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Pocket Queens: WSOP Ladies Championship 2013
"Miss, do you think that a card room is an appropriate place for you? Does your father know that you are here?"
Binion's Poker Classic. Las Vegas, NV. June 2012.
Ah, the trials and tribulations of the female poker player. The above statement was dished out to me last summer, shortly after beating one, rather 'old-school', gentleman during a fairly standard hand where I managed to bluff him off a wet board with A high. He didn't know he'd been bluffed, but was angry that he perceived he had been out-played by a girl. Heaven forbid. I have some sympathy for our villain. Mine had been the latest in a long line of difficult positions he had found* (*read 'put') himself in and the inevitable tilt had followed. Despite this, I was intrigued as to why his frustration had manifested itself in a suggestion that a poker tournament was no place for a girl. Last time I checked, it wasn't 1950 and I am pretty sure we now even have the right to vote. The male players at the table had been given pats on the back and "nice bet" or "good job" when they had pulled the same trick.
My response? "No Sir, but my husband does and he is sitting right behind you. Perhaps you'd like to take it up with him?". Strangely, his concern for my welfare dwindled somewhat.
Now let's clarify one rather important point before we settle down. The above incident is an extreme example. When I sat down to scope the contents of my summer diary, it would have been tempting to stray into a feminist rant at how male-dominated the game is and rally for the elimination of sexist behaviour. But that would, in my opinion, be straying into dangerous territory. Creating a complaint that doesn't exist. Reclining into a self-pitying martyrdom. The vast majority of poker players judge their opponents on skill and not by chromosomes. Nonetheless, I am intrigued by the dynamics of the female game and the idea of focussing on this as a topic excited me - I could share my enthusiasm for the ladies game, whilst at the same time giving the readers a different reading matter during a blog-heavy summer of live poker.
The background to this is my involvement in the WSOP Ladies Championship 2013. I will travel to the Rio on 28 June 2013 and take my seat alongside around 900 fellow ladies (and inevitably a few men, but let's save that for Episode 2). Some will be top pros. Some will be recreational players. Some will be first-timers. All will be dreaming of bracelet glory.
Preparation is key and so I need to do my research. I start in the most obvious way I can; I type "Ladies and Poker" into the oracle that is Google. Frustratingly, the first hit brings a rather lively blog entitled "25 Hottest Female Poker Players of 2012", seeped in a clichéd array of girls either parading in their underwear or pulling provocative poses. I sigh, but soldier on, refusing to be drawn into 'that' rant. Hit number two is the Wikipedia entry entitled "List of World Series of Poker Ladies Champions". I need to widen the scope.
If we are to start this story at the very beginning, let me put the name Alice Ivers to you (or "Poker Alice" to her closest friends). Poker Alice was an Old West legend who terrorised Western American poker tables during the 1800s. Rushing from town to town, she crushed each field and is even reported to have won $6k in one single session. She was also English, having been born and raised in Devonshire.
Sadly, Alice's pioneering style was not capitalised upon and the ladies game laid dormant for many more years. Not that ladies didn't play (far from it), they just chose to do so in the comfort and privacy of their own homes.
Fast forward a couple of centuries, and we today boast a list of women who have excelled at the modern game; step forward Vanessa Rousso, Liv Boeree and Annette Obrestad. These are highly intelligent women, boasting degrees in economics, law, politics and astrophysics, who also happen to have an accumulative total of over $9m in tournament winnings.
And take a bow Vanessa Selbst. The highest earning female player of all time (around $7.4m at last count) and, regardless of gender, one of the best multi-table tournament players of the modern game. Selbst coached 2012 WSOP ME runner up Jesse Sylvia.
These are women who love the game and know how to play it. And when they win, they hail their victories all the more loudly in recognition of the less-favourable odds they beat to get there.
Like all of my fellow friends and table comrades, I love our fair game and the rush it gives each time a hand is dealt. But I am also proud to promote and encourage more ladies to dismiss their doubts and take to the tables with pride. Come join the community.
Next up; Episode Deuce - The History of the WSOP Ladies Championship
Binion's Poker Classic. Las Vegas, NV. June 2012.
