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Women and Poker
Poker has for years been entirely dominated by males but slowly over the last few years there has been a small but noticeable rise in female players coming into the game and competing against males in major tournaments. We are also seeing a rise in female players winning tournaments in male dominated competitions for example Vicky Coren who won £500,000 in the London leg of the European Poker Tour, the largest prize ever won by a woman in Europe after beating 597 other players (mostly men).
Many women are intimidated by playing in mixed events of any nature after all men are considered bigger and stronger, so of course, we wouldn't compete in athletic or sporting events against men, but poker is a game that requires mental strength and agility and naturally in these aspects women have the capacity to match and beat their male opponents. Poker is a game where the playing field is entirely level whether you are young or old, male or female and from any ethnic background. The only leveller is your mental strength.
There are many female only poker events and tournaments and this might be a good starting point for females who want to play and want to feel less intimidated but many top female players refuse to take part in these events. This is because they have the confidence to pit their wits against anybody and have the knowledge that they can beat anybody but for the rest of us, playing in female only competitions is a good way to build up to the European Poker tour or World Series of Poker.
Thanks to the internet, women are feeling less intimidated and more confident as they can play anonymously and learn the ins and outs of games such as Texas Hold 'em before they decide to take on the world.
The last World Series of Pokers had around 8,773 players competing for the title and less than 5% of that figure was female players. Hopefully with a few great female players paving the way, we will begin to see a much needed rise in female players.
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