HISTORY OF WOMEN IN POKER

Poker is considered to be a great equalizer (it doesn’t recognize race, religion, age or gender), and such, it’s a wonderful game for women. But when we look back at the history of poker, there has been a major paucity of female players until only recently.
Women played on the riverboats in the 1800s because it was stylish and morally acceptable, but eventually the riverboats acquired a seedy reputation and by the time poker became a favorite pastime in the Wild West, it was no longer considered lady-like to play; the only women who did during this time were considered rebels.

One such rebel was the first female professional poker player, Poker Alice. She was born in England in 1853 and moved as a child with her family to Colorado in the United States. She married a mining engineer, Frank Duffield, who passed away, making her a young widow needing suddenly to financially support herself. Before Frank died, he had introduced Alice to poker, and she liked it immediately. She decided to get a job as a dealer, and eventually began playing poker as a career. Alice remarried and supported her family (four boys and three girls) through her poker winnings. She excelled and developed a reputation as a skilled poker player. It’s been reported that in the late 1800s, she made as much as $6,000 dollars a night and carried a .38 revolver in case someone tried to mess with her and her money!

Poker and gambling was illegal in the United States at the turn of the 20th Century, save five poker variants in Las Vegas. But in 1931, gambling became legal in Nevada and the first legal casino license was issued to a woman, Mayme Stocker. Her husband and sons worked on the railroad, and anyone in that profession would be fired if they were caught gambling or were associated with the gambling world, so the family had to get the license under the wife’s name so the men wouldn’t lose their jobs.

In the 1950s, poker was an underground activity outside of Nevada and it was still not popular with women. By the 1970s, with the help of the World Series of Poker (WSOP) broadcasting No-Limit Texas Holdem directly into the living rooms of millions of Americans, poker started to gain acceptance again, setting the stage for the emergence of talented female players. The first woman to enter a WSOP tournament was in 1978 (Barbara Freer), but it would be another four years before a woman would win a title. 

In 1982, Vera Richmond became the first woman ever to win an open field event at the WSOP (with an ace to five draw). But this was during a time when men still regarded poker as a boys’ club and didn’t appreciate it when the ladies showed up, so many of them refused to acknowledge Vera’s win. They resented her talent, her bankroll (not only was she good at poker, but her father co-owned Neiman Marcus, so she had the big bucks to play with Vegas’ biggest high rollers), and it really bothered them that she was tough as nails and was not intimidated by them. Professional female poker players in the 1980s needed to be resilient, and it’s these tough broads who broke down barriers, paving the way for the countless women who now make a living as professional poker players.

IMPORTANT EVENTS FOR WOMEN IN POKER HISTORY

1982: As already mentioned, Vera Richmond won the first open event at the WSOP (even though some men wouldn’t recognize it).

1995: Barbara Enright is the first woman to reach the final table at the WSOP Main Event. She finished fifth.

1996: Barbara Enright won the Pot-Limit Holdem event at the WSOP.

1997: Linda Johnson won the Razz event at a World Series Open.

2000: After being coached by Annie Duke’s brother, Howard Lederer, for only a few minutes on a game she’d never played before, Jennifer Harman won the $5,000 Deuce-to-Seven, No-Limit Lowball Championship at the WSOP.

2002: Jennifer Harman is at it again: she ruled the final table at the $5,000 Limit Holdem event at the WSOP. She added $212,440 to her bankroll and won her second WSOP gold bracelet, making her the first woman to win two WSOP open titles.

2002: Kathy Liebert became the first woman to win a major international event (PartyPoker.com Million) and the first to win a tournament with a million dollar cash prize.

2003: The World Poker Tour plays host to the first Ladies’ Night show on the Travel Channel. Participants included Kathy Liebert, Annie Duke, Jennifer Harman, Maureen Feduniak, Evelyn Ng and Clonie Gowen, who won the event.

2004: Jennifer Harmon won the biggest pot ever at the time (male or female) at a casino cash game at the Bellagio in Las Vegas: $1.7 million.

2004: Women make their best showing in poker tournaments to date with three women winning three WSOP events: Kathy Liebert won $110,140 at $1,500 Limit Holdem; Annie Duck won $137,860 at $2,000 Omaha High-Low; and Cindy Violette won $135,900 at Seven-Card Stud High/Low.

2004: Annie Duke beats Jennifer Harmon’s record when she took home $2 million after winning the WSOP Tournament of Champions. She knocked out her brother Howard Lederer, Daniel Negreanu, Phil Hellmuth, Phil Ivey, Doyle Brunson and Johnny Chan, but to name a few.

Annie Duke is a member of Team UB, a group of professional poker players who represent UltimateBet.com at poker tournaments both online and in bricks & mortar casinos. When Annie isn’t playing live in Las Vegas, she plays online at UltimateBet.com, so sign up there if you want to play at the same casino as one of the world’s best female poker players. PokerStars.com is another online cardroom with top female poker players representing their site (Vanessa Russo and Victoria Coren, to name a few). PokerStars.com spreads more games and more tournaments than any other site, and they have Limit and No-Limit Texas Holdem tables where you can play Texas Holdem with people from all over the world using fake money.

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