World Series Of Poker Ladies Event Looks To Rebound After Disappointing Turnout In 2014

Last year, the Ladies Event at the World Series of Poker drew its fewest number of players since 2005, but that was attributed to the tournament overlapping with the $1,500 “Monster Stack” event, which many players felt offered better value. This year, the schedule was more favorable to the Ladies Event, and it is expected to rebound.

At 1:30 p.m. local time on Friday, the event had 750 players, with registration closing at around 8:15 p.m., according to WSOP staff. The 2014 tournament had 793 players.

“Last year the Monster Stack interfered with this event,” poker pro Lauren Billings told Card Player. “Hopefully we have a nice field size, otherwise all the work we do to encourage women to play seems to be failing. This is the best event of the year. We can celebrate the diversity of this game.”

The Ladies Event switched to no-limit hold’em in 2005 and nearly tripled in size, going from 201 entries in 2004 to 601 the following year. The first two decades of the tournament were strictly seven-card stud, followed by a brief period consisting of limit hold’em and stud.

Florida-based poker pro Natasha Barbour, who finished runner-up in a $1,500 buy-in no-limit hold’em event earlier this summer, echoed Billings’ sentiment.

“The WSOP Ladies Event has always been a tournament most women poker players look forward to,” Barbour told Card Player. “The numbers have been down the last few years, and it is extremely important for women in poker to get that number back up where it used to be and even go over that. I encourage every woman who loves the game to play this event and from what I’ve seen guys have been more than supporting by buying pieces of almost any girl. We all appreciate the support.”

Here’s a look at the field sizes for the Ladies Event over the past decade:

2005: 601
2006: 1,128
2007: 1,286
2008: 1,190
2009: 1,060
2010: 1,054
2011: 1,055
2012: 936
2013: 954
2014: 793
2015: TBD

For more coverage from the summer series, visit the 2015 WSOP landing page, complete with a full schedule, news, player interviews and event recaps.

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