So many jokes to be made about BJ\’s Guide to Women in Anything … but regardless, he hooked his pal @MariaHo up with a little cheat sheet to help her prep for her appearance on CNN (\”Breaking into the Boys\’ Club\”). Click below to read it all — a glimpse at what kinda study goes into appearing on TV news as \”yourself\”, and a pretty good breakdown of a minority\’s influence on the game.
(BTW, semi-related but kinda an aside … Kathy Liebert, arguably the most successful on-the-tables female in history … is currently in strong chip position at a final table (5 remaining at time of press) in a $2,500 Foxwoods event.
BJ\’s Guide to the History of Women in Poker
By BJ Nemeth
HOW MANY WOMEN PLAY
1. In major tournament fields (WSOP, WPT, etc.) women usually comprise about 3% of the field. There are no official stats kept.
2. The 2006 WSOP Main Event had the largest field in live tournament history with 8,773 players. It is estimated that only about 300 of them were women.
3. This year there were 6,494 players, with an estimate of about 200 women in the field.
4. Since 2006, the WSOP Ladies events have attracted between 1,060 and 1,286 women. A comparable $1,000 WSOP event attracted a field of 6,012, and only about 200 of them were women. Conclusion? Five to six times as many women will show up for a ladies event than will show up for a mixed event.
5. In Jim McManus\’s new book, \”Cowboys Full: The Story of Poker,\” he estimates that women make up nearly one-third of online poker players. Again, there are no official stats kept, but this shows that women are a much larger part of the game when they don\’t have to sit down with men.
6. Only one woman — Jennifer Harman — regularly plays in the biggest cash games in the world, playing against the likes of Doyle Brunson, Daniel Negreanu, and Phil Ivey. Harman not only plays with the big boys, but according to Doyle, she is a long-term winner in the game.
WOMEN WHO WENT DEEP IN THE MAIN EVENT
1. The WSOP Main Event has been held every year since 1970, though there were no women at all in the earliest years. The first woman to ever cash in the WSOP Main Event was Wendeen Eolis in 1986. She finished 25th against a field of 141 players. (Side note: They paid 36 that year, and Eolis only cashed for $10,000, earning back her entry fee.)
2. Only one woman has ever made the final table of the Main Event — Barbara Enright in 1995. She finished 5th in a field of 273 players, earning $114,180.
3. Annie Duke came close to a final table, bubbling in 10th place ($52,160) in a field of 512 players in 2000 — while she was 8 months pregnant.
4. The highest a woman has ever finished in the WSOP Main Event compared to the field size is Tiffany Michelle\’s 17th-place finish ($334,534) in 2008 against a field of 6,844. Tiffany outlasted 99.75% of the field that year. (Annie Duke and Barbara Enright both outlasted about 98.1% of their fields.)
5. Annette Obrestad won the WSOP Europe the day before her 19th birthday, earning $2 million against a field of 362 players. It is the biggest victory in history for a woman. This is completely separate from the WSOP Main Event, but worth noting.
SUCCESSFUL WOMEN IN WSOP HISTORY
1. The first woman to win an open WSOP bracelet was Vera Richmond in 1982, when there were 14 events. Richmond outlasted about 80 players to win a bracelet in $1,000 Ace-to-Five Draw, earning $38,500.
2. Another woman wouldn\’t win a WSOP bracelet until 1996, when Barbara Enright (who final tabled the Main Event a year earlier) outlasted 180 players to win a bracelet in $2,500 Pot-Limit Hold\’em, earning $180,000.
3. Only 12 women have ever won WSOP bracelets in open events. (That number grows to 14 if you count the Seniors-only event and the casino employees-only event, both of which are still predominantly male.)
4. The best year for women was 2004, when three women won WSOP bracelets — Annie Duke, Kathy Liebert, and Cyndy Violette.
5. Since 2004: No women won bracelets in 2005, 2006, or 2009. Katja Thater won a Razz bracelet in 2007, and Vanessa Selbst won a Pot-Limit Omaha bracelet in 2008.
NOTABLE ACCOMPLISHMENTS BY FEMALE PLAYERS
1. Jennifer Harman is widely regarded as the best female cash game player in history, and she is a regular player (and a regular winner) in the \”Big Game\” at Bellagio. Harman is also the only woman to have ever won two WSOP bracelets in open events.
2. Kathy Liebert is the winningest female tournament poker player in history, with more than $5.5 million in earnings. Liebert was also the first women to earn $1 million in a single tournament, by winning the 2002 Party Poker Million cruise.
3. Van Nguyen (wife of Men \”The Master\” Nguyen\”) won the 2008 WPT Celebrity Invitational, earning $125,500. While it\’s a mixed event, it is invitation only and the field includes a much-higher-than-normal percentage of female players.
4. No woman has ever won a regular, open WPT tournament, though two have finished second (J.J. Liu and Kathy Liebert).
5. Two women have won EPT events. Vicky Coren won EPT London ($941,000) in 2006, and Sandra Naujoks won EPT Germany ($1.16 million) in 2009. Both did it in their home countries.
6. Annette \”Annette15\” Obrestad won the WSOP Europe the day before her 19th birthday, earning $2 million against a field of 362 players. It is the biggest victory in history for a woman.
7. As mentioned earlier, 12 women have won WSOP bracelets in open events: Vera Richmond (1982), Barbara Enright (1996), Linda Johnson (1997), Maria Stern (1997), Jennifer Harman (2000, 2002), Jerri Thomas (2000), Nani Dollison (2001), Annie Duke (2004), Kathy Liebert (2004), Cyndy Violette (2004), Katja Thater (2007), and Vanessa Selbst (2008).
8. Two more women won WSOP bracelets in mixed events that were predominantly male: Sandy Stupak (1984, Casino Employees event) and Clare Miller (2006, Seniors event).
HIGHEST-EARNING WOMEN
1. We only have data on tournaments (not cash games), but only two women are among the Top 100 of the all-time money list — Kathy Liebert (38th, $5.5 million) and Annie Duke (81st, $3.7 million). Daniel Negreanu is #1 on that list with $12.4 million, closely followed by Jamie Gold, Phil Ivey, and Phil Hellmuth.
2. Three more women are in the Top 200 of the all-time money list: Annette Obrestad (133rd, $2.76 million), Vanessa Rousso (176th, $2.38 million), and Jennifer Harman (177th, $2.37 million). That\’s just five women among the Top 200 tournament players of all time, based on earnings.
