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Pocket Queens: Episode Deuce - The History of the WSOP Ladies Championship
"Poker is one of the only sports where a woman can compete on totally equal footing with a man, so I don't understand why there's a ladies-only tournament"
Annie Duke, Poker Player Alliance Testimony, 21 July 2010
The date is Friday 6 May 1977. The time is 12.00 noon. The setting is Binion's, Las Vegas. Why is this significant? Because it was at this moment that the WSOP Ladies Championship was born.
There is a legend attached to that inaugural game, a niggling little rumour that the Ladies was shoehorned into the WSOP schedule to give the wives and girlfriends something to do. The rumour has never been admitted or denied, primarily because poker records did not exist in the 1970's, but instead it was buried in the archives of poker folklore (just to the left of another legend that Richard Nixon used his lucrative Hold'em hobby to bankroll his election campaign).
We don't even know how many runners Jackie Daniels beat that day. All we know is that she made history. She paid the lowest buy-in in WSOP history at just $100. When she took down first prize, she cashed-in just $5,580, the lowest prize-pool in WSOP history. She was also crowned the first ever WSOP Ladies Champion.
In 1992, WSOP organisers upped the ante. Sure, the event had always been a 'bracelet event', however numbers were low; just 110 players had entered the previous year. The decision was made to increase the buy-in to $1,000. I can see your bemused expressions at this somewhat eccentric tactic, but the increased buy-in gave the event kudos and the branding of a real 'championship event'. This in turn attracted the attention of the top female pros from across the Globe.
Then came the breakthrough. In 2005 the format of the event was changed from Stud to pure No-Limit Hold'em. Bingo. The Ladies game caught up with the Moneymaker poker boom and that year a record number of 601 entrants hit the Rio. Today, WSOP organisers can expect to seat around 1,000 entrants.
So this history lesson is all good and well, I hear you cry, but where is the juicy stuff? The above serves merely to set the scene of what has become one of the most controversial events in the poker calendar. Controversial for various reasons; men are unfairly discriminated against, it's condescending to women ... you've heard the debate.
Rather than regurgitate those debates, I pose two questions. Firstly, is there any reasonable argument that the Ladies Championship should be eliminated from the WSOP Schedule altogether?
Annie Duke thinks so. In her PPA Testimony, she continued:
“Why is there a Ladies Event if poker is measuring mental acumen? Are we saying there is a difference between the intellect of men and women that means that somehow we need a separate championship event just for the women? What is that really saying about how we view women in comparison to men on the mental playing field?”
The issue I, and many others, find with this comment is that I don't believe anyone really views the modern Ladies Event as a tool to counterfeit a perceived mental deficit? I've not encountered any arguments that suggest that (although of course that is not to suggest that there aren't some out there). Is it not simply a marketing strategy to encourage more ladies to play? The WSOP remains the largest live festival on the circuit and year after year amateur players flock to the tables to test their skills against the pros. The Ladies Event feels no different and provides an affordable platform for bracelet glory in a friendly and fun atmosphere.
The second question is whether the event should stay, but with the emphasis on discouraging men being stopped. Year after year, men have 'gatecrashed' the Ladies Event, much to the mutual frustration of event organisers and female players. In 2012, Vicky Coren was one of the most vocal in her that resolution that men should not be allowed to play:
"I love it that this unique, lively, sociable, light-hearted, novelty event still survives ... if the shyer ladies stopped playing it, it would just become another male-dominated $1,000 - $1,500 NLH crapshoot like the other fifteen in the schedule" (Pick on someone your own size, 30 June 2012)
Annie Duke, Poker Player Alliance Testimony, 21 July 2010
The date is Friday 6 May 1977. The time is 12.00 noon. The setting is Binion's, Las Vegas. Why is this significant? Because it was at this moment that the WSOP Ladies Championship was born.
There is a legend attached to that inaugural game, a niggling little rumour that the Ladies was shoehorned into the WSOP schedule to give the wives and girlfriends something to do. The rumour has never been admitted or denied, primarily because poker records did not exist in the 1970's, but instead it was buried in the archives of poker folklore (just to the left of another legend that Richard Nixon used his lucrative Hold'em hobby to bankroll his election campaign).
