In this of equal opportunities, we often find that justice is a mythical word, that life is not fair and that there is nothing equal about it.

Poker is a game where you create the opportunity; you make your own luck and use it to the very best of your ability. They say poker is one of the few sports where men and women can compete on a totally equal footing, but of course, to win it, you have got to be in it or at least want to be in it. Currently, the European poker environment is not very attractive for women who want to enjoy poker. Online is a different story, with a reported 5 to 17 percent of the playing market being women. Big changes are certainly on the way.

A while back I had the pleasure of managing a ladies team for 888.com to take out to the WSOP Ladies Event in Vegas. Head of the short list for a team position was the wonderful Tiffany Williamson, an American corporate lawyer who qualified for the 2005 World Series of Poker (WSOP) at the Gutshot Poker Club, London. She went on to finish 15th in the Main Event, earning $400,000, after having spent just a year learning the game. The finish was the highest by a female in the WSOP Main Event since Annie Duke’s tenth-place finish in 2000. Tiffany was a player full of aggression and if it had been nurtured and managed she may well have enjoyed a great poker career.

The Vegas trip was an eye opener, for unless you have been in a room with 1,000 women playing poker, you haven’t lived. Yes, it was wonderful to be immersed in a room of such glamour, with women who knew how to play poker. I have sat on the same table as Gus, Cunningham, Lederer, etc., and I can’t say I was overpowered or felt any excess fear. But the Ladies Event scared the hell out of me – it was the first time I had seen women staring each other down and playing so aggressively. It was a room that oozed confidence and strength.

Men do have an edge in poker. They win more; of course, they outnumber women almost 100 to 1 in live events. Men have less money sense and will in turn have less fear of losing. But from that day in Vegas onwards, I have wondered if men would have any edge at all if they were to play in the WSOP Ladies Event. I believe the answer is simple – they would be eaten alive, chewed bit by bit and spat out due to their vile taste. God, I am in touch with my female side!

IT’S NOT PRETTY

Poker is not a game of love, not a game of delicacy, it is a game of skill, gambling and brute force/balls. It is not subtle, it is not pretty and it is not played in an atmosphere that is attractive to those new to the game. It is a game where pain will generally rule and no matter how hard you look, generally an unattractive proposition to anyone but an established male poker player. The game is one of the last bastions of male testosterone.

But I feel that breaking down the hallowed portals of live poker, making it more enticing and female-friendly, is vital for the game. Yes, I am fed up with the same faces on TV poker, the same faces in casinos – men are simply not much fun to watch unless they are foulmouthed.

On the other hand, if women can’t play poker as well as men, I would like them to spread their wealth, too.

Maybe losing to a woman can be compared to being beaten up by a girl in a playground fight at school. Losing chips to a woman adds another dimension of pain and damage to the testosteronecharged ego of many male players. Never forget that poker is a game of attrition, a war without blood, and that is part of the fun.

Women are welcome – they just haven’t had a route offered to them or a reason to sit down in this environment. I won’t go into anymore Catgirl stories, she plays poker with some of the most powerful Russian moguls in the world, and she is treated like a goddess. On the other hand, she has played in £30 events and been bullied, even poked in the arm hard enough to get a bruise. But lucky for Catgirl she has a support team that knows how to deal with bullies. Of course these occasions are rare, but the environment is still harsh and aggressive.

Unlike politics, global warming and war, there is the opportunity for the world of poker to change, but it will require a mighty helping hand and masses of cash to bring about change. Finally, that time has arrived, and one of poker’s most powerful forces has stepped up to the batting line. PokerStars has just launched the first of its series of EPT ladies’ events that will accompany each EPT main event. It will take time, but this event could change the face of poker, just as the EPT main events changed the face of European poker. Poker needs a makeover and the ladies’ EPT is the way forward.

