For someone who now wears the title of BetMGM Ambassador and has a growing YouTube channel and dedicated audience, Abby Merk’s first steps into poker weren’t exactly part of a master plan.
Coming from an Italian-Midwestern family that played cards regularly – gin rummy, euchre, you name it – cards were already in her blood. Poker just happened to be the next chapter.
It was right before COVID, she recalls. I kind of got lucky to get into it just because, obviously, when the world shuts down, you kind of have nothing to do.
But it wasn’t boredom alone that got her shuffling chips. It was actually a former mentor and boss named Jenny who nudged her in that direction and saw poker as a tool, especially for women.
“She told me to actually get into poker. She was like, I feel like poker is a really good outlet to teaching women skills that their male counterparts have already learned,” Merk explains.
Risk-taking, money management, negotiation… all these things poker helps with. Men were doing it naturally in frat houses, and women weren’t practicing those skills.
Of course, this was just the first inkling of any idea, but that grew into an obsession that Merk nurtured into a career.
Initially, she played small-stakes tournaments. “Nothing crazy. Little $20 early birds,” she says, laughing. “But I’m too competitive to half-ass something like that. I realized I needed to get better.”
And that’s exactly what she did. From late-night games in Chicago to learning basic strategy, Merk found herself slowly pulled into the game, not just as a pastime but as something more meaningful.
Utilizing Poker as a Pathway to a New Life
While poker became a growing obsession, Merk’s shift into content creation was anything but calculated. “Honestly, it was completely accidental,” she admits.
After leaving her finance job as an options trader, she struggled to find new work. “The job market was ass,” she says bluntly. “I was extremely qualified and still couldn’t land anything.”
So she played poker. A lot.
At that time, I still had a ton of work to do, but everyone around me was worse, and that’s kind of what you need sometimes.
A few thousand in tournament winnings from local games turned out to be her unintentional bridge to a new life.
At the same time, she leaned into the content world almost out of necessity. She taught women how to play poker through Poker Power, a company dedicated to empowering women with skills such as confidence, strategic thinking, and risk-taking through gameplay rather than mere gambling.
Merk helped manage their social media accounts and began to share her journey on her own platforms.
Not a lot of people know that. But I had that experience. So, when an opportunity arose to create content at WSOP, I jumped on it.
That first summer at the World Series of Poker? She barely played. “I played like three or four tournaments. I was mostly just ripping content and building connections,” she says. “It was more important at the time because I knew the stakes weren’t there for me yet.”
That hustle turned into real momentum. A job at PokerNews led to gigs with other companies. And slowly, she began building a personal brand – one that had nothing to do with chasing bracelets and everything to do with being real.
“I had to overcome a lot to even get respect at the table”
Despite being surrounded by an industry hyper-focused on winning, Merk’s ambitions don’t revolve around titles or making a million at the tables. “Funny enough, that was never my goal,” she says. “Money will come when everything else is in place.”
For her, poker is a platform – and not just for herself. “I had to overcome a lot to even get respect at the table,” she says, referencing the ongoing challenges women face in the game. “I still fight for that. Especially for women and people who aren’t represented properly.”
So what does success look like for her?
Making people laugh, letting them feel something. That’s always been what I’m about. All my content comes from that place.
And the content she is producing is growing her audience by the day.
Even now, with the WSOP looming, her focus isn’t on cashes or rankings – it’s on growth. “This is the first summer I’m actually playing poker full-time,” she says. “Every other year, content came first. Now, I’m grinding.”
Her short-term goal? It’s not to cash for six figures or win trophies, though that would be nice. It’s about being process-focused rather than being goal-focused.
She wants to build confidence in her own decision-making at the table.
I want to be able to justify my plays with a clear thought process. That’s really it. It’s not about who I’m up against – it’s about me being at peace with the choices I make.
A Simple Mission Statement
Merk’s new role as a BetMGM ambassador marks a major milestone – but again, it wasn’t just about the brand recognition or perks. It came down to values.
When I was thinking about which company to partner with, what mattered to me was who I’d be working with and their mission. BetMGM wasn’t just trying to do short-term wins. They care about players. They listen. And they believed in me.
She’s not new to traveling – “I was home for 14 days total last year,” she says, deadpan – but she’s finally found stability in the chaos. “It’s not about getting to travel more. It’s about working with people who are aligned with my goals, who actually understand what makes this game special: the people behind it.”
For 2025, her ambitions remain grounded but impactful. “I want to do something that has meaning,” she says. “I don’t want my legacy in poker to be just ‘Hey guys, come gamble.’ That’s never been what this is about for me.”
And that brings us full circle to what might be the simplest – but most honest – mission statement anyone in poker has offered: “I just want to make people smile.”
