Jen, my “He Said/She Said” partner, and I were chatting a couple of weeks back, discussing possible topics for this month’s column.

We’d been talking about perhaps giving our respective takes on that new Two Plus Two forum dedicated to women’s issues, “That’s What She Said!” Vanessa Selbst’s repeat triumph at NAPT Mohegan Sun seemed like another story worth exploring. And with the World Series of Poker just six weeks away, various WSOP-related topics seemed like they could be worthy of our attention, too.

Then came “Black Friday,” and, well, all of those other topics suddenly seemed not so urgent to address.

On the afternoon of Friday, April 15th, the Department of Justice unsealed indictments against 11 individuals, including the founders of PokerStars, Full Tilt Poker, and Absolute Poker/Ultimate Bet. As we all know, Stars and Full Tilt (the two largest online poker sites in the world, by far) immediately stopped allowing U.S. players to play in their real money games. And just like that the world of online poker -- and poker, generally speaking -- was unexpectedly and dramatically turned upside down.

The consequences are extensive and wide-ranging, affecting many people in a myriad of ways. But the issue we’ve decided to consider is whether the abrupt unavailability of the largest U.S.-facing online poker sites may differently impact men and women.

 On the surface, all American players who play online poker -- men and women -- appear to be affected similarly here. The great majority of us played on PokerStars and/or Full Tilt Poker exclusively, and thus at the moment find ourselves unable to play in any real money games online. (That’s the situation I am in at present.)

 A few sites remain open to U.S. players, including those on the Merge Network (e.g., Carbon Poker, Lock Poker), Bodog, and Cake Poker, and while traffic at those sites has increased markedly since April 15, their volume remains very low compared to Stars and FTP, still the top sites worldwide despite no longer serving the U.S. For example, a week after Black Friday, Bodog had less than 5% of the cash players of PokerStars even after Stars had cut off American players.

Many online poker players in the U.S. are hesitant to deposit money on one of the still-available sites. It is likely that a high percentage of those players -- especially part-time or recreational players -- will decide not to do so. Also, of the untold number of new players who were contemplating joining a site, many of those have now been dissuaded from making their first deposit, too.

Although it is impossible to know without conducting surveys or polls exactly what the demographic is of U.S. players who will be choosing not to play online, I will nonetheless hypothesize that Black Friday will prove a greater setback to the growth of women poker players than it will to men, proportionately speaking. In other words, I am suggesting that if we jump ahead to, say, a year from now, the overall growth of women poker players in America -- both online and live -- will have slowed more so than will be the case with the men.

I have three reasons for believing women will be affected somewhat more so than men by Black Friday.

One reason is that the sites that are no longer available to U.S. players -- particularly PokerStars and Full Tilt Poker -- are the ones where the majority of recreational players who played real money games online chose to play. And women who do play online tend more often than not to fall into that group.

A lot of attention has been given to the sites’ American sponsored pros and the many full-time grinders whose lives have certainly been upset considerably. But in terms of sheer numbers, most of those who played on the sites were recreational or part-time players, and women who play online poker comprise a larger percentage of those groups than they do the pros/full-timers.

So like the recreational player generally speaking -- including yours truly -- women are especially affected by the sudden disappearance of our favorite sites.

A second reason why I think women might be affected somewhat more so than men here has to do with the increased risk U.S. players now face with regard to depositing money on online poker sites. There had always been some risk associated with depositing money onto online poker sites, with some sites being less reputable than others. But now we have the added worry that even if the remaining sites are fair with us and handle our money honestly, the DOJ could at any moment decide to shut them off from the U.S., too.

The fact that women are less prone to risk-taking than men -- I speak in generalities, of course -- is a topic that has been addressed frequently here on Woman Poker Player, given the way poker is a game that both tests players’ understanding of risk and challenges players’ resolve to take risks when it is warranted to do so.

At the tables, this disparity translates into women players more often adopting “tight” or even “passive” styles, while men are more likely to play the “aggressive” and/or “loose” styles. I think we might apply the same evaluation to how men and women will respond to the new risk involved with depositing on the remaining U.S.-facing sites, with men more likely than women to play “loose” here and take the chance.

Finally, another topic that has been addressed many times on WPP is the way online poker provides a great introduction to poker for women, allowing them to learn the game without the added anxieties associated with live play, including the high likelihood of being the only female at the table. Thus, one other consequence of fewer U.S. women playing online poker will be a momentary decline in U.S. women venturing into the live arena, too. This is just one of many, many examples of how Black Friday’s effects will extend well beyond just online poker.

So, answering the question will Black Friday affect women any differently than men, I’m suggesting it will have a somewhat greater impact since (1) recreational/part-time players will be less likely than pros/full-timers to keep at it, and women are more apt to fall into the former group; (2) women will be less likely than men to take the risk of depositing onto new sites; and (3) there will be fewer opportunities for women to use online poker as an apprenticeship of sorts before playing live, and thus fewer will be making that transition.

That said, all of us -- men and women -- who love poker here in America are negatively affected by this unfortunate turn of events. Here’s hoping that we all find a game soon! And that perhaps the game will one day find a less embattled place in American culture, too.

See also:  She Said: Will Poker's Black Friday Impact Women Less Than Men?