Marle Cordeiro’s poker vlog is a polarizing mix of dark humor, poker lifestyle commentary, and hand analysis.
The 27-year-old cash game player has undeniably grabbed the attention of the poker community since launching the vlog in September, finding both fans and detractors of her satirical style.
The vlog takes us through Marle’s adventures on the Las Vegas cash game scene, often taking turns between twisted comedy and strategy discussion.
Let’s take a look at this new YouTube sensation:
Marle Cordeiro introduces herself as a full-time cash game player, who moved to Las Vegas for a fresh start and to be closer to her father. She started playing in local $1/$2 games as a part-time hobby and is now pursuing the poker dream of grinding full time.
She’s also now going after her longtime goal of creating a poker vlog, and her YouTube channel has grown to over 20k subscribers in just 3 months.
Marle’s “Looking For a Poker Pro Boyfriend” entry sparked much discussion in the poker media and on Twitter:
We haven’t really seen anything quite like what Marle is doing in the world of poker vlogs, and in the last three months she’s appeared on Friday Night Poker (on PokerGO), Live at the Bike, and as a guest on several poker podcasts.
She’s been the subject of controversy in the poker community, with the vlog really starting to gain traction after catching the attention of Joey Ingram.
Some of poker’s biggest names have weighed in with opinions on Cordeiro’s content, with much of that sentiment coming in response to this tweet from Ingram. The video in the tweet features a skit from the vlog that sees Corderio begging on the street, getting a job as a stripper and soliciting men at a casino in an effort to get money to play poker:
Ingram’s tweet invited a wide range of responses in the poker community, with Jamie Kerstetter and Justin Bonomo among those who chimed in:
A typical entry from Marle features a comedic introduction, but also plenty of hand analysis and introspection about life as a cash game grinder. She’s currently climbing the stakes ladder and mostly playing in Las Vegas, with occasional travel for games in Los Angeles, Reno and Arizona.
She’s also establishing herself as a unique female personality in the game, and while not all of the feedback for Marle’s vlog has been positive, she’s definitely finding ways to stand out in a world saturated with poker content.
Even Daniel Negreanu has seen the vlog, as we find out from this clip from Cordeiro’s session on Friday Night Poker:
That Halloween session from Friday Night Poker is one of the most memorable from 2018 and features Marle mixing it up in a couple of hands with Kelly Minkin, one of poker’s most successful and popular female players.
Kelly stopped by for an episode of Joey Ingram’s podcast shortly after the session and the topic of Marle Cordeiro came up. The two discuss Marle’s vlog for several minutes, with Kelly expressing mixed feelings:
Kelly praises the vlog for being funny and well-made, but also questions whether the content is detrimental to female poker players.
“The women that are well-respected poker players worked hard for that,” Kelly says in the podcast. “And so it seems regressive to joke about it. I’m not saying it’s not funny, or I’m upset with her; I question whether she understands where that route is going to take her.”
By episode 8 of the vlog Marle is well aware of her critics and fires back at some of the negative feedback from Kelly Minkin, Justin Bonomo, and even Joe Ingram, who she felt was trying to instigate a feud between Minkin and Cordeiro with some of the discussion from the podcast.
In this entry, Cordeiro contends that her content isn’t intended to be detrimental toward female players, but rather is a commentary on the way female poker players are perceived:
“I can’t remember the last time that people were talking about women in poker as much as they are now,” Marle says. “One of my most popular videos was; I created this fictional, exaggerated sketch of me going around trying to get a poker stake, and various ways of me trying to get money to play poker.”
“Since I started playing poker, that has been the stereotype that I’ve been faced with,” Marle continues. “That for so long women have had to fight against the stereotype in poker, and in most industries. That if we are crushing, especially at a high level, playing high stakes, that it’s assumed that we got there by means other than our talent, or moving up the ranks, or studying.”
“The only thing I was trying to accomplish with those sketches was to create this kind of exaggerated, satirical version of what everyone thinks women in poker do. My hope was that you would see those kind of exaggerated, ridiculous skits and kind of laugh at the fact that this is what people think women do. It’s absurd.”
Marle has since appeared on an episode of Joey’s podcast and continues to produce content for the vlog. It will certainly be interesting to follow Marle’s journey as a poker player and content creator, and see if she finds longevity as one of the game’s prominent female players.
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