PUSHING FOR FEMALE POKER

What can PokerStars do for ladies’ poker? First, it can offer events that will allow women to play poker in an environment that caters to all and welcomes new players. In this way women can develop and learn the skills required for kick-ass poker without having to listen to moaning geezers, and develop the confidence to go forward into the mixed arena. Perhaps it will allow women to create a glamorous game of their own, where they can enjoy fashion and socialising, tied up with the chance to win big. It would be a chance for them to enjoy the game without having to listen to football talk and foul language. It could allow women to go off on fabulous jaunts from the Caribbean to Europe without doing their bollox, and provide a route for exposure and development of female poker talent. Perhaps it will lead to a rookie-style team of players that may well go on to gain sponsorship.

But what, you may ask, would that do for the rest of the poker world? Well, first, it would bring a lot more money to the table. It would brighten up the ugly face of poker, create more interesting, glamourous and exciting events and create far better bad beats and reasons for male players to whine.

It would also give the 1 percent of eligible male poker players the chance to meet the woman of their dreams, who shares a common interest. And it would create better TV poker, which in turn will breed many more fish, both male and female.

I GET THE CALL

With the above said, I got the call from my dear friend Mel Lofthouse, asking if Catgirl will be playing the ladies’ EPT in London in one day’s time. I naturally replied that she doesn’t like playing with women and we are not paying a grand to play.

“Catman, it is 200 pounds.”

I put the phone down and instruct Catgirl that Christmas had come, and I would treat her to the ladies’ EPT event. Of course, I did not let her know it was a fantastic, super affordable £200, thinking that a thousand-pound entry would make her play her “A game.”

The next day we trotted off to join 119 women to play in a huge cavernous space in the Metropolitan Hotel, where the event was being run by The Grosvenor Victoria Casino on behalf of PokerStars. This historical ladies’ side event was running alongside the EPT London main event’s predominantly male stars of high-stakes poker.

I thought I would get Catgirl psyched up with a cappuccino and a muffin in the Costa coffee bar within the hotel. “That will be £7,” said the young girl, who had forgot to say please, as she gave me the world’s most expensive cup of takeaway coffee. Things were getting a little surreal, and I was about to refuse to pay, when in walked around 12 young ladies, all dressed in red hats and badged “Maria Poker.” I paid for the drink and asked one of the stunningly attired ladies what they were up to: “We have come to play a poker game and just have a lot of fun.”

I presumed Catgirl’s coffee was not laced with LSD and thought to myself: Smiling, happy people playing poker for fun – no, this can’t be.

Catgirl got seated; naturally, on her left was Allen Cunningham’s girlfriend and $850,000 winner Melissa Hayden, and next seat along was Veronica Dabul, a PokerStars pro. Also seated at Catgirl’s table was Michelle Orpe, the new host of the EPT.

“Hi Michelle, you look fantastic, have you lost weight?” I politely remarked.

Michelle told me she had put it on, so I wittingly rephrased my opening comment and said, “Hi Michelle, you have put weight on.”

At this point I was quickly shot down, by Melissa, who had not realised Michelle and I were having a friendly banter. Jesus, I was off to a good start. Catgirl had no idea that Melissa was so accomplished, as Melissa took great pride in calling pot-size bets to hit her gutshot against Catgirl for 3,500 of a 5K stack. Naturally there were plenty more plays like this to be experienced, but it was nothing to do with being female – it is standard donk play, male or female.

REVEALING CHAT

I chatted to Michelle, and she said, “I shall be doing all the interviews for EPT and hosting the TV programme on channel 4. Ladies’ poker is great; men are not generally intimidated by playing with women, and women are intimidated by playing with men. One night at the Vic, I was the only woman playing in a small self-deal event. This guy kept niggling me all the time, talking about women in poker. Near the end, blinds were huge, I passed K-Q, he was dealing, he looked at my cards, I let it pass. Then at the end of the hand he turned my cards and said look what she passed, and I went ballistic on him, as you would.

“Women’s poker is more polite, of course it is easier to play if you can play. There are a lot of women starting out, so you can get a lot of information. Women’s tournaments are friendly.”

She added: “No, I can’t read men, I am off them for life.”

Michelle was a sponsored pro for Poker Heaven prior to her new dream job replacing Kara Scott, another successful female poker player. I think Michelle’s comments summed up everything that the event was about, to a tee.

