Even that idea will probably end up attracting more men than women.

I think women would appreciate an ultra lounge.

Isn’t that what I said?

Sure, but no one refers to these customers as “locals”, and more importantly, they don’t want to play .5/1.

what are they?

Maybe Mahjong and Bridge.

Yes, another example would be competitive Scrabble, which is mostly women in the lower divisions, though overwhelmingly men at the very highest division.

I get that you're being sarcastic, but you're forgetting that they did put out a press release. And in that release they have told us that the room is ICONIC and the food and beverage options will AMAZE.

Where the woman is risking hundreds of dollars by sitting at the table?

LOL, this is why I play Again, the type of woman who is going to play poker is going to play poker, and she's the type who isn't intimidated by any men in any setting.

And having gay nude men as dealers won't help -- at least not to attract women!

This just hasn't been my experience. I've had many female friends who like to play poker in home games, but have no desire to play in casinos because the environment is uninviting for them.

And it's not even like poker in card rooms was always this off-putting to most women. Take a look at depiction of California cardrooms in the 1970's movie "California Split"...the customers appear to be at least one-third women. Obviously this is a fictional account, but it squares with real-life descriptions of 1970's cardroom poker that I've heard.

And the participation of women in casino poker has definitely declined over the 15 years that I have been playing, both in my personal experience and in statistics I've seen. It's not the basic nature of poker that is driving women away, it is how the culture around it has evolved in recent decades.

The latter case was the point of my set up. I came across an early 90s article discussing the lack of women in competitive bridge. A search:replace for poker and the article came just as we'd expect; the fault is unpleasant men. You can write the same thing about chess and backgammon.

Scrabble is an interesting case. It may be just creative enough that it doesn't feel like fierce competition.

I admit there are more women in home games, especially tournament style, but those are usually less expensive and with friends they'd hang out with anyway. I actually don't play in any home games because there is not enough money to be won. I'd seriously rather play Balderdash or Scrabble or similar. (BTW, my husband is a professional Scrabble player, but has stopped going to tournaments because there aren't any close by.)

I'm a woman, so I pay close attention to when other women are around, and I have not seen a change in the ~15 years I've been playing. It's basically been the same. I see very few in my underground games and in Vegas, where I head three or four times a year. In my underground games, all of the other women (about five) except for one are short-stackers and usually only show up when the jackpots are big. Most of them are there with their significant others, too. I'm one of the few who plays on my own -- I play much more often than my husband does.

Also, the men who are unpleasant to me are unpleasant to the other men, too. But I'm very comfortable around men and not easily offended.

Back on track, we are actually staying at Sahara through a promotion gone bad, but I'm excited to see the poker room. The hotel rooms look pretty nice online, too. We'll be there late March, so I'll post an update.

Do you play limit and mixed games or just NLHE? I've usually observed a much higher percentage of women in LHE and LO8 games than NLHE (including tournaments), and in my experience the decline in women players has very much corresponded to the complete take-over of poker rooms by NLHE.

This makes sense, again because many women don't want to gamble for hundreds of dollars at a time, especially when it can be in one hand. At least tournaments draw it out for them.

I play NLHE and PLO, but I pay attention to the entire room because I'm curious about other women players. You are right, though, not many tables are limit, especially where I play, and the underground games are never limit.

I will say the few times I've played in casinos such as Orleans and Flamingo, there still were very few women, but it seems the ratio to men was higher.

Just something I noticed about women in poker: in the Bay Area card rooms I play in, there seems to be a higher percentage of women poker players compared to Las Vegas. There are way more Asian women playing. So potentially also a cultural thing.

Please do. Staying at the Sahara in Vegas is something I'd like to check off the bucket list. Something about the swimming pools would be nice.

Does anyone know how the process works when joining the wait list with the poker atlas app? Is it treated the same as a call in?

I am guessing not because the website shows an example of them sending you a text saying your seat is available and you have 5 minutes, each room could probably change that to whatever they want.

My question is if you get the text and it says 5 minutes, then if you show up minutes after that then you are completely off the list now, or you are still treated as call in?

You are in luck. My husband is a swimmer. I'll be sure to get his feedback. (I don't do cold water, and even a heated pool in summer is too cold for me!)

I'm told the Sahara poker room will not open Wednesday as planned and is pushed back at least a couple of days. I should get a notification from the casino when the new date is known. If I do, I'll post it here as soon as I know.

They are off to a good start. lol

Good news for the bottom line of SLS.

It tends to be the crass comments far more than just the staring...but unfortunately, the two tend to be inseparable.

In a word...no. Unless your goal was to chase people away. Sexism is rarely a good strategy for long-term success...

Planet Hollywood's poker room seems to be doing well. Not necessarily packed but best 1/2 game in town.

I have talked to two sources at Sahara. Both say that tweet is absurd about the tournament chips. It was a new build and construction is running a little late. No confirmed opening date yet but it is close, like a week.