Leo Margets, alias LeoMargets
Her talent burst onto the scene in 2009, when she finished 27th in the world's biggest poker tournament, the 2009 World Series of Poker Main Event. Double recognition came in 2021, with induction into the Spanish Poker Hall of Fame and a World Champion bracelet. But the best remained to come with, in 2025, another deep run in the WSOP Main Event and a final table run celebrated by the entire poker world. An accomplished speaker and sportswoman, the Catalan with more than $3 million in live earnings is the epitome of the all-round player, capable of exporting her talents beyond the boundaries of poker.
Becoming the first female professional poker player to be recognised and mediatised within Spain was not the fate that Leo Margets had imagined would be hers in the least, having played her first games of Texas Hold’em in 2006. “I never thought that I was going to make a career out of poker! However, I was so fascinated by this game that all I wanted to do was improve and get better. Thus, I became a professional player… but that was never my initial intention.”
Leo was 22 years old when she first discovered poker: she didn’t know it yet, but this game would turn out to be the perfect solution for her state of mind at the time. “I didn’t know what I was going to do. I graduated in London, and then started to travel, alone, which was the best learning curve for me.” Having spent four months in South America and six months in Australia, Leo completed a Masters in Management and Communications, and began working for the prestigious IMG agency, a leading sports management firm. This was when poker made its entrance: thanks to a great deal of passion, hard work, and a bit of luck, Leo soon became a rising star.
“Timing truly is fundamental”, she recalls in retrospect. A victory in a university tournament in Barcelona lead to a few articles and an initial sponsorship contract. The 2009 edition of the World Series of Poker approaches and Leo has one thing on her mind: flying off to Vegas. “Everybody was getting ready to leave, except for me! I only had a small contract. I begged them and they replied “No way”, so I begged some more. Just as I was preparing to give up on the idea, they said “OK”. I had never been happier!”
Once arrived in Vegas, Leo Margets took part in the best tournament in the world, the WSOP Main Event. Having registered amidst 6,943 other competitors, she ended her incredible stint with a 27th place finish, the highest finish by a female player that year. The kind of win that changes one’s perspective. “After the Main Event, my attitude changed in regards to poker. I started to focus 100% on my game.”
Having returned to Spain, Leo’s performance brought in the media’s attention. She was nothing like the image that people had of professional poker players. “There are few women in the poker world, and my profile went against all the standard clichés of smoky underground games, with people drinking whisky and losing their cars.”
Leo spent the following years hopping from tournament to tournament and picking up scores: one final table in Australia, a victory in the Full Tilt Masters Series in Spain for €100,000, a Ladies title in Monte Carlo, a second place finish in the WSOP Double Stack in 2018... And then comes this exceptional year of 2021, when the Barcelona native is inducted into the very first class of the Spanish Poker Hall of Fame, alongside her teammate Adrián Mateos. A foretaste before the apotheosis to come.
Arriving in Las Vegas in early November due to the US travel ban, Leo scored another deep run in the WSOP Main Event before realising every player’s dream: winning a World Championship bracelet in the $1,500 Closer for the biggest payout of her career, $376,850. The title of perseverance, earned after a rollercoaster tournament and final. “I see a million differences between the young woman I was in 2009 and today", she said after her win. I'm much calmer, much less anxious. What makes me feel better is that in 2021 I still have the same drive to win that I had then, and I think the day I lose that drive is the day I'll quit poker.
And you know what? Leo Margets is not about to stop playing poker! She took advantage of the 2025 WSOP to achieve the greatest performance of her career: 7th place in the Main Event, good for $1,500,000, and media coverage to match, with the cameras of Inside the Mind of a Pro following her every step of the way on this exceptional journey. “It was crazy! I lived my dream, the dream of every poker player. Well, I would have liked to play one last day, but I can't complain." This achievement rewards years of hard work for this jack-of-all-trades, sometimes an Expresso specialist, sometimes an Omaha expert, “the perfect mix of skill and variance.” And a soon-to-be TV star!