Ah, the trials and tribulations of the female poker player. The above statement was dished out to me last summer, shortly after beating one, rather 'old-school', gentleman during a fairly standard hand where I managed to bluff him off a wet board with A high. He didn't know he'd been bluffed, but was angry that he perceived he had been out-played by a girl. Heaven forbid. I have some sympathy for our villain. Mine had been the latest in a long line of difficult positions he had found* (*read 'put') himself in and the inevitable tilt had followed. Despite this, I was intrigued as to why his frustration had manifested itself in a suggestion that a poker tournament was no place for a girl. Last time I checked, it wasn't 1950 and I am pretty sure we now even have the right to vote. The male players at the table had been given pats on the back and "nice bet" or "good job" when they had pulled the same trick.
My response? "No Sir, but my husband does and he is sitting right behind you. Perhaps you'd like to take it up with him?". Strangely, his concern for my welfare dwindled somewhat.
Now let's clarify one rather important point before we settle down. The above incident is an extreme example. When I sat down to scope the contents of my summer diary, it would have been tempting to stray into a feminist rant at how male-dominated the game is and rally for the elimination of sexist behaviour. But that would, in my opinion, be straying into dangerous territory. Creating a complaint that doesn't exist. Reclining into a self-pitying martyrdom. The vast majority of poker players judge their opponents on skill and not by chromosomes. Nonetheless, I am intrigued by the dynamics of the female game and the idea of focussing on this as a topic excited me - I could share my enthusiasm for the ladies game, whilst at the same time giving the readers a different reading matter during a blog-heavy summer of live poker.
The background to this is my involvement in the WSOP Ladies Championship 2013. I will travel to the Rio on 28 June 2013 and take my seat alongside around 900 fellow ladies (and inevitably a few men, but let's save that for Episode 2). Some will be top pros. Some will be recreational players. Some will be first-timers. All will be dreaming of bracelet glory.
Preparation is key and so I need to do my research. I start in the most obvious way I can; I type "Ladies and Poker" into the oracle that is Google. Frustratingly, the first hit brings a rather lively blog entitled "25 Hottest Female Poker Players of 2012", seeped in a clichéd array of girls either parading in their underwear or pulling provocative poses. I sigh, but soldier on, refusing to be drawn into 'that' rant. Hit number two is the Wikipedia entry entitled "List of World Series of Poker Ladies Champions". I need to widen the scope.
If we are to start this story at the very beginning, let me put the name Alice Ivers to you (or "Poker Alice" to her closest friends). Poker Alice was an Old West legend who terrorised Western American poker tables during the 1800s. Rushing from town to town, she crushed each field and is even reported to have won $6k in one single session. She was also English, having been born and raised in Devonshire.
Sadly, Alice's pioneering style was not capitalised upon and the ladies game laid dormant for many more years. Not that ladies didn't play (far from it), they just chose to do so in the comfort and privacy of their own homes.
Fast forward a couple of centuries, and we today boast a list of women who have excelled at the modern game; step forward Vanessa Rousso, Liv Boeree and Annette Obrestad. These are highly intelligent women, boasting degrees in economics, law, politics and astrophysics, who also happen to have an accumulative total of over $9m in tournament winnings.
And take a bow Vanessa Selbst. The highest earning female player of all time (around $7.4m at last count) and, regardless of gender, one of the best multi-table tournament players of the modern game. Selbst coached 2012 WSOP ME runner up Jesse Sylvia.
These are women who love the game and know how to play it. And when they win, they hail their victories all the more loudly in recognition of the less-favourable odds they beat to get there.
Like all of my fellow friends and table comrades, I love our fair game and the rush it gives each time a hand is dealt. But I am also proud to promote and encourage more ladies to dismiss their doubts and take to the tables with pride. Come join the community.
Next up; Episode Deuce - The History of the WSOP Ladies Championship
Natalie Bromley 17.06.2013
Comments
GET IT WON! Bring home the Bracelet!
