The Year Of The Woman At The WSOP

So far woman have been lighting up the scoreboard in the poker world with three major championship wins, and we are just hitting the end of the May and the 57 event World Series of Poker! It started with Annie Duke capturing the NBC National Heads-Up Poker Championship; followed by Vanessa Selbst dominating performance at the North American Poker Tour Mohegan Sun tournament; finishing up the run of major championships for the ladies was Liv Boeree’s win at the EPT San Remo event.

With so many talented female poker players it’s only a matter of time before a woman does one of the two big things at the WSOP: Win an open preliminary event or make the final table of the Main Event. It’s also to the point where neither of these accomplishments would be unexpected. It’s also in the realm of possibility that a female player just might win the Main Event or even the Player of the Year award.

So, in the year of the woman, what would it take for the 2010 WSOP to be considered a stepping stone for female poker players? I think any of the following would have to be considered a major success for female players:

• A Main Event final table
• A win in a preliminary event (not including the Ladies Only Event)
• 2 or more women at a single final table

Furthermore, I think any of the following would be as big a boom for poker as the Chris Moneymaker win in 2003:

• A woman winning the Main Event
• Multiple women at the Main Event final table
• A woman capturing multiple bracelets (even if one was the Ladies Only Event)
• A woman winning the Player of the Year award

It’s no secret in the poker world that women can compete with the men, but I think the mainstream poker fan still sees women as the poker inferior of the women, simply because of the disproportionate number of male to female poker players. However, there is a good chance that the 2010 WSOP could change all of that, and let prospective female poker players know that there truly is a seat available to them beside the male players.

So, keep an eye on the ladies at this year’s WSOP; players like Annette Obrestad, Vanessa Selbst, Annie Duke, Vanessa Rousso, Liv Boeree, Kathy Liebert, Sandra Naujoks, Liz Lieu, Katja Thater, Evelyn Ng, JJ Liu, and countless other female players that you should hope don’t end up sitting at your poker table are no longer background players in the poker world content with the title of best female poker player; now they’re looking for the title of best POKER player!