When the poker boom first happened, women in poker seemed to be a bit of a novelty. Poker was considered a man’s game, so female players like Annie Duke, Jennifer Harman, Kathy Liebert and Clonie Gowen seemed like nothing more than a novelty. However, as the poker world gained more scrutiny, it quickly became apparent that these women were just as talented, if not more so, than many of their male competitors. As poker has found its way into the mainstream, a new “novelty” has arisen: talented, very attractive, young female players.

Women in Poker: Tiffany Michelle

Tiffany Michelle started out as a poker commentator, collecting interviews for Bluff Magazine and PokerNews.com. She achieved notoriety when she finished 17th in the 2008 World Series of Poker, not showing off the best side of her personality as she became the last woman standing, although not the woman who has finished highest in World Series of Poker history.

Women in Poker: Liv Boeree

Another young player who is as beautiful as she is talented, Boeree recently achieved notice for going deep in the $25,000 WPT World Championship at the Bellagio. A former model and physics student, she was “discovered” by the Ultimatepoker.com Showdown reality show, where she was coached by a number of professional players. She took up the game in earnest and is now well known as both a player and commentator for poker. She won the Ladbrokes European Ladies Championship in 2008.

Women in Poker: Maria Ho

Yet another beautiful young female poker player, Maria jumped into the public eye when she was the last female standing in the 2007 World Series of Poker main event. She started playing poker in 2002 in San Diego during college and has not looked back since. She recently participated in the Dream Team poker tournament with two other young poker babes, Tiffany Michelle and Lacey Jones.

While some people may feel that these women may have an advantage at the poker table in their ability to distract opponents, those who have played with them will tell you that it is their actual skills at poker that is most distracting and most likely to win them the chips.