Looking at the current scenario of poker industry, the number of women in poker is increasing. Yes! We can now see more young and educated women girls in poker, and gonna see more in the future. However, the status of women in poker is still very underrepresented. One of the key reason for this is the social environment that impacts woman’s psych to play. In simple words, women are socially not encouraged to compete, and are deterred to play such games.
Back in 1977, World Series of Poker started a Ladies Only event, and till today many people feel offended by ladies’ events because of the discrimination factor. But if there is a men’s only tournament, then this discrimination does not exist in the picture. I would like to ask the people why women tournaments should not take place? It not just about poker. Even in major sports like Tennis, Chess, etc there are women specific tournaments. So what if poker is a card game; whenever wherever there is a market, it should be tapped.
As a human being, women have always been considered the better sex. If we see the standing of women in the context of poker playing, they are not even considered equal players. But, why? Have ever thought from the women’s perspective. When given the chance, they definitely love to sit down, play smart and make it to the end. Hence, society should promote women to play skill games. Of course, there are pro’s and con’s in every field but there are more pro’s than con’s in playing skill games like poker.
Now, let’s study the practical aspect of poker. Poker is a game of psychology, and this science of mind has a direct relation with human beings. In this case, women as a gender are assumed to have more emotional intuition than men. Women tend to study more and work harder on the theory of the game, which makes them no different than man. So, the game is gender irrelevant. Women are better at poker because of their natural ability to read people better, i.e., they can read social cues and body language at a much higher natural level of sophistication. In 2013 World Series of Poker, 4.7% of women that made up to the overall playing field claimed 10% of the total prize pool. But in some essentials of poker women are not proficient to outplay men. For instance, women are not good at the probability aspect of the game whereas a lot of men can crunch numbers and pot odds in their sleep.
In last 5 years, women have become more visible at a professional level, though it has been a slow process because of gambling factor. In 2013, WSOP Main Event saw the largest proportion of female entrants in its history. However, the number is still proportionally small compared to men, but, it is increasing year after year. Time to wrap up my standpoint towards the status of women in poker. No matter you are a man or woman, poker is a game of people who are skilled, smart and fast. And it is the society that has to socially accept and eventually adapt towards women on the poker table.