I hung about trying to grab interviews with various female stars, but at the end of the day I was too busy funking for the Catgirl to win this event she really did not want to enter. For players like Catgirl, who have learnt poker by playing with men, playing with women may well be more intimidating or may just require far more patience. Women are often much more diligent in choosing what they commit their hard-earned chips to. I know there are definitely sensibility and aggression issues that can only be learnt and overcome with experience.

HANGER-ON FOR A DAY

I did get to interview the fantastic and hilarious John Duffy, co-creator of the EPT, but alas his comments were far too amusing to safely publish.

I spent the next four hours wandering around the tables, simply enjoying the occasion, the banter and the event – it was a little like a carnival. Like any game anywhere, the play levels varied from dire to sensational. On one hand, there were PokerStars-sponsored players such as Celina Lin, Fatima Moreira de Melo and Veronica Dabul. Veronica has been pawning the APT and is close to winning the points race, while Fatima is simply stunning and the former hockey pro was drowning the table with sultry looks and a pout to die for. Veronica is from Argentina and sports the PokerStars logo. The field ranged from grannies to students, the one thing noticeable was that everyone had made an effort, everyone was glamourous and fashion played a huge part of the ladies’ game, and I for one love it.

FEMALE POKER ICONS

Victoria Coren has risen to poker stardom, a woman who has been around the European poker scene from pre-Internet poker days. Vicky has earnt her badge, sitting at the Victoria Casino playing, writing and commentating about poker for at least 20 years. She is a figurehead and pro member of team PokerStars and has of course won a cool £500K at this very PokerStars EPT London back in 2006. Annette Obrestad and Jennifer Harman join Vicky on a short list of female poker icons who have gained the respect of any intelligent poker player.

Annette’s reputation stems from being a ball crusher online and then winning a £1,000,000 WSOPE in one of her first live events. But don’t go searching the forums looking for pats on their backs from the male community, for poker is a selfish game and everyone wants to be them, not read about them.

As a poker agent, I am bored senseless of the only route to poker sponsorship being to win a huge event – there has got to be a rookie entrance level to sponsorship, much in the same way that football clubs all have academies. It seems that PokerStars is opening up new avenues and indeed giving many a new route to the pro ranks of poker.

Amongst other faces I knew was the “Gucci Lady” (Valerie Morris), Mel Lofthouse, Jay Luck and Liz Duffy. I asked Liz her thoughts: “I started playing two or three years ago in a home game in north London, £5er rebuy. I have played the WSOP Main Event for the last three years and cashed in the $1,500 shootout. I saw this EPT Ladies and thought good fun, and here I am. I think playing with women is a bit more friendly; we can talk about things we like; you know, like why there aren’t any good-looking men giving massages.”

The Catgirl got over her initial agony period as she so often does and played her way to around 30th, when she threebet with A-Q suited and the big blind suddenly declared “I call,” not knowing there had already been an all-in. With not many more chips than the Catgirl, our hero hits her gutshot and sends Catgirl to the rails. The beat hits Catgirl for a couple of days; she enjoyed the event but naturally felt a lot better when I told her it was only a 200 squidder.

I am considering trying the Nassau event myself, until I read this little ditty: “The EPT discerns gender based on sex classification within official government identification (passport or driver’s licence).” Following London the next highlight will feature at the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure, where a $1,000 buy-in event will also mark the PokerStars-sponsored High Heels Poker Tour grand final on Paradise Island, when Team PokerStars Pro Vanessa Rousso will chair a ladies’ camp before the three-day event begins.

Whatever the arguments for and against women’s-only tourneys, my ruling is: Ladies’ poker is a winner. In time the support of PokerStars will mean a massive influx of female talent and new players into our beloved game. What’s the difference between a ladies only event and a standard open invitation event? Well, that is simple – ladies’ events will be a damn sight more fun, more enjoyable and with a lot less bitching for sure.

With thanks to both Catman (Europe's best looking poker agent) and  http://www.pokerproeurope.co.uk which featured this article in their magazine issue Feb 2010