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Poker teams for ladies have confirmed useful at this yr’s WSOP, with three members of Herzdamen remaining tabling the Girls Occasion. [Image: Shutterstock.com]
A fancy concern
What to do concerning the girls has at all times been a problematic query in poker. Whereas most agree one thing must be finished to deal with the gender imbalance (usually 3-5% of reside contributors are typically ladies, with the quantity a bit greater on-line), there’s little consensus on how greatest to do that.
Some really feel that ladies-only tournaments are the easiest way to go, whereas others assume that segregation implies that females are seen as a weaker group that must be avoided males for their very own safety, sending a harmful and divisive message.
mission assertion to assist and encourage ladies in poker
Numerous on-line teams exist with the mission assertion to assist and encourage ladies in poker. Some, such because the Poker League of Nations (PLON) run by Lena Evans, place the emphasis on the social side, whereas additionally arranging technique periods and different initiatives. Others, such because the Girls’s Poker Affiliation, primarily take the strategy of celebrating feminine achievements and outcomes.
Serving to one another develop
One group that locations a heavy emphasis on the technique side is Herzdamen, based by Natalie Hof and Mila Monroe. It has each a German group and a world group with 86 and 106 members, respectively. It describes itself as a neighborhood of females who like to play poker and assist one another develop and enhance. The group organizes common free research requires members bringing in visitor coaches corresponding to Apestyles and Xuan Liu (I’ve additionally finished periods with them on satellites and ICM).
Herzdamen just lately despatched a small group of about 19 members to the World Sequence of Poker (WSOP) in Las Vegas, and their outcomes collectively had been fairly sensational. Extremely, three of the group ended up remaining tabling the Girls Occasion, together with founder Natalie Hof (who crushed the sequence typically with a thirteenth place end within the Thriller Bounty and one other deep run in a 2k) and eventual winner, the favored Austrian Jessica Teusl.
Herzdamen core staff member Julie Schumacher was the final girl standing within the Colossus and the group crushed typically on the WSOP, led from the entrance by Natalie Hof. After I congratulated her on a tremendous sequence on my final day in Vegas, she mentioned with a twinkle in her eye:
It’s not over but!”
Massive plans forward
Herzdamen continues to put the emphasis on serving to its members to develop and enhance. VegasSlotsOnline Information spoke to one of many driving forces behind the group, the tireless Maureen Bloechlinger (she additionally runs the Fb group Globetrotting Poker Girls, an unbiased supply of information for all its members on forthcoming poker occasions) about future plans. She mentioned:
“In July we’re internet hosting a Summer season College in German with crazysheep for preparation for our Herzdamen Competition in As, Czech Republic. We’re additionally internet hosting our second pageant. It’s open to all however with specials for the Girls.”
Paving the best way
Lastly, there are a number of different main feminine poker execs who lead from the entrance, like Xuan Liu, the driving drive behind Poker Energy, a gaggle that focuses on instructing poker to ladies, and my good buddy Katie Swift who runs a Fb group Katie Swift’s Girls’s Poker Recreation with common on-line free rolls for the women.
The rising emphasis on technique and self-improvement over mere participation is displaying indicators of shifting the panorama in poker. This was famous by one other nice feminine position mannequin Vanessa Kade in her tweet about this yr’s WSOP Girls occasion: