Men enter WSOP Ladies’ event, will the WSOP strike back?
The $1,000 Ladies No-Limit Championship drew a field of 1,054 entrants, but the major discussion has been about the 10-15 men who were part of the field. Because of anti-discrimination laws, the WSOP staff can not legally prevent men from entering a women-only tournament. In previous years, led by former WSOP Commissioner Jeffrey Pollack, men have been discouraged from entering the Ladies’ event, with very few entering the past few years.
This year, their pleas fell on deaf ears as a group of players, most notably Shaun Deeb (appearing in drag), took their seats. Whatever reason they gave for entering the tournament (a lost prop bet, fighting for sexual equality, to get attention for themselves), their actions led Communications Director Seth Palansky to state in a CardPlayer interview that suspensions or bans from the WSOP would be handed out to the interlopers. There are several areas in the rules of the WSOP (especially in the Player Conduct and Tournament Integrity section) where the WSOP can decide what type of penalties to give to players for transgressions.
There’s been plenty of discussion about the on Twitter and the forums about today’s controversy with a discussion of women-only poker tournaments in general. Personally, I don’t see why men would want to enter a ladies’ tournament, as it gives the appearance that it’s being done for a selfish reason. Appearing in drag also doesn’t help your cause, even if it’s done with the hope of getting the ladies supporting your cause. F-Train did a good writeup about the topic this afternoon, with more opinions coming from the blogosphere and the WSOP over the weekend.
Jamie Demeris says:
June 11th, 2010 at 10:12pm
“We can’t prevent anyone from entering a ladies tournament. If they’re scumbags, they’re scumbags,†said Palansky. “The good news is at the World Series of Poker, we have the right to refuse service to anyone at any time at any point that we deem, as operators of the event.â€
I am a little confused. If this statement is to be true, then why didn’t they just refuse service to them from entering this event?
Jamie Demeris says:
June 11th, 2010 at 10:13pm
ps this statement was taken from a card player article.
Jack says:
June 12th, 2010 at 8:04am
As disgusting as it is, they can’t be prevented from participating nor may they be punished for doing so. The same laws that allow them to participate prevent them from being punished for doing so.
benjammin509 says:
June 12th, 2010 at 9:04am
Male participants in the ladies event should be ridiculed and mocked. It is just a real douche bag move.
Scott Diamond says:
June 12th, 2010 at 11:04am
Their insecure about their masculinity and their Mommy’s gave them permission.
Jackasses!
Ture Bjorkman says:
June 12th, 2010 at 7:52pm
Don’t even get me started on women entering men’s event.
donkey bomber says:
June 13th, 2010 at 1:46pm
Sean Deeb has just identified another 1000 women that won’t have sex with him.
wtf really? says:
June 13th, 2010 at 7:17pm
As I posted on Tao:
I think the ladies event is great but there needs to be a three year limit. After three years, these women need to move on to open events. With women tours, Lips etc…, all they are really doing is enabling women to play exclusive tournaments. These women are not advancing to open events. Instead they are just staying in the safety zone.