I thought this was funny, finally a bit of humor in the thread

Okay here are some light-hearted live tournament names to attract more women and men into playing.

The $69 + $69 Milf Bounty Hunter

The Ironed Out $20 Rebuy

The Stud Re-entry

Threads like this become a bastion of real talking trump voters calling people snowflakes and sharing their fine opinions.

This is spot on. When men go to play poker with an express desire to win money (grinders, stuck degens and wannabes) ....they become horrible people who poison any atmosphere.

Recs obviously would like to win but they are also hoping to have fun, but many a cash table is full of frustration, tilt and impatience. It's gross.

I too have switched to MTTs and at ~1 per week /50 or something a year the variance is lol but it's worth it to avoid the cash game scumbags

Here's the harsh reality. The majority of women don't enjoy playing poker.

And guess what there's nothing wrong with that. And for anyone to insist that more women play is ridiculous. Poker has been exceptionally popular for the last 15 years. However, women playing the game has never gotten above 10%. If at the beginning of the Moneymaker boom the radio was 1 to 1 - then ok we have a problem but that's not the case.

Keep in mind, this one-sided ratio doesn't only apply to poker. When I was involved in road cycling, the men outnumber the women about 8 to 1. When I play golf, it's almost all men. I'm sure it's the same with fishing, hunting, and various other activities. Why? Because men and women like doing different things. I am sure there are activities where women outnumber the men 10-1. And those women are saying we've got to do more to get men involved or our (insert activity) will stop growing.

We've all tried teaching our wives, girlfriends, sisters, and friends poker. They just aren't that into it. And I see nothing wrong with that.

So women don't want to play. So what. Those that do. Awesome. But there's no magic lantern we can rub and have women magically appear. It's not going to happen. End of story.

/thread

What was the ratio before the Moneymaker boom? If the player pool used to be 30% women and dropped to 10%, is that a problem?

im sure its probably less than it is today.

Probably the explanation is that everyone has me on ignore at this stage, but surprised no one responded to my suggestion earlier of a larger venue trialling a women-only cash table - perhaps once a week. That way poiulkjh can get still his gendered space and all the women who don't want to sit next to boys with cooties can have their own game.

Increasingly segregated player pools are always bad. Women's tournaments haven't done much to bring in new female players, and imo they keep some female regs/casual regs out of open player pools because why would you play in a tougher game when you can print in super soft female-only MTTs that are becoming more prevalent?

Also this is the first time I've ever heard a man complain about women being in any poker game. Usually live poker is a total sausage fest and most men think that they have a bigger edge against an average female player so bring on the ladies. I suppose I understand how being married with a bunch of daughters would cause a man to want some more bro time though.

If your wife or one of your daughters came to you and said they wanted to play poker, would you tell them no?

You're right to an extent. But things change with time. There is currently a push to get women more interested in hunting and fishing, for example. The field of psychology used to be heavily dominated by men but is now dominated by women. Being a teacher used to be exclusively a woman's task but there are plenty of male teachers now. Same with male nurses.

Once the stigmas of what is traditionally a gender specific hobby or occupation are removed, the fields open for all to join. I realize the stigmas will take time to be removed, if ever, but we can help by not ostracizing women at the table and instead making them feel like they belong.

I'm not naive enough to think treating women the same as men at the table will suddenly show a surge of women players. But it is one apparent barrier that we do have control over to remove. Maybe you're right and even if we suddenly stop treating women differently at the table, the numbers still won't increase. But I think we should give it a try and see what would happen. If nothing else, at least it will make it a less miserable atmosphere.

Women aren't ostracized from poker at all. Sure, they might receive attention that they might not want, but if anything, that's the opposite of "ostracizing". It's hard to have a constructive conversation about this issue when people make stuff up like this.

Yes, it is hard when people pretend sexism in poker is make believe.

I am a woman. That made me so laugh

I think part of it is women like to chat it up with each other when they go out to do a recreational activity, so engaging in an activity that requires focus and analysis is not their cup of tea.

There's literally nothing stopping women from playing in most games. Plus men are willing to roll out the red carpet for most of them. Men berate and even physically fight other men at the tables but they almost never treat women that way. What else do women want? What does a perfect sexism-free poker environment look like and how is it attainable?

The percentage of women in casino poker right now seems to be below 5%. Slightly higher in limit games, slightly lower in big buy-in tournaments. It was never 50%, but it used to be much higher than it is now.

And just in my own experience, the percentage of women in my home games is much higher than 5% (more like 25%). So something about the present casino poker experience is driving them away.

And of course you can list other activities that are dominated by men. But you can also list many activities that are MORE like poker than those that are dominated by women. I gave three examples:
- Casino slot machines
- Online social gaming (e.g. Facebook games)
- Competitive Scrabble (outside the highest division)

What exactly about poker makes it so much different than these other activities that should make women inherently disinterested in it?

It's tough to pinpoint but I think women are less competitive/confrontational and have less of a propensity to gamble (particularly for larger amounts). Maybe this could be blamed on a lack of testosterone, idk, I'm not a rocket surgeon.

I get your point about the slots and the other activities you listed but claiming that they're fairly similar activities to playing poker is a bit of a stretch.

I've addressed the whole "red carpet" thing about three times in this thread. I suggest you read the thread prior to posting.

The extended periods of time in a forced social situation with a generally fixed group of often unpleasant people offering unwanted personal attention.

Through first-hand observation, I disagree with your assertion that women are treated poorly at the tables, as have many others here. That doesn't seem to sway you though so idk. Being mean to women at the tables is bad but being overly nice to them is also bad because feminism is super logical, you see.

Really ? Where have you seen that ?

I have been playing live poker for over 45 years, in at least 10 different countries, and I have NEVER seen an actual fight at the tables.

(I've seen some intimidation efforts, big talk,etc., and there likely have been one or two post game fights in those 45 years, but never an actual fight at the tables.)

The likelihood of a bar fight breaking out, regardless of the gender of the patrons, has to be much greater than a poker table fight.

Again, if you read the thread you will see women posting with their stories and experiences. So forgive me, random internet guy, if your opinion doesn't "sway me" when women I know and women here are stating the opposite of your "first-hand observations."

You could probably replace the Masseur with the below picture instead. Would certainly increase the number of women at the poker tables.