The Ever-Changing Image of Poker

We have just launched a Poker in the Pub newspaper, with the front page leading with a story about our first female champion, accompanied by a picture of the winner. A rough draft was passed around the office and people were of the general consensus that it was a decent front page. However, our poker room manager, who has been immersed in the world of poker for a long time, argued that we should have a picture of a male pub poker player on the cover. His reason was that poker players will be put off from reading a publication containing a female player on the cover unless she is of the glamorous model variety that can be found in certain poker room adverts in this magazine. I was rather bemused by this, and at the same time curious as to whether our female poker room manager was right.

I decided to run with the picture of our female champion on the front page, because if it is the case that such a cover would discourage some of our male readership, something needs to be done to change this. I told myself that the customer is not always right, and in this case needs to be remolded in my own image; OK, maybe not my own image, as the world is already a scary place, but I believe people in the poker press should try to improve the image that poker has amongst females.

In one of the columns I wrote at the start of 2007, I looked at the number of female Poker in the Pub members, particularly focusing on Scotland. The findings surprised me. I discovered that only 5 percent of our Scottish players were female, and this figure dropped to less than 1 percent if I removed the one pub that had a strong female contingent.

During the last few months, we have started to really push pub poker in Scotland, and I wondered if the number of female players had increased. I took a sample of 400 members and found that just under 10 percent of the players were women. So, we had improved slightly, if the small sample size could be believed. A theory that I believe I had been mulling over subconsciously gradually forced itself to the front of my mind. Does the proportion of female players increase, the longer a pub is part of a poker league?

I conducted some research to try to shed some light on whether this theory holds up when we look at the numbers. I looked at a sample of 400 players from our pubs in Lincoln and compared the percentage of female players we had when we started in July 2006 with the percentage we currently have. I found that in July 2006, 13.8 percent of our Lincoln players were female, compared with 22 percent now. I found that from the original pubs that we started with in the first league, every single one had increased its proportion of female players.

Looking at the results of my highly scientific and controlled study, which is sure to send shockwaves through the poker world, I was able to reach the following conclusions about the demographics of pub poker:

1. After a few months, women realise that their boyfriend/husband is not going to get bored of playing pub poker, so they will have to go, as well, if they want to spend time with him.

2. After accompanying their partner, they realise that unlike watching football, poker is fun.

3. After a few weeks of attending, they realise poker is even more fun than they first thought, because they get to humiliate their partner by beating him in front of all of his mates week after week.

4. After a few months, the boyfriend/husband stops attending because he is fed up of losing to his girlfriend/wife.

This perfectly explains the increase in the proportion of female players over a period of time.

On a more serious note, it seems fairly evident from observing poker on a daily basis that women enjoy playing once they give the game a chance. This suggests that it is the image poker presents to the outside world that is discouraging women from trying poker in the first place. This certainly seems to be the case based on my experience of pub poker, where women are often initially reluctant to sit down at the table, but then become regular players once they are persuaded to play for the first time.

Although the image of poker has changed dramatically over the last decade, many people who have not come into contact with the industry still have the "smoky backroom" perception of the game. This, coupled with the fact that poker is predominantly a male pastime, seems to be the main reason that women are discouraged from playing.

So, how do we address the balance? The relaxation of the gambling laws in September 2007 helped to make poker much more prevalent in everyday life. People who have no interest in the game are still going to come into contact with advertising material. The availability of online poker also helps, as it gives people the opportunity to learn the game at their own pace in the anonymity of their home. Pub poker leagues are a very effective way of bringing the game to people who otherwise would not have expressed any interest in poker.

The increased media coverage of high-profile female players also helps. In my column at the start of 2007, I made a very clear and precise prediction that a woman would win the main event at the World Series of Poker in the near future (so, anytime in the next 100 years). Just nine months, later Annette Obrestad duly obliged by winning the main event at the WSOP Europe, and she followed up her bracelet win with a second-place finish in the European Poker Tour event in Dublin.

Perhaps most importantly, today's poker players need to make sure that they help to keep moving the game forward and eradicate any "old boy mentality" that exists toward women participating in poker. Many women who do play poker feel uncomfortable being surrounded by men at the table, and in high-profile events, more attention is given to them because they are female. All of these issues will fade as more women take up the game, so that hopefully in a few years, it will seem perfectly normal to walk into any cardroom in the UK and sit down at a table with equal numbers of men and women.

For those male players out there who are looking forward to this day because they believe women to be easy pickings at the poker table, take a moment to reflect on this quote from the American journalist Finley Peter Dunne: "A man's idea in a game of cards is war, cruel, devastating, and pitiless. A lady's idea of it is a combination of larceny, embezzlement, and burglary."

Remember that waging war is very expensive, but someone who is good at larceny and embezzlement can make a huge amount of money.

For more information on the league, you can visit www.PokerInThePub.com.