She Was Spain’s #1 Poker Player…Then PokerStars Dropped Her. Ana Marquez Shares Her Story

<p>Ana Marquez once sold a fake Chanel purse for $400.</p><p>Why?</p><p>Because she needed a bankroll.</p><p>Back in business.</p><p>25NL, here she comes.</p><p>That is a pretty perfect Ana Marquez origin story.</p><p>Ana grew up in Málaga, Spain, came to America for school, studied history and economics at American University, and somehow ended up writing her thesis on poker.</p><p>Not playing poker.</p><p>Writing about poker.</p><p>Then she found the underground Maryland games.</p><p>Then Borgata.</p><p>Then online poker.</p><p>Then the Maryland crew.</p><p>Then PCA.</p><p>Then Black Friday.</p><p>Then PokerStars.</p><p>Then 888.</p><p>Then ACR.</p><p>Then Triton.</p><p>And somewhere in the middle of all that, her dad found a stash of cash and thought something terrible was going on.</p><p>Ana had to explain bankroll management.</p><p>In this episode of The Table 1 Podcast, Ana joins Art Parmann and Justin Young to tell the full story:</p><ul> <li>♠️ Growing up in Spain and being too competitive for family game night</li> <li>♥️ Learning five-card draw from her mom with chickpeas</li> <li>♦️ Almost getting caught tagging graffiti while her dad took pictures</li> <li>♣️ Moving to Washington D.C. for school</li> <li>♠️ Studying World War I, World War II, diplomacy, and military strategy</li> <li>♥️ Discovering poker through friends in college</li> <li>♦️ Sitting behind a friend for 13 hours at Borgata</li> <li>♣️ Playing underground Maryland games with the crew that would become poker legends</li> <li>♠️ Writing her thesis on how tournament poker changed society’s view of the game</li> <li>♥️ Her dad finding her poker cash and assuming the worst</li> <li>♦️ Selling a fake Chanel purse to reload for 25NL</li> <li>♣️ Her first huge live run at PCA</li> <li>♠️ Winning big online right before Black Friday</li> <li>♥️ Somehow dodging disaster because her dad told her to get the money off the computer</li> <li>♦️ Becoming a PokerStars Team Pro</li> <li>♣️ Getting dropped even while ranked #1 in Spain</li> <li>♠️ Winning the Hollywood Poker Open</li> <li>♥️ Why she likes being completely alone during deep tournament runs</li> <li>♦️ Taking a health break at the worst possible time</li> <li>♣️ Falling behind during the solver boom</li> <li>♠️ Rebuilding during quarantine</li> <li>♥️ Returning to cash games</li> <li>♦️ Private games in Dubai</li> <li>♣️ ACR, Triton, Jeju “poker jail,” and what she is chasing now</li></ul><p>This is one of those poker stories that d