Iron Duke Poker made headlines on Tuesday in the online poker world by announcing the signing of Jennifer “Jennicide” Leigh. The 24 year-old online poker beauty has become a mainstream celebrity, posing for FHM Online in 2007 and Playboy Magazine two months ago. Primarily an internet player, Jennifer Leigh will become the newest face of the Merge Gaming site. She has one of the most recognizable screen names online and one of the most recognizable faces live, which should help push Ironduke.com into the spotlight sooner rather than later.
Leigh put herself and the entire online poker world on the map by posing in the May, 2008 edition of Playboy Magazine. She is the only poker player that I can name who has bared it all in that periodical. She told a popular gaming forum in an interview: “You take your clothes off and you’re naked and in front of the camera. Playboy was actually very comfortable. I’m not really a shy girl, so it wasn’t hard for me.” Her appearance in Hugh Hefner’s magazine squashed the age-old misconception that online poker was purely a male-dominated sport.
She launched her modeling career one year before gracing the pages of Playboy. In 2007, she appeared scantily-clad in FHM Online. She told the magazine that she isn’t afraid of her poker career drying up: “I’m very lucky—as a female with breasts, I rarely have to pick up a tab. But there’s more to me than my ability to stay up all night and play poker. I have the personality and the looks where I can do other things with my career.”
In the 2006 World Series of Poker, Leigh finished 18th in the $1,000 no limit rebuy tournament (Event #34), cashing for $16,832. She also cashed for $13,500 in the World Poker Tour’s PokerStars Caribbean Adventure during Season IV as well as $15,530 in the Legends of Poker event during Season V. Combined, those two finishes earned her $29,030.
At the age of 24, Leigh is still contemplating her future. She commented in her blog in June, “The beauty of my play is that I am a modernized chameleon. I can’t even graduate from a college because growing up I wanted a degree in everything. Having to decide on a specific course of ‘studies’ always terrified me. I would often pose the question, should I focus my energy on mathematics, arts, science or expert cooking, sewing, and sportsmanship?” She excels at playing the piano, clarinet, and even softball. Her love of all things computers, including World of Warcraft (or WoW as it’s commonly referred to), is well-documented.
Iron Duke boasts a $20,000 Guaranteed tournament every Sunday that has a buy-in of just $60. Over $200,000 in monthly guarantees is on the line every week on the online poker room. I would expect promotions surrounding Leigh’s arrival at Iron Duke as well. Other rooms on the network include Carbon Poker, Spin32Poker, and Rumble Poker.
Congratulations to Leigh for her new deal with Iron Duke Poker. We’ll update you on this breaking story as more information becomes available.
