Since the 1960’s, the rise and mainstreaming of feminist principles has facilitated women’s entry into sectors where they were formerly not welcome. In fact, more and more women today are taking leadership positions in business and politics. However, there are still some areas where one sees an unnecessary predominance of men, and where women seem to be quite marginalized. High-level poker seems to be one of them.
Indeed, many popular representations of poker portray it as being very much a man’s world. Rounders, a 1997 film that is given a great deal of credit for the current boom, centers on ale players. The few women in the film are strictly side characters, and are hardly ever shown actually playing poker. Actually, something similar can be said for poker-centric movies in general. There may be women around, but they are usually love interests or femme fatales. Even dedicated film-lovers would be hard-pressed name any poker movies where a woman is the ace-wielding protagonist, or is placed on equal footing with him as an arch-rival.
Major poker tournaments have been organized for women. (Make that strictly for women. Absolutely no male players allowed!) From one perspective, these are a great way form women to make their presence known in the world of international poker. Also, the tournament might be better organized to cater to women’s special needs, whatever those might be.
Then again, it is also possible to take the opposite view: women have to organize a separate competition because they are unable to shine with men around. In that case, women-only tournaments would actually be quite bad for the image of female poker players in general. Thus, it is quite possible to have a debate on whether to focus on organizing separate poker games for women, or rather on making a name for oneself in the world of mixed-sex tournaments.
The latter occurrence is quite rare, but not impossible. In recent years, the World Series of Poker has seen more women performing well at the higher rounds. Women have said that their gender is sometimes an advantage when playing in poker tournaments against men. Female players (particularly younger ones) are frequently underestimated.
BurnPoker.com rooms have an important role to play in creating an environment conducive to the flourishing of female players. Too often, online poker sites or general gambling sites that offer poker seem to assume that the site visitor is male. For instance, many of the site pages may feature photographs of attractive, coyly-posed young women. As a result, female visitors may feel unwelcome.
The owners of some gambling sites have taken note of this, and have begun to see female players as an untapped, potentially lucrative market. Therefore, many sites especially for women have been set up, particularly for bingo. We may see similar developments eventually for poker sites. However, in making these sites, it is important that the owners not stereotype or condescend to women. Perhaps the best way is to make poker sites where both genders feel welcome, and where neither a man nor a woman feels like the “default” visitor.