog lies in attracting more female players to the site. Text found on her profile on Bodog’s website notes, “Amanda believes that there are probably quite a few girls out there who, for whatever reason, are reluctant to take their game online. She says that there are more female players at land-based poker rooms than there are at online poker rooms. And she’d very much like to change that.” According to PokerScout.com, Bodog is the 15th largest site worldwide, with a seven-day running average of 750 real money ring game players.

Williams, meanwhile, parted ways with Bodog over the weekend despite having just taken down the WPT Championship for $1.5 million while donning a Bodog patch. Williams is a WSOP bracelet winner and appears in the top 50 in public voting for the 2010 Tournament of Champions. Prior to Williams, Bodog recently parted ways with former “Survivor: China” castaway Jean-Robert Bellande and online poker pro Justin “ZeeJustin” Bonomo. Now, only Ng and Musumeci represent the online poker site.