Being a female poker player myself, I thought I would contribute a piece about women in poker, more specifically, the Betfred Ladies Poker Tour that has been running for three years now and is about to start it's fourth year in May at the Alea Leeds Casino.
This tour is a well run series of events exclusive to women and is the only one of it's kind in the UK. There are satellites on Betfred Poker into any leg of the tour starting as low as $2.20 buy-in to get into the $16.50 weekly final on Thursdays. The buy in for each tournament is £110 and Betfred adds £1,500 to every leg of the tour. If you manage to finish first in the Grand Final then you win a £20,000 sponsorship and get to play big live tournaments the following year.
I found this tour back in 2007 on its first year and earned a seat into my first leg in Reading. It was the first time I had ever played a live event in a casino. I was so nervous, but excited at the same time. In the end, I survived through half the runners to go out about 40th and ever since that first event I've been hooked. As a result, I participated in the final event that year in Birmingham, played all eight legs in 2008 and all but one of the legs in 2009.
The dates for this season are as follows:
15th May (3pm) -- Leg 1: Alea Casino, Leeds
5th Jun (3pm) -- Leg 2: Napoleons Casino, Sheffield
3rd Jul (3pm) -- Leg 3: Aspers Casino, Northampton
7th Aug (3pm) -- Leg 4: TC Sports Club, Maidenhead
4th Sep (2pm) -- Leg 5: The Broadway Casino, Birmingham
9th Oct (3pm) -- Leg 6: Caesars Lounge, Calahonda, Spain
6th Nov (3pm) -- Leg 7: The Western Club, London
20th Nov (2pm) -- Grand Final: The Western Club, London
The TGF Poker Ladies' team of Michelle Bricknell, Kelly Jackson, Fran Creed and Cara McCann were sponsored in almost all of the legs of the tour last year. I wrote to Paul 'actionjack' Jackson, co-owner of TGF Poker, and asked him a few questions about the reasons why TGF did this and how he felt about the tour and women in poker in general.
Carey Hollick: Why did you decide to sponsor four women into the Betfred Ladies' Poker Tour last year?
Paul Jackson: We decided to sponsor women into the ladies tour for a few reasons. Firstly, it was a decent way for TGF Poker to get a group of sponsored players for a modest outlay as the ladies tour entry cost is very reasonable at £110 per event. We are also anxious to promote poker to lady players and in our association with BankrollsupPJy.com, we have a lady poker mentor, Cara McCaan, who is a very successful online tournament player and tutor and indeed a part of the TGF ladies team.
Carey: Do you think ladies only tournaments or tours are a good thing or unnecessary? Do women still feel intimidated to play in a male dominated sport?
PJ: I think that ladies only events are a very good thing as they enable many women to play and get experience of live poker in what is generally a far more civilized and sporting atmosphere than is often the case in ‘open’ events. Also, some women might feel intimidated or at least somewhat uncomfortable in an ‘open’ field and may never get the chance to really enjoy the game to reach their potential as they may be ‘put off’ early in their live poker experience.
Carey: In your experiences as a pro poker player, have you noticed if women play differently then men?
PJ: In terms of ability there is absolutely no reason why any women should not be as capable as any man in terms of poker skills and I think the only reason that there are a lot more successful male players is simply because of the huge proportional advantage men have in terms of the number of men that make up the overall ‘player pool’. I do not think women play much different than men though and the aggression, bluffing, etc is more down to experience level rather than gender.
Women have an edge against many men as most male poker players are still somewhat sexist in their default assessment of new women players they encounter, assuming they will be passive and unlikely to steal or bluff. The better, more experienced women players use this to their advantage as often as possible. Particularly attractive women have an added edge in that, again, due to inherently sexist attitudes, many men will be more interested in flirting with them rather than trying to beat them at the poker table. The more experienced female players can certainly use this to their advantage.
Carey: Will TGF be sponsoring any players again this year into the Betfred Ladies' Poker Tour?
PJ: We are again having a ladies team this year and hope to enter them into the ladies tour as well as other live events later in the year. This year's team will comprise of Kelly Jackson, Cara McCaan and Maria Demetriou.
Many thanks to Paul Jackson for answering my questions and contributing to my article. I encourage all female poker players, especially new ones who have never played live in a casino before, to come out and play on the tour because it's a great series of events. I've made many lifetime friends from the experience and Malcolm 'The Rock' Harwood is the tournament director and a wonderful person. You'll have a great day of poker and just may have a shot at a £20,000 sponsorship for 2011. See you all there!