Firstly, I'm not sure that a good response to a 'gentleman' questioning your fitness to play, because you're a lady, is to refer him to your husband. However ironically you may intend it, it just plays into the stereotype of the meek little woman. This is further enhanced by your suggestion that Selbst, Boeree, Obrestad and Russo need to "...hail their victories all the more loudly in recognition of the less-favourable odds they beat to get there." The odds are only less favourable to women if women actually have some sort of natural disadvantage. As I'm assuming that you're arguing the opposite, then we're in agreement that this is not the case. So in fact, those women are facing the same odds as every man in the tournament. If they feel they've overcome greater odds, that would seem to be a symptom of a true problem; that women feel they need to justify themselves in a card room, which I'll come to later.
Secondly, the whole "Hottest female poker players" thing is based on the reality that men like to look at women... and more beautiful women are more likely to have men looking at them. The same is true in reverse and, if you seek them out, there are lists of the "Hottest male poker players" too. Although we're talking about attractive male poker players, so it's a short list. There are similar lists and debates around actors/actresses, singers, footballers and every other segment of society. That's just how humanity works. It's not something to be exasperated by.
Thirdly, I'm not sure why we need to even consider this as an issue. This attitude that women shouldn't play poker is still held by some men but those men are in such a minority as to be an irrelevance. Their views are ridiculed and are in no way reflected in the set up or organisation of the game... or virtually anything else in western society.
I'm sure we all have experiences of unpleasant people. I myself have been abused for being English, abused for being Northern, abused for supporting the 'wrong' football team... the list goes on. The reality is that there are jerks in every walk of life but most of the time people don't let that put them off. Those attitudes are irrelevant and so we ignore them, or at least get over it pretty quickly. A card room seems to have become one of the exceptions to that, if you're a woman.
The reality is that the only thing stopping women playing and enjoying poker is the attitude, or perhaps appetite, of those women. The doors were flung open to them a long, long time ago and some of the few who have chosen to walk through those doors have been very successful, as you say. If women want to play poker, the opportunity is there for them. The environment is as sanitised as it is ever going to get. No matter how much we might want to we can never get rid of all the sexists, just as we can never get rid of all racists or homophobes. All we can do is make them such a minority, with such little influence, as to be irrelevant, then ignore those few that remain.
I think it's a big problem that so many women feel the need to justify themselves or their presence in a card room. The only people they're justifying themselves to are the very few unreasonable men out there. The rest of us are simply left thinking "Yeah, I know. You don't need to tell me".
Hey Bromley
Really nice post.
The brilliant thing about poker is everyone can play, unlike other "sports".
Gender, Age, Race etc etc have no bearing on it whatsoever.
The guy that commented too you was just a relic. You will always get the odd minority that are a bit strange.
Good luck with your Poker and time at the WSOP.
Being pretty damn average at this game, I've never really understood why some folk think women are unable to compete. However (and as ever) I find myself agreeing with Mr Loner on a lot of his points.
I have not yet worked out whether an oaf's gender-specific arrogance would help or hinder a female opponent, but I can see how it can be irritating. There can be a lot of macho spew at the tables, and maybe this is an edge these guys are exploiting? I'm sure they're trying to tilt the ladies, and playing to these stereotypes etc. It's clear you have the game and no reason to prove otherwise.
Best of luck in Vegas, cracking read, well written.
Best of luck in Vegas, I look forward to reading instalment two.
JOKES!!!
Nah, good posts from Natalie and Borin, GL in Vegas!
Natalie,
If I may say so, that is a wonderfully presented & composed piece of writing, thank you.
I don't agree with all of it, but you make a great case.
I don't intend to debate a matter that neither party can win, but it does grieve me that so many people diss so many factions in poker - Ladies, Seniors, Live Poker & Live poker players generally, Online players.
What IS the matter with everyone, dissing & mocking anything & everything? What sort of life must they lead to be so down on everything & everyone?
Folks, be they Ladies, Old Peeps, or just regular people, LOVE playing poker. I'm at a loss to understand why that means they are subjected to so much mocking by so many.
Anyway, great piece, please write more, you have a great hidden talent there. (Oh, & maybe talk less.....).
See you next week, yeah?
xx