LADIES' TOURNAMENTS

Playing Texas Holdem online has had a tremendous impact on women’s participation in poker. They appreciate learning with some privacy and not having a huge audience when they make typical beginner mistakes. Some women new to poker also feel intimidated by male players, so for those women, ladies-only tournaments are a great way for them to make the transition from online player to live tournament player, by giving them a comfortable learning environment. Once you’re content that you’ve acquired excellent poker knowledge and a firm grasp of its strategies, perhaps you’ll agree with poker legend Annie Duke who does not see the need for ladies-only poker tournaments as she considers it a sport where both men and women have an equal chance, so women shouldn’t feel intimidated. But Annie’s been playing poker for years, so don’t feel badly if you’d rather play with women.

Ladies-only poker has waxed and waned over the years. Poker became more popular with women in the 1980s and many excellent women players emerged during that decade. Poker’s popularity evened out in the next decade but now, thanks to the ease and accessibility of online poker, ladies are taking up the challenge again and presently make up 35% of online players. However, their active participation in live games is only about 10%. What this tells us is that women are not yet comfortable playing in a mixed game, so the need for ladies-only tournaments is evident.

If you know enough about the game to start considering playing in a tournament but are still somewhat of a novice, read our section on tournaments and tournament strategy. This will help get you ready for any kind of tournament you are thinking about entering and explains how to enter a tournament, how to play in a tournament, and most importantly, how to WIN a tournament!

Playing freeroll online tournaments before entering real-money tournaments is a great way to develop your tournament strategy before spending a lot of your own cash. PokerStars.com has freeroll tournaments occurring daily and should be your first stop if you’re thinking about making the foray into poker tournaments. Don’t hesitate to move on once you feel comfortable with understanding the game so you can wager more money and win more.

The following sites are recommended as they have various buy-in fees, multi-table tournaments, huge payouts and they have Sit & Go tournaments that start every few minutes:

AbsolutePoker.com, PokerStars.com and UltimateBet.com. After spending a little time practicing on these sites, you may want to move on to online satellite games which give you the chance to play Texas Holdem and win the buy-in for more valuable tournaments, such as the WPT and the WSOP. One of the best parts of winning that kind of prize is that your air and hotel costs as well as some spending money are included in the WPT and WSOP buy-in tournaments’ top prize.

Now that you are enthused about the game and have gained some insight into the strategies, hone your skills further by looking for and playing in live, ladies-only tournaments where you will feel comfortable enough to allow yourself to concentrate on the game and to increase your poker expertise and confidence.  After all, we only learn by practice and when playing with other confident, skilled players.  Keep in mind, though, that all games come with different buy-ins, whether ladies-only or co-ed tournaments, but the big dollars are mostly found in the latter, so don’t hesitate to move on and try those as well.

Since poker is rising quickly in popularity, you may find opportunities to join in games or tournaments in your area if you keep an eye out for them.

The following is a list of casinos and events that offer ladies-only tournaments:

THE COMMERCE CASINO California
Treat yourself to the playing the Ladies Dream Weekend and be spoiled with gifts and a large buffet. They also have a yearly Ladies No-Limit Texas Holdem tournament during their Heavenly Holdem Poker Tournament.

THE BICYCLE CASINO California
This casino has affordable buy-ins and different ladies-only events throughout the year.

OCEAN’S ELEVEN California
A four-day, fun event: the Ladies State Championship.

THE U.S POKER CHAMPIONSHIPS
A two-day event in every state. The winner from each state plays against the other winners for a share of the $50,000 prize and for the national title.

THE WORLD SERIES OF POKER
The WSOP is so committed to supporting female poker players that they have put on the WSOP Academy Ladies Only Event, a two-day poker training weekend held in Las Vegas every year since 2007. Many of their alumni have finished high in WSOP and WPT tournaments, such as Sally Anne Boyer, who in the same year the program launched, became a WSOP Ladies Champion.  

THE WORLD POKER TOUR
Ladies-only No-Limit Texas Holdem tournament.

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