Hello Friends,

Lately I have been getting more involved in the poker community, both playing and watching. Recently I subscribed to PokerGo and so far I enjoy a lot of the poker content. However, I have noticed that there hasnt been a single female player to make a final table at Poker Masters, or featured on the feature table on the first day. The only female presence we have seen or heard from is Maria Ho. While she is a badass and a great player herself, I would like to see some females on the felt and not just the sideline reporter role.

I hope we see a few female players during the $100K championship round. Personally I would like to see Vanessa Selbst mixing it up.

-O

Theres not really a lot that can be done, apart from Vanessa there simply arent many females willing to spend a few hundred grand on a series of poker tournaments

Hopefully something will happen soon. I think women poker players playing in high roller events would be great for Poker!

I don't believe there was a single female entrant in any Poker Masters event. And I think there was exactly one woman who entered the $50k and $100k (One Drop) events at the WSOP this year (out of around 100 total entries in each). In the early days of the $50k HORSE, they got 7 female entries out of about 150.

It's certainly a sign a declining female presence in poker overall. But if you are looking to address this larger issue, I doubt that $50k+ buy-in tournaments are the place to start.

Hello Friend,

Why do you think the number of female poker players have decreased over the past 10 years? Seems strange that 7 females would play these high roller events, and now only 1.

-O

It has been 2 years since this post but yeah I think many more women are entering the Pro Poker scene, slowly but surely! I do know however that there are a lot of females playing online. The problem is sitting in a table with 4 more men staring it you and mocking you, or at least that could feel that way.

Girls will be on top this year! Owwwe owwwwe ...vgl

I'm both shocked and confused by reading this. We are in a time where women are mixed martial artists and fighter pilots--and women are worried about sitting next to men at a poker table?

When I talk to one of my granddaughters I ask her if she would like to be a cheerleader. I also ask if she would like to be a poker player (the youngest has asked me a lot of questions) or a doctor, or a soldier like her father and grandfather. I like to know what they are interested in and why. Other than something incredibly dangerous like auto racing (sorry NASCAR fans) I would not want them to be scared of anything.

I'm certain that the youngest (age 8) who is very competitive and hates to lose at anything, will never let a man chase her away from a competition of any kind. The idea that she shouldn't be there would just make her more determined.

In ten years we will probably going to the local poker room together. I hope that she won't be sitting on my left.

agree

It has nothing to do with gender, more women need to spend 2 or more years working 10 plus hours on game. I also want to be on a high roller, but im not, have to work and play, be good enough or rich enough if not good to be there.

And this men looking , wtf, should we not look a player we play a hand with because of a gender, or gender based looking rule. Come one, just come one. Equally opportunity, i believe many women can deposit 50$ and play nl2, its not gender based. Many can buy solvers and work their ass off to come high in game. Its choice.

This obssesion with gender is doing nobody any good, freedom of choice, and opportunity, in western world i believe we have it, now if that means 99% poker players male and 99% of medical staff women i have no problems with it, this artifical balancing is stupid, its not even freedom anymore if you push people to something they dont like, like gaming, chess, poker, hearthstone whatever the ****i it is. Is it important there are no women in high roller or masters, does it mean something really, no it does not.

Again with this stupid tribe mentality, its so stupid, its nonsensical, it has no meaning, just in your heads really. This we need more put what you want in something. NO WE ****ING DONT, we dont need anybody in anything For god's sake, more guys play poker, tone more, its logical high level will be mostly guys and some women, most players lose and will never reach nl200 not highstakes.

I half agree with this, but not fully. Most poker players are recreational players there for a fun time; very very few players are trying to make steady money; and amongst those very very few are trying to live off poker money. For 99% of people, playing poker is not a career choice, it's an entertainment choice.

So yes, there's nothing stopping a woman from being an MMA fighter or jet pilot or professional poker player, but just like most men would not find Zumba class an enjoyable way to spend an afternoon (although some do and great for those guys), I think the game of poker just naturally appeals to more men than women. Some reasons I've heard:

Poker is slightly social but really more of a solo introvert game, and men are on average more introverted than women. Men are on average more competitive than women, and poker does have a machismo competition feel to it. And when a venue is already dominated by 1 gender, it often seems to attract more of that gender and repel the other, unless you're specifically there to meet the opposite sex ;-)

Well, to use your words, I half agree with this, but not fully.

I am an introvert, but I like being part of a community as a way to meet people. I got a lot of votes for shyest boy in my high school class, and some who watched the voting say that I came in second.

In high school I was in band and choir and I ran track and cross-country. That automatically made me a part of several teams and I made a lot of friends that way--but I was way to shy to ever just walk up to a girl and introduce myself.

I thought that I would make friends in the poker community, especially playing in a local room, and I would like to, but it hasn't worked out that way. When I have played live I've had a 5-minute break every hour or a ten-minute break every 1.5 hours. After going to the bathroom, getting some food or whatever else is required, that not much time for an introvert to get to know someone.

That said, being an introvert isn't going to stop me from playing poker. I am very goal-oriented and I won't let someone get in the way of my goals. I will simply not respond to an obnoxious and/or drunk and/or abusive player. He or she can insult my wife and I don't care. I'm not there to defend my family's honor, I'm there to bring home the money. I refuse to tilt.

I do agree that men are more competitive. I've done some reading on this subject, and boys get in trouble in school much more often then girls. This is partly because women in general are better at cooperating and working in groups, but men want to win or get the attention. You rarely hear about a girl being the class clown.

To put in another way, men are more like Michael Jordan. They want to score 50 points and be the hero of the game. Women are more like LeBron James. They like to distribute the ball and make the other players better.

As for Zumba class, I have no interest in that. I also have no interest in paying for "spinning" or any of the other stupid classes in a gym. I can ride a bicycle without help. I ran a marathon after reading Runner's World magazine and drawing up my own training plan. No running partners (though I would have liked to have one) no coaching, just a plan and a stopwatch on my wrist.

Make plan, follow plan, win. That's how I approach just about any situation.

Agree.