You’ve read about Musumeci on Woman Poker Player Magazine before. You read about her here when she got her sponsorship deal with Bodog and you read about her here when she did an episode of Women’s Poker Hour, and you can get the basics on her in those pieces, but that was a long time ago - that was a sponsorship ago - that was a major WSOP score ago.

Musumeci’s gone through a lot in the last four months, much like most of the poker community. Somehow though, she’s come out better for it on the other side. Again, swimming against the tide.

Musumeci’s contract with Bodog ran out in April of this year. For most pros that would be the end of all that’s good in the world. “I mean, it was like being a model at the beginning,” Musumeci said by phone. “I did a few photo shoots at the start. I got to be a part of the professional microcosm. I went to VIP parties, photo shoots, made some great connections, played in tournaments that I couldn’t have played otherwise. I enjoyed the experience.”

Musumeci ended the deal in style, finishing 11th at the WPT in Lawrenceberg that ended on April 9th, the last Bodog-paid entry on her contract. Then Black Friday hit, depriving her the source of her living for the last half decade. You’d think losing her sponsorship into live events and then the source of her online living would be a bad thing. Again, swimming against the tide.

While Musumeci is obviously appreciative of the blessings her sponsorship deal brought, she sees her silver lining. The patch on her arm had put the target on her back and while the life opportunities were abundant, she felt her game suffering for it. “I kind of mentioned for one of my interviews, as far as the effect on my game, not having a patch helps. it makes me less recognizable. I think some pots I won this summer came from my blending in. I’d say in that way, not being sponsored because a favorable thing.”

As for Black Friday, there was a blessing there too. As she tells it, she only played in the World Series of Poker this year because she was missing poker so much. “I miss staring into my laptop” she chuckled. “I was really excited about playing by the time the Series came around, so I went and found some backers”

The backers did well. Musumeci cashed in a couple of the WSOP’s smaller hold’em events. Then it was 43rd place in the ladies’. All that served as a nice warmup to the WSOP main event, where she was the last woman to go down before last woman standing Erika Moutinho. Musumeci did it backwards. While her $1 million+ in online winnings got her the deal in the first place, it was only once the deal lapsed that she found herself making a serious live score. $130,997 serious. 62nd in the biggest tournament of the year serious. That’s why I wanted to write about her; while everyone else goes through the professional experience, she went through it in the other, only now gaining the respect of her live peers.

“I think that, due to the fact I built my resume with online poker, I had a lot of respect from the online guys, but I needed to prove myself in the live arena,” said Musumeci, who went by the name “Manderbutt” online before Bodog had her switch over to “Bodogmanda” for PR reasons. “When you become a live figure, they’re going to branch out to the live community and I received a lot of skepticism. Live poker reporters were saying ‘she’s never won a tournament’ and I’d be like ‘go online and see the million dollars I’ve won!’ That’s part of why I was so happy to get 11th at the 10K in Indiana. That gave me some notoriety and the strong series took that a step further.”

Despite the beneficial role gender has played in her sponsorship opportunities, Musumeci seems to be on the other side now. While the title of last woman standing in the main event was within her grasp, she seems interested in more than being an excellent woman player. “Aside from marketing, should gender matter? No. I just want to do well in poker. It’s the same with a sponsorship opportunity. You get media coverage, opportunity opens up. I love opportunity. If last woman standing gives that woman notoriety, it’s a good thing. At the same time, I’m striving for overall poker success, not to be the best woman player.”

Regardless of the goals that drive her, she’s quickly proving herself to be a player to watch as she becomes more accustomed to the live arena. If four cashes at WSOP are any indication, she’s on a new track that may well be the right one for her. The guess here is that, for a woman who’s done everything backwards, good things are coming as she finally moves forward. Cheesy line, I know, but it seems like the truth.

Gary Wise is a regular contributor to espn.com/poker, can be followed on Twitter @GaryWise1, is a regular vi-cast host at pokerstatic.com and has a couple of new websites full of bloggy goodness coming up! Check them out:  jgarywise.com.