More women being drawn to poker

By Angela TaskerNewsLeader Contributor

The stereotype of women bringing the nachos down to a smoke-filled basement for “men’s poker night” has folded.

Today, women are joining the tables in what seems to be the start of a new generation of poker players.

“It’s just been a men’s game I guess. Even through the years, a long, long time ago, there was just poker rooms for men, but now it’s very open to women,” said Antoinette O’Neil of New Westminster, who took second and $18,500 last month at the second annual B.C. Lottery Corporation’s Women’s Poker Classic for no-limit Texas hold ’em.

The Women’s Poker Classic helps support the B.C. and Yukon chapter of the Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation and is Canada’s only all-women poker tournament.

Held at the Cascades Casino in Langley, 600 women gathered in hopes of claiming a piece of the $165,000 prize pool. Half were playing limit Texas hold ’em, with a top prize of $45,000 while the rest played no-limit, vying for a $120,000 jackpot.

“It was like winning first, both the winner and I just grabbed each other, we were just so happy for each other,” said O’Neil. “It’s awesome playing with women. It’s so hard to believe that there was 300 of us that played.”

But striving for a top prize is not always easy. Some women interested in playing online are told to continue making the nachos.

Maryann Morrison, founder and president of the Women’s Poker Club online and publisher of the Women Poker Player magazine, said in an article with the Regina Leader-Post that she was called names and put down in her rookie days of poker playing.

The online club for women has more than 3,000 members from all over the world signing on to get a piece of the action. The site specializes in making sure women are treated fairly while playing, and encourages all levels of players to join.

“A lot of women are kind of intimidated about playing with men. [Men] just play differently, their mental thoughts are just totally different from women,” said O’Neil. “They kind of figure it’s a man’s game, and women really haven’t been getting into the scene, but they have a lot of good women poker players out there.”

She said that when she sits down at a table with men, she doesn’t really feel that discouraged. “There are a lot that are supportive of women poker players too, they have great respect for us,” said O’Neil. “There’s just the odd one here and there, then you just put them in their place, at least I do anyway, I’m very outspoken.”

According to O’Neil, other than the occasional stare from around the table, women joining the poker scene don’t face that many challenges starting off.

“If you want to get in there, you can go. There’s nothing stopping anybody, just as long as you don’t get carried away and you go every day. You’ve got to set your limit.”

According to Statistics Canada in 2006, approximately 80 per cent of people in B.C. who were 19 or older played the lottery, 30 per cent visited a B.C. casino and six per cent visited a provincial commercial bingo hall. Of all gamblers, 52 per cent were female and 73 per cent were 35 or older.

As part of this percentage, O’Neil plans to continue with her poker playing. “I’m going to be first next year,” she said.

The women on the poker series have one major advantage over other male players. They usually have there BOOBS hanging out of their tops. Which i don't mind but it distracts from your play. Do you think this works in their favor. I've noticed alot of girls are taking this route to making their way up in the poker series. Take Jennifer Tilly for instance. Dumb as a brick but she has big jiggly jugs that i just want to stare at, which takes your mind away from your game. Should you ask them to cover up? Sent me your opinion.