President – Women’s Poker Association
Tara Windsor Smith is currently the Director of Business Operations at Faded Spade. Faded Spade provides custom plastic playing cards to casinos and poker rooms globally. In addition, Faded Spade Virtual Poker provides non-profits, small businesses and corporations a virtual poker experience that helps them reach their individual goals with philanthropic fundraising, client engagement, employee connectivity, and brand promotion. Previously Tara was the VP of Sales for Game On CHIPCO, an industry leader in poker & casino gaming chips. Even though Tara has been in the casino industry for over a decade, her love and passion for the game of poker didn’t begin there. When Tara was 5 years old, her grandfather taught her two very important lessons: how to play 5 Card Draw and how to add up her penny, nickel and dime winnings from the dinner table.
In the mid 2000’s Tara was introduced to No Limit Hold’Em. When she was not at the baseball field rooting for her son’s team to win, she was spending her free time practicing NLHE at local bar poker leagues. From there she advanced to the cash games and the tournaments at her local poker room. In 2009, Tara joined forces with the trailblazing organization, Ladies International Poker Series (LIPS).
For 6 years she represented LIPS as their Southeast Director; in this position she focused specifically on introducing new women to poker, coordinating ladies tournaments and cultivating relationships with neighboring poker rooms and casinos. This effort significantly contributed to the ongoing education, awareness, encouragement and continued growth of the female player base in the sunshine state.
“What has been accomplished over the past decade for the recognition and advancement of women in poker, is just absolutely amazing! However, the job isn’t finished yet, and we still have a ton more to accomplish. I am thankful to be in the company of so many amazing, talented, passionate, like minded and intelligent women. An elite group which is made up of players of all levels, advocates, industry professionals and legends”, says Tara.
Tara feels it is vital that all women in this arena, at any stage of their poker journey, always feel welcomed and respected. She feels the global platform that the WPA is creating for all women in poker has already brought huge awareness within our industry, positive changes and forward-thinking initiatives which are being recognized and carried out worldwide.
Tara is an extremely proud mom to her 24-year-old son Cameron. She lives in Mount Dora, Florida with her husband Jeremy (who enjoys poker and supports the WPA mission as a proud Purple Tie Guy) and their 2 dogs; Buddy the boxer and CoCo the chocolate lab.