Ana Marquez, The Spanish Poker Cutie

Spanish Pro Ana Marquez joined Team PokerStars Pro this year in what she described as validation of four years hard effort studying, practicing and playing the game she loves so well.
The Spanish cutie first got interested in poker while studying History at a University in Washington D.C., where her friends would often play the game in their spare time.
From there Ana Marquez progressed from learning the strategy behind the game to playing the $1-2 and $2-5 games in Atlantic City. Marquez was even inspired to write her thesis on the history of poker and as she explains:
“In the beginning, I was all day playing, all day watching, all day: poker, poker, poker.”
Nevertheless, despite her successes, by December 2010 Ana Marquez was torn between doing a masters degree or keep on playing poker, when her big break-through in the game occured:
“That Christmas, I decided I was going to play poker. I did very well online that month and then in Bahamas, I played super-good,” said Marquez.
The Bahamas tournament Marquez is referring to was the $10,000 PokerStars Caribbean Adventure (PCA) Main Event, in which at one stage, she was not only the last woman standing but also the overall chip leader. Marquez then went on to finish 10th out of 1,560 players for a $155,000 payday, at the same time bringing her firmly in focus to the poker community.
She also caught a big break when she was offered a place at Team PokerStars Pro, and Marquez has now gone on to amass $534,826 playing poker over her short career, including $192,720 playing live and $342,106 online as “Nyx86.”
We wish Spanish pro Ana Marquez plenty of continued success for the future and as to what being a member of Team PokerStars Pro means to her, she replied:
“It feels so good to know there are people following you and supporting you. …That kind of thing is my favorite part.”