Women in Poker

Poker is one of the few sports that allow men and women to compete on an equal footing. In many ways women should probably have the advantage over their male opponents. Can a woman spot a man when they are lying? Can a woman read body language? Can a woman do things devoid of emotion and act logically even under great pressure? When you consider these are fundamental things that a poker player must do then we perhaps should be discussing why men are kidding themselves that they are better players than the ladies!

Men will always have the competitive edge, but an increasing number of female poker players are enjoying great success and there are certainly a higher percentage of female players participating in large events like the World Series of Poker and World Poker Tour. Vanessa Selbst, Annette Obrestrad, Kara Scott and many others are making names for themselves as not female poker players, but top poker players.

Jennifer Harman plays in the largest stakes cash games in Las Vegas and is a consistent winner over many years. She is respected to the highest level by other players in the big game like Doyle Brunson, Ted Forrest & Daniel Negreanu. But why are there not more like her? Certainly it takes a certain type of individual that can cope with the large losses sometimes occurred in the big game and also the large wins. The reality is that there are few players at all that play at these nosebleed stakes levels.

Like many areas in life access to poker for female players was resisted until quite recently. Some older players still believe poker is a man’s game, although they would struggle to justify this argument as anything other than the chauvinistic attitude that it is. It was extremely rare for female players to achieve great things in poker in years gone by; this could only have been due to lack of participation rather than lack of skills. Perhaps ladies were a little nervous at the alpha male stereotypes that litter the poker tables.

Whether right or wrong the female players often have an advantage at the table due to men’s approach to playing them. They are aware of the fact they are playing a hand with a female player and this can cloud some players thinking. I was eliminated by a very good female player and not a single word of gender was mentioned when discussing the hand with my friends. A few years ago I fully expect a member of my friends would have mentioned me being bust out by a girl. Male players must be on their guard as I would also expect it would be far easier for an attractive female player to get me talking than a male poker player.

It has been argued that men find it easier to bluff, as women are more honest. I disagree and think of every poker player as equally able to pull moves and make good plays. I am actually more wary of a female at my table because I expect them to be a good player. It is 100% definite that there are more male fish than female fish.

For this reason I am not really in favour of ladies only poker events and many top female players are also not in favour of them. This is because I feel the ladies are more than able to play, compete with and beat the male players. Poker is not gender specific, age specific or culture specific. Everyone should play poker together and try and get each others chips and there is no mental or physical reason why that person should be male or female. So for the male and female poker players everywhere, find a table for all of you and shuffle up and deal!

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