World Poker Tour anchor Lynn Gilmartin shares how the game is changing on the Gold Coast
Aussie actor Lynn Gilmartin is a rare female presence on the world poker tour - and with long strawberry blonde locks, big blue eyes and sweet smile under-estimate her at your peril.
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She’s just a girl, sitting at a poker table, begging you to underestimate her.
With her long strawberry blonde locks, big blue eyes and sweet smile, Lynn Gilmartin knows exactly how to play her cards.
And as one of few female professional poker players, she’s betting prejudice and assumptions will be her aces.
After making her name as a World Poker Tour anchor, then finding success as an actress after moving to the Gold Coast, Ms Gilmartin is an expert when it comes to human psychology.
So she knows first-hand how women can be misjudged, especially when it comes to poker.
“It used to trigger me how much I was underestimated because I’m a woman, but now I absolutely love it because I know how to use it,” said Ms Gilmartin, who was inducted into the Australian Poker Hall of Fame in 2020.
“If I see a man underestimating me, I’ll play right up to that prejudice, go ahead and think I’m just a pretty face and see where it gets you. There is nothing more satisfying than seeing the look on their face when they see how well you play a hand.
“If you’re judging people based on whatever bias you have, you’re not going to play correctly because you’re not seeing what’s really happening. It’s just a wonderful mirror of life and a great rehearsal space to figure out where you should probably tweak some things within yourself.”
But it was Ms Gilmartin’s intuitive ability to take a punt and back herself that launched a life-changing career with the World Poker Tour, the international gaming and entertainment brand.
The year-round WPT television show is broadcast globally in more than 150 countries and territories, with Ms Gilmartin the anchor since 2013.
Born in Ireland but growing up in Melbourne, Ms Gilmartin said she always dreamt of being an actor but lost confidence due to bullying, instead pursuing a career in marketing – until her first job at the Crown Casino introduced her to poker.
“I was so excited to have that first job. I still remember the first time I walked through a poker room, I knew nothing about it, I was just getting a tour of the gaming floor. It was just a normal Wednesday afternoon and they pointed to one table in the corner and there was a whole house-worth of money on that table. I just thought, wow.
“I would often be in the poker room, but I never played – as a casino employee you weren’t allowed – but when my boss wanted to start a YouTube channel, I put my hand up.
“Back then, no one really knew what YouTube was and so there was no budget for it, but as an aspiring actor and performer my whole life, I was more than happy to host the video, I knew I could do it.
“My very first interview was with Shane Warne in that poker room. We would make videos when there were big celebrity events and I would interview the players and we used that to spread the word of what’s happening down here in Australia, to tell the world that the game is popular here too.
“That just snowballed. I ended up leaving and working for an online channel called Poker News and I was travelling all around the world at 24 years old, going to Vegas, Macau, all through Europe and Latin America, it was amazing.
“That job taught me so much about content production and led me to my role now with the World Poker Tour, which has been life changing.”
As her career progressed and she began interviewing some of the best players in the world, Ms Gilmartin decided she needed to learn how to play the game so she could speak the language of poker.
In 2009, she played her first game in Las Vegas and she hasn’t stopped playing, or learning, since.
“At first it was daunting because there is a lot to learn,” she said.
“But I have fallen so deeply in love with this game because there is so much value in it. Being a female poker player, the experience of sitting at a table that’s filled with men, you have this eight-hour session to challenge them – just as they will challenge you.
“It's a real reflection of a boardroom and you can take what you learn at the table into any industry – you learn how to trust your instincts, how to read someone else, how to determine whether someone is trustworthy, when to bet on yourself, when to let it go and how to handle making mistakes or losing in front of people.
“That’s why I love the game. I love the social element, the performance, the psychology … it’s a real microcosm of culture.
“It’s still such a male-dominated sport, at WPT events only five to 10 per cent of players are female, but I would love to see women get more involved – there is a real gap there and still plenty of prejudice to exploit.”
Ms Gilmartin said just as women players were underestimated, so too was the game of poker itself.
However, she said change was slowly happening, as both were becoming more recognised.
“Poker should be aligned with chess. People lump it in with baccarat and roulette, but it’s a game of skill that takes endurance and strategy.
“Just because it’s in a casino and uses the same tools as games of chance, it’s never really put in that more cerebral category.
“But what’s great is that there is now this group in the States, Poker Power, that is doing such an amazing job at teaching young women the rules of the game to empower them in male-dominated spaces and to teach them these male-dominated skills – and they are doing it in universities and classrooms.
“It’s really changing the appearance of the game and actually represents it more accurately, and it’s also empowering women with negotiation, math, finance skills … all areas where women are often overlooked.
“The interesting thing is that the game changes depending on who you’re playing it with, so seeing more women will help it keep evolving – and that’s another reason that poker deserves more credit.
“You literally never stop learning. I’m still learning, my husband is still learning, the best in the world are still learning. So come learn it.”
Speaking of her husband, professional poker player and World Poker Tour Mexico commentator Angel Guillén, Ms Gilmartin said she owed the game for her marriage and her family as well.
She said the pair fell in love after meeting at various poker events around the world and had been together for 14 years.
While she had visited the Gold Coast multiple times for WPT events at The Star Gold Coast, it was her passion for acting that ultimately led her to make the city the new base for her family.
“I always wanted to be an actor, so when I joined the World Poker Tour and they moved me over to Los Angeles that was like a literal dream come true.
“But it was a hard slog trying to break into the film and TV scene there, I was there for 10 years and then I booked a film in Australia just as Covid was kicking off.
“The film was called This Little Love of Mine and we shot it up in Far North Queensland, in Palm Cove, but we had to take a repatriation flight from the States to Australia, do the two-week quarantine, but we figured everything would settle down after filming.
“Once we wrapped, we were going to see my family in Melbourne but then the borders started closing, so we decided to stay in Queensland for a bit and came down to the Gold Coast.
“I had been here before but never thought of it as a place to live, but suddenly I was seeing it with new eyes. It was like falling in love. We booked an Airbnb in Burleigh and after two weeks, we decided to live here.
“I felt like it had all of the good elements that Los Angeles has without some of the uglier sides. And then once we moved here, I just started working on film after film.
“I spent 10 years grinding away in Los Angeles and could barely get an audition, then I came to Australia and my acting work has been constant, really, for the last five years. It’s just been another dream come true.”
Appearing on shows including Neighbours and Dive Club, and films like Sleeping Dogs, starring Russell Crowe, Ms Gilmartin said her careers in poker and acting were complementary.
She said it was surprising how many skills were transferable between the jobs.
“I love to sort of take on a character at the table, you can just play up subtle little shifts, you know play a little more risky, or play a little more conservative, using different characters that reflect how you’re feeling in the moment,” she said.
“But also, the ability to read other people and being aware of how you handle things are valuable skills to bring to scripts and rehearsals.”
From poker at The Star, to a burgeoning film and television industry and family-friendly environment, Ms Gilmartin said the Gold Coast offered an unbeatable hand.
She said the birth of their four-year-old son Bodhi only reinforced their decision to live here.
“I’ve been so fortunate to be able to reduce my travel since we had Bodhi, and having the Star right here has been great as well, so now I just travel maybe four times a year internationally,” she said.
“Bodhi was born here and I am so grateful that we get to raise him here. This is just the most magnificent place to raise a family.”
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