Although her stint on ‘Supervivientes’ (the Spanish version of Survivor) in 2014 was fairly brief, in 2023 she won the ‘Traitors España’ TV show as a Loyale, alongside Joana Pastrana, a professional boxer. Proof, if proof were needed, that the Catalan is capable of operating in all fields and adapting to all her opponents, whoever they may be.
Leo is convinced: poker, through its various psychological and mathematical notions, can help people make better decisions in everyday life. Work, negotiations, relationships, handling pressure, risk factors: these are a few of the subjects that were touched on in a book published in 2017 (¡Juega bien tus cartas!: En la vida y en los negocios) and through various conferences, seminars and workshops animated by this passionate speaker in companies and big sports names, such as Sauber, the F1 team. “Life also has variance! You must not be obsessed with results: you must be obsessed with getting better.” Every day a little more!
Updated on 20th November 2025
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Live tournament accomplishments07/2025 WSOP Main Event $10,000 - Las Vegas 7th ($1,500,000) 06/2025 WSOP Millionaire Maker $1,500 - Las Vegas 23rd ($61,240) 01/2025 WSOPC High Roller MAD20,000 - Marrakech 4th (MAD510,000) 09/2023 MILLIONS Malta High Roller €5,300 - St. Julian’s 6th (€14,784) 09/2023 Winamax Poker Open Main Event €500 - Bratislava 7th (€12,300) 04/2023 European Poker Tour FPS Cup €550 - Monte Carlo 5th (€28,140) 11/2021 World Series of Poker The Closer $1,500 - Las Vegas Winner ($376,850) 11/2021 World Series of Poker Main Event $10,000 - Las Vegas 452th ($26,700) 07/2018 The Wynn Summer Classic Side Event $550 - Las Vegas 2th ($31,946) 07/2018 WSOP Double Stack $1,000 - Las Vegas 2th ($123,297) 08/2017 PS Festival Main Event €1,100 - Marbella 3th (€72,000) 12/2010 Full Tilt Master Series - Lloret de Mar Winner (€100,000) 11/2010 Spanish Poker Tour Invitational - Lloret de Mar Winner (€15,000) 05/2010 Spanish Poker Tour €1,100 - Ibiza 3th (€20,200) 01/2010 Aussie Millions 6-max AU$2,200 - Melbourne 3th (AU$54,270) 08/2009 Full Tilt Poker Series €1,650 - Malaga 6th (€11,000) 07/2009 World Series of Poker Main Event $10,000 - Las Vegas 27th ($352,832) -
Tournament accomplishments on Winamax11/2023 Mystery KO €250 4th (€739) 09/2023 Winamax Series 8-max Championship €250 2nd (€21,582) 04/2023 Mystery KO €50 3rd (€2,651) 08/2022 Trilogy €50 7th (€6,499) 04/2022 Winamax Series 6-max Monster Stack Championship €250 7th (€4,047) 09/2021 Winamax Series Heads-up Championship €250 7th (€1,832) 04/2021 Winamax Series - Event #119 (€100) 8th (€3,269) 04/2021 HIGHROLLER €250 8th (€1,708) 02/2021 XTREM €100 3th (€1,745) 02/2021 XTREM €100 5th (€1,160) 02/2021 BATTLE ROYALE €200 5th (€2,015) 01/2020 Winamax Series - Event #167 (€250) 14th (€2,038) 01/2020 BATTLE ROYALE €200 4th (€1,964) 12/2019 BATTLE ROYALE €200 8th (€1,382) 09/2019 BATTLE ROYALE €200 Winner (€6,500) 09/2019 Winamax Series - Event #137 (€250) 12th (€1,642) 04/2019 Winamax Series - Event #111 (€100) 8th (€1,159) 04/2019 Winamax Series - Event #108 (€250) 3th (€5,331) 12/2018 XTREM €100 4th (€3,096) 07/2018 XTREM €100 2nd (€1,051)
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