How Marle Cordeiro Became One Of The Most Popular Poker Vloggers In Only 6 Months
Marle Cordeiro is one of the most controversial and popular influencers in poker. Her videos polarize both big names and fans alike, yet her channel enjoys viewing figures that few in the game will ever reach. How did Marle get to where she is? It all began with one video.
Who is Marle Cordeiro?
Marle Cordeiro is a self-described “poker player living in Las Vegas, NV.” Known primarily as a cash game player, her current live winnings are just under $14,000, placing her in the top 50,000 of the United States All-Time Money List.
In addition to playing poker, Marle runs a successful vlog that has catapulted her from a little-known player to one of the most popular poker vloggers on the planet in just a few short months. Below, we explore how Marle’s journey has unfolded.
She first dreamt of being a model
After graduating from West Boylston Middle/High School in 2009, Marle pursued her dream of becoming a model in New York. Unfortunately, she was told she was too short for professional modeling. Undeterred, she turned her attention to acting and writing.
However, breaking into the film and TV industry proved to be challenging. Marle struggled to land roles and find interest in her scripts. Eventually, the difficulties led her to leave New York and relocate to Las Vegas, where her father lived, seeking new opportunities.
Hitting the Vegas poker halls
While in Vegas, Marle worked as a waitress and hit the poker halls in her spare time – starting at $1-3 stakes Texas hold ’em, before graduating to $2-5 stake games at the world famous Bellagio casino.
After a couple of years of playing while waitressing, Marle quit her job with the aim of becoming a poker professional – something she was able to do after receiving financial backing from friends.
Making the push to go pro
Once Marle made the move to full-time poker, she spent long hours at the Vegas casinos putting in the graft to make it as a rounder. But after five months playing day and night, she was no closer than when she started – in fact, she was near broke.
Something needed to change and, for Marle, this meant altering her state of mind or going back to waitressing – the latter wasn’t an option. She approached the tables with renewed focus, vigour, and began winning.
Turning to vlogging
Marle’s vlog, Marle, was created in Oct 2011 but it was nearly seven years before a video was uploaded to it. Once Marle began vlogging, she quickly hit on a winning formula – she usually begins with a funny intro, before covering poker hand analysis, discussing her life as a rounder, and covering the role of women in poker.
Though it took Marle years to publish the first video to her vlog, she needed only a month to start generating huge traffic and it was all the result of one video – Looking For A Poker Pro Boyfriend, which has been viewed over 95,000 times.
How one satirical video made her go viral
“Looking For A Poker Pro Boyfriend” features Marle’s satirical perspective on the role of women in poker, challenging the stereotype that their success depends on romantic relationships with male players. The video also includes her hand analysis and poker strategy insights.
Within a few days, Marle’s channel experienced a dramatic increase, jumping from a few thousand views to over ten thousand followers. This rapid growth was partly due to the support from fellow poker influencers. Less than a month after releasing “Looking For A Poker Pro Boyfriend,” Joe Ingram announced on Instagram that he and Marle would be podcasting together. This announcement attracted comments from prominent poker influencers such as Justin Bonomo, Jamie Kerstetter, and Kelly Minkin.
How controversy made Marle really popular
The comments Marle received from Justin Bonomo, Jamie Kerstetter, and Kelly Minkin questioning whether Looking For A Poker Pro Boyfriend caused more harm than good to female poker players. Marle responded to the controversy in a video titled How many HATERS do I have in poker?
Marle begins by emphasizing that her primary goal is “trying to inspire intelligent women to get involved in [the] game.” She clarifies that the footage in “Looking…” was a “fictional, exaggerated sketch” aimed at addressing and challenging the stereotype that women can only become professional poker players because of their looks, which she firmly states is “absurd.”
Where does she go from here?
Marle’s channel now has well over 20,000 subscribers and GambleBet site place her alongside names like Andrew Neeme, James “SplitSuit” Sweeney, and Doug Poulk as one of the poker vloggers you should know and watch. But is her popularity sustainable? The viewing figures for her channel suggest so.
In February 2019, just four months after releasing her first video, “Getting CRUSHED in Poker – LIVE AT THE BIKE,” Marle Cordeiro’s video amassed 58,000 views, while her latest one has garnered over 39,000 views.
Between October 2018 (when she released her first video) and April 2019 (when this article was written), Marle Cordeiro has skyrocketed to a level of popularity that most poker influencers can only dream of. She is now mentioned alongside some of the most influential names in poker, continuing to enjoy substantial viewership on her YouTube channel, largely thanks to one controversial video.