We don't even know how many runners Jackie Daniels beat that day. All we know is that she made history. She paid the lowest buy-in in WSOP history at just $100. When she took down first prize, she cashed-in just $5,580, the lowest prize-pool in WSOP history. She was also crowned the first ever WSOP Ladies Champion.
In 1992, WSOP organisers upped the ante. Sure, the event had always been a 'bracelet event', however numbers were low; just 110 players had entered the previous year. The decision was made to increase the buy-in to $1,000. I can see your bemused expressions at this somewhat eccentric tactic, but the increased buy-in gave the event kudos and the branding of a real 'championship event'. This in turn attracted the attention of the top female pros from across the Globe.
Then came the breakthrough. In 2005 the format of the event was changed from Stud to pure No-Limit Hold'em. Bingo. The Ladies game caught up with the Moneymaker poker boom and that year a record number of 601 entrants hit the Rio. Today, WSOP organisers can expect to seat around 1,000 entrants.
So this history lesson is all good and well, I hear you cry, but where is the juicy stuff? The above serves merely to set the scene of what has become one of the most controversial events in the poker calendar. Controversial for various reasons; men are unfairly discriminated against, it's condescending to women ... you've heard the debate.
Rather than regurgitate those debates, I pose two questions. Firstly, is there any reasonable argument that the Ladies Championship should be eliminated from the WSOP Schedule altogether?
Annie Duke thinks so. In her PPA Testimony, she continued:
“Why is there a Ladies Event if poker is measuring mental acumen? Are we saying there is a difference between the intellect of men and women that means that somehow we need a separate championship event just for the women? What is that really saying about how we view women in comparison to men on the mental playing field?”
The issue I, and many others, find with this comment is that I don't believe anyone really views the modern Ladies Event as a tool to counterfeit a perceived mental deficit? I've not encountered any arguments that suggest that (although of course that is not to suggest that there aren't some out there). Is it not simply a marketing strategy to encourage more ladies to play? The WSOP remains the largest live festival on the circuit and year after year amateur players flock to the tables to test their skills against the pros. The Ladies Event feels no different and provides an affordable platform for bracelet glory in a friendly and fun atmosphere.
The second question is whether the event should stay, but with the emphasis on discouraging men being stopped. Year after year, men have 'gatecrashed' the Ladies Event, much to the mutual frustration of event organisers and female players. In 2012, Vicky Coren was one of the most vocal in her that resolution that men should not be allowed to play:
"I love it that this unique, lively, sociable, light-hearted, novelty event still survives ... if the shyer ladies stopped playing it, it would just become another male-dominated $1,000 - $1,500 NLH crapshoot like the other fifteen in the schedule" (Pick on someone your own size, 30 June 2012)
WSOP organisers agreed and whilst they cannot actively ban men from playing, this year they implemented the strategy of making the event a $10,000 buy-in ... with a $9,000 discount for ladies. Negreanu labelled it 'very clever'. Jonathan Duhamel tweeted #letsbegentlemenforonce
Whilst reaction to the move has been largely positive, some corners have voiced concern that "it sacrifices the strategic position ... in previous years WSOP could point to the availability of other open low buy-in tournaments on the schedule ... at $10k there is no longer a realistic comparable for the men to play" (http://craakker.blogspot.co.uk)
This debate is going to run long into the night. So I finish this piece with a summary of why I wanted to play it. I have the bankroll this year to play a bracelet event and for the first time, I will actually be in Vegas for the Ladies Event. I had the pleasure of sharing a table with a Canadian player in the Caesar's Summer Series last year and she had played the Ladies Event (and cashed) the day before. She had loved it and her enthusiasm for the event was infectious. I vowed I would play it this year. I genuinely wanted my first bracelet event to be a relaxed, fun and an altogether lovely experience ... and I can't wait.
Next up: "Episode 3: Day 1"
Comments
To argue that it is a friendly event is just barmy. Let's have a silent event? A jokers only event? A left handers event? A blind event? A deaf event.... etc Just because the ladies event is friendly does not give it reason to be in the schedule.
How can i, as a man, play in a friendly event as my first evet? I can't. Why does it have to be different because of a chromosomal difference?
If you want a friendly game of poker - there's plenty out there - I have never played in any event I'd describe as unfriendly. If you want a WSOP bracelet - beat all-comers