Queens of The Poker World on International Women’s Day

If you still think it’s a man’s world out there in ‘pokerland’ then today at least you’d be wrong, because it’s International Women’s Day and the card-playing queens of the game are taking centre stage…

Of course, any man with a grain of common sense knows that the days when a female at the table meant easy chips or an excuse to be boorish are fading into the past, Jennifer Harman, Vanessa Selbst, Victoria Coren Mitchell, Annette Obrestad, Liv Boeree and more recently Maria Lampropoulous all at the forefront of a game-changing shift, and it’s a global phenomenon…

It’s not just individuals celebrating either, with Unibet Poker deciding it’s the perfect day to launch their own ‘women’s movement’ to address and hopefully redress gender imbalance and the issues involved…

…while the Women in Poker Hall of Fame (WiPHOF) have launched their annual voting week, the institution aimed at recognising the achievements of women in poker now in its 10th year, ESPN poker anchor Kara Scott musing today on who should get her nominations…with the awards ceremony set for June to see who is added to the 19 women already celebrated for their outstanding poker contributions…

Although one of the biggest names in women’s poker, Vanessa Selbst, has officially ‘retired’ this year, there are plenty more females coming through – hoping to eventually replace her at the top of the rankings, with PokerTube focusing on the skills, hopes and dreams of three of them recently: Cat Valdes, Katrina Landry and Suzie Williamson.

More and more women are winning in poker, and being recognised for their playing abilities, a quick Twitter search throwing up new and old names alike in the last few weeks alone…

…and although any process of change takes time, highlighting International Women’s Day and its poker-playing fans and players will at some point see things like this…

“Poker is war. People pretend it’s a game.” ~ Doyle Brunson. 😎 My game, if I choose to play is always Texas hold ‘em 😌 #bigwinner #poker #texasholdem #redhair #redhead #quote #dancer #scorpio #princesscruises #iminthemoney #winner #losangeles #la #legendsofpoker

A post shared by Megan Engelstad (@megan_engelstad) on Mar 8, 2018 at 1:41am PST

…become as ordinary an event as anything else in the game.