Inaugural Dutch Ladies-Only Championship a Success
A quite remarkable event took place in the Netherlands on June 2. For the first time in history, Holland Casinos hosted a ladies-only tournament - and not only that, it also decided to give it the official title "Dutch Championship." It was organized by the Dutch magazine
Pokervisie, and it attracted a much larger field than expected. Initially capped at 100 players, the event was sold out within two weeks. So, it was decided to lift the cap to a total of 150 ladies, and this quickly filled up to such a degree that there were no less than 40 women on the waiting list.
Of course, this being a first time for all parties involved, not everything went smoothly. For instance, the sole fact that the participants were not required or even offered the possibility to pay the €50 plus €10 buy-in for this freezeout in advance led to the strange situation that despite a sellout and a long waiting list, only 127 players actually entered.
Still, it was great to see that so many Dutch women are interested in the game, and were willing to put up €60 for it; in fact, I was a little surprised by the fairly high level of play. Of course, this level of play was helped considerably by the participation of a few ladies who are very much into the poker industry. For instance, the following three players were in action: Mariken Maal (the face of Everest Poker, and the wife of professional player and TV presenter Sijbrand Maal), Elvira Sluijter (the only Dutch dealer at the
EPT, and longtime girlfriend of yours truly), and Boneca Verhagen (the girlfriend of Sven Polarski, who is yet another top professional and also the founder of the Dutch site www.nkpoker.nl). Not only are these three ladies very much into poker, but their partners made some last-longer bets that sometimes exceeded the buy-in of this event, trying to show the faith they had in the abilities of their better halves. Other top favorites in this event included Kurnia Helder and Berbera van Teijlingen, who are both part of the Everest Poker team.
A few hours into the event, it was another player, though, who had taken the clear chip lead. It was the good and aggressive Marijke de Vrieze, who is part of the team Poker Babes, which belongs to the nkpoker site. Taking advantage of the very deep money at the start (initial stack of 5,000 with blinds of just 10-20), she was able to successfully bully her table and take advantage of the sometimes tight-passive play of her opponents. With just over 30 players left and an average stack size of about 20,000, Marijke had almost five times that. Yet, in the end she wouldn't even make it to the final table! Two massive pots (K-K and Q-Q, both times up against aces) severely crippled her, and when the final table started, it was Joyleen Verhoef who had taken over as the chip leader with about 155,000.
However, as the blinds had now become significant (5,000-10,000, quickly moving up to 8,000-16,000), there wasn't all that much room for play anymore. Losing or winning just one pot could make all the difference, and this made the luck factor at the final table rather high. After a quick final table at which Joyleen lost her chip lead and the two favorites Kurnia Helder and Boneca Verhagen busted out early, it was Britt Petersen who lifted the trophy. In the final hand, Britt had her A-K hold up against the K-3 of runner-up Sonja den Dulk, and this meant that the first prize of almost €2,000 was hers. But perhaps more importantly, she was crowned the first-ever Dutch ladies champion - a title that is worth being proud of.
But it was not just the 2007 Dutch Ladies Champion Britt Petersen who could be proud. Also, Holland Casino Utrecht and the magazine
Pokervisie deserve praise for making this event possible, and for turning it into a success. In fact, casino management was so enthusiastic that plans already have been made to start up weekly ladies-only events in the near future.
Of course, in the end, the goal should be that men and women are playing together. After all, there is no reason why women can't be as good or even better players than men, so in my view there is no need to separate the men and the women on a structural basis. However, as a starting point, these ladies-only events are excellent, in my opinion, as they will help female players make their way into poker in a pleasant, non-threatening atmosphere. Then, after they have gained experience and have become accustomed to playing in a casino atmosphere, it may be easier for some of them to then make the next step to performing in "regular" events.
Either way, the fact that so many women showed up and played in such a friendly yet highly competitive atmosphere is a good sign for the future of poker in Holland. In fact, one could claim that this is a sign that the male dominance in Dutch poker may be about to end - and in my view that would be an excellent development.
