The times in which women have solely been used as eye candy at poker tournaments have gone quite a while ago.   Although some poker sites may still use women as eye candy in their advertisements to get attention, we have had some exceptional results of female players lately that highlighted their skill at the tables instead of merely being in the background.

Let's take Melanie Weisner for example, the American has recently signed a contract with Lock Poker and joins Kevin Vandersmissen, Chris Moorman, Jason Young, Jared Hubbard, and Tim “Tmay420” West. She was Chipleader after Day 2 at EPT Copenhagen and even though she fell short in 28th place, she is looking promising. Weisner has been mentioned several times as one of the potential hot shots and despite a few deep runs, her big score is missing yet, but seems not too far in her future.

Her fellow Lock team member Leo Margets from Spain was the last women in the WSOP Main Event in 2009 and finished in a very respectable 27th place.

Last summer, Maria Ho became the woman with the single largest cash at a Stateside WSOP event with her runner-up finish at the 2011 WSOP $5k No-Limit Hold’em event for $540,000.

If you ask poker players about the currently best female player on the circuit, many will mention Vanessa Selbst for a reason. Her massive 1st place score for 1.3 Million Euros at the Partouche Poker Tour Main Event 2010 will grab your attention. Besides that she won a Bracelet back in 2008 in an open Pot Limit Omaha Event and has two NAPT championship titles back to back under her belt. Most recently, she came 3rd in the Doyle Brunson Five Diamond World Poker Classic in December 2011 for $ 338,351 and won a $5,100 Event at the L.A. Poker Classic last month Heads-Up against WSOP Champion Jonathan Duhamel, bringing her into the top five tournament players in the world in the Global Poker Index.

Erika Moutinho was already a consultant and life coach for poker players, when she boosted her own play in the WSOP Main event 2011.  Her and her partner David "Doc" Sands managed to get to Day 7 of the WSOP Main Event 2011, and were even at the same table for a while.  Erika's 29th place for $ 242,636 was her biggest score up to date and the story made a perfect fit for the poker media.

Liv Boeree took down the EPT San Remo Main Event back in 2010 for € 1,250,000 and has added further results to her poker bio, both online and live since that time.

Another perfect example for the increasing results of female players on the live circuit is Canadian Xuan Liu. She almost repeated the female victory at San Remo one year after Liv Boeree but eventually finished 3rd for € 360,000 and another deep run at the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure (PCA) Main Event earlier this year saw her walking away with sweet $ 600,000 after she finished in 4th place.

As of right now, Kathy Liebert is still the Number One in the Women's All Time Money List, but this may not last for long if Vanessa Selbst keeps up her impressive pace in the last few years.

As you can see, females have more to offer than just being eye candy at the poker tables and even though most men and media appreciate a nice view, women are becoming a force to be reckoned and should not be underestimated.

The next female victory in a major live poker event is around the corner, who would be your guess for the next champion?