Ana Marquez Retakes Control of Her Life During a Long Break From Poker

Mar 11, 2016

Ana Marquez

“I have a life right now,” Ana Marquez said, with what almost sounded like a sigh of relief.

We found Marquez – one of the most successful women in poker over the last six years – playing the €340 WPT Vienna Warm Up event, where she looked to regain something she’d lost over the years of grinding almost 24/7.

“I’m almost 30-years old, and my entire twenties it’s been poker, poker, poker,” Marquez said in a way that’s so indicative of her personality.

Marquez’s eyes dart around the room while words fly out of her mouth at 100 miles an hour, explaining why she decided to take a long break from playing poker as intensively as she’d been doing since 2009.

“I decided to take a break because I’ve been playing poker for a very long time and very intensively. When I wasn’t playing online I was playing live, going from city to city. That obviously takes a toll on you and your health. It’s important to have a place to be grounded and I just needed some peace. For a while I thought that I wanted to explore new things – and maybe even quit poker – but I wasn’t sure at the time,” Marquez said.

Marquez recorded just three live tournament cashes in the last two years, while prior to that she cashed in 45 tournaments since 2009. The number 7 on the Spanish all-time money list has more than a million dollars in live tournament earnings, her best result being a victory on the Hollywood Poker Open in Las Vegas back in 2013.

Considering Quitting Poker

“I volunteered for a while, and looked into going back to doing something with history and economics, which is what I studied in school,” Marquez said about what she focused on during her break.

With degrees in both economics and history from the American University in Washington D.C. – a well respected private school – Marquez has plenty of flexibility in life if she were to focus on a more traditional career path, but her passion for poker didn’t wane when she was on hiatus.

“On my break I was juggling ideas and taking a lot more care of myself, doing lots of meditation, yoga and getting into a more spiritual life, trying to become a bit more centered. At that point I even thought about quitting poker completely,” Marquez admitted.

After a brief pause she continued, “The second quitting crossed my mind I freaked out. I mean really, I love poker so much and I think I was burnt out more than anything. My initial two-month break wasn’t enough, but now I’m back and I want to balance my life a bit more. My mistake has been that I was pushing myself too hard,” Marquez said.

“I have to admit that it was a lot of fun and I loved every minute of it – but as much as poker is my passion and my life there are so many more things in the world to see and to explore. I don’t want to dedicate my whole life to one thing anymore.”

Taking it Slow

Presently Marquez wants to take it slow. With less travel – and a stronger home base – she’s getting back into the grind little by little in a more balanced way. However, looking back she admits that the period of traveling around the world full time was best period of her life.

“I don’t regret anything. I loved it, and I’m very proud of what I’ve been able to accomplish. Especially because I’ve given up so much to get to that point I’m very proud of myself. I think I can accomplish a lot more, but let’s take it one step at a time. The way I’m living my life is beautiful, and that’s all that matters right now.”

As Marquez tested the waters with some online cash games she however quickly realized that this wouldn’t be her main focus.

“I’m a fish there now,” Marquez laughed, “Live is more profitable for me, I’m just trying to see what suits me the best. I’m not trying to make the same mistakes again. I would love to be back on the international circuit, and I really love the grind, but I have see how I can do it without crushing myself again.”

Marquez went deeper into the massive amounts of variance in poker, and with realizing that she admitted that the high stakes live tournament might not be for her right now.

“If I start playing big tournaments again I want to be able to put in a lot of volume. That’s tricky, because then we go back to where we started,” Marquez cautiously said about falling back into what made her live a life without balance.

Ana Marquez 1
Ana as a bounty during the Bay 101 Shooting Stars event in 2014

A Changed Outlook on Life

Another sign of her changed outlook on life – and some regained perspective – comes forward when she discusses connecting with people outside of poker.

“The exciting thing though is that I’ve met some more people outside of poker, girls especially. I’m super happy about that, but it’s not like I’m focusing on that. I think that most people outside of poker still see me as a little neurotic,” Marquez laughed loudly.

“I still hang out with poker players a lot,” the 2013 European Poker Award Leading Lady, said, “It’s funny, because I think I’ve done more poker theory in this past year than I’ve ever done in my life. I wasn’t playing, but I was around poker constantly.”

While poker seems to have regained Marquez’s main focus in life, she weary of its pitfalls even more so. This is what she said when we asked her if she still feels like she belongs in the world of poker.

“This is a problem I’m having right now to be honest,” Marquez reflected, “When I first started getting into the poker community – and the tournament community in particular – I really loved it. I thought it was really fun to have a community of people that are all really close to each other, but with the years I’ve seen a lot of nasty stuff in poker.”

“It’s also part of what made me want to get out of it a little bit. Because of poker I think that my perspective on life was very closed. All the people I was hanging out with were looking into the same direction, and I really didn’t like that. I like people that are open to more different things, but I do think that the poker community is who am I – I feel comfortable in it and I love it, it’s where my life is – but I don’t defend it as much as I used to.”

With a full calendar of events to pick from Marquez looks to make better decisions to keep her life in balance. The biggest change with the Ana Marquez of the past is that she’s more aware of who she is and what she wants, and that’s not something you can put a price on.

“I exercise regularly now, I hang out with my friends, I go to the movies, and I do normal stuff. It’s as simple as that. I have a life now.”

Ana Marquez will be in contention tomorrow again on Day 1c of the WPT Vienna Warm Up event after busting two bullets on Day 1a. While the Marquez from 2013 would’ve probably re-entered on Day 1b, the Marquez from 2016 opted to take a day off but she will be back for more at the Montesino in Vienna.

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