Lock Poker announced late last week that it has signed Spaniard Leo Margets to its LockPRO ELITE team. With the signing, Margets becomes the first female member of the Lock Poker team.
Margets, who hails from Barcelona, Spain, first rose to prominence in 2009, when she was the “last woman standing” at the World Series of Poker (WSOP) Main Event. She earned $352,832 for her 27th place finish, dwarfing the less than $7,000 she had previously won – in total – in live poker tournaments. The finish, combined with her good looks, grabbed the attention of the male-dominated poker community.
She has yet to score another cash of that magnitude, but Margets has had a few strong results since her WSOP run. In 2010, she placed 3rd in the $2,000 Six-Handed No-Limit Hold’em event at the Aussie Millions for $54,270 and in December of the same year, she won the Full Tilt Masters Series, banking $132,237.
Margets was introduced to poker several years ago by her boyfriend and had a nice bit of success right from the start, winning her first ever live tournament, the University Championships, held in Barcelona. Shortly thereafter, she accepted a sponsorship offer from 888.com.
All told, Margets has won $649,215 on the live tournament circuit in her career. Even with her somewhat limited success and short career to this point, compared to many players, she already ranks 6th on Spain’s all-time money list. She has a long way to go to top that list, however, as Carlos Mortensen, the 2001 WSOP Main Event champ, dominates all with $10,765,799 in career earnings.
In a press release, Margets expressed her excitement: “I am incredibly happy and thrilled to join Lock! I am also super proud to be part of a family with so extraordinary players, this new era that now starts is a huge motivation for me! I am looking forward representing Lock in all over the world!”
On her website, Margets announced that Lock Poker has agreed to her request for a special bounty tournament, though details have not been settled upon yet. She is taking suggestions in the comments section of the blog post with regards to frequency, time, buy-in, and the like, though she is leaning towards a monthly tournament, as a weekly event may be too much of a commitment, and with her travels, she might not always be on hand.
Lock Poker is a member of the Merge Gaming Network, the largest network to to still accept customers from the United States. The network stopped allowing new U.S. signups in June, but according to a report last week, it plans on re-opening to U.S. players soon. According to PokerScout.com, the Merge Gaming Network has averaged 1,220 cash game players over the past seven days, ranking it as the 10th largest poker room/network on the internet. As mentioned above, it is far and away the largest U.S.-facing online poker room, with Bodog trailing by 250 cash players. Fellow members of the Merge Gaming Network include Carbon Poker, Hero Poker, Poker Host, Iron Duke, and RPM Poker.
