“Less than 10% of poker players are women.” This fact flashes onscreen during the teaser trailer for the upcoming documentary, Poker Queens, which is slated for release in November 2019 via Amazon Prime. The trailer goes on to explain how the biggest poker tournament in the world —the World Series of Poker (WSOP) —has never had a female champion, and how this might soon change.
In the male-dominated sport of professional poker, player and film director Sandra Mohr documents the struggles and victories of the leading female players at the 2019 WSOP. During the tournament’s Ladies’ Week, Poker News got in touch with Mohr who explained that her documentary comes at a time when women are climbing the ranks of international pro poker rankings. In fact, during the annual $1,000 Ladies No Limit Hold’em on Ladies’ Week, there were 968 entrants to the tables —a huge rise from 2018’s 696 entrants. Mohr and supporters of the documentary believe that the release of Poker Queen could help the women’s WSOP tournament break the 1000-player mark next year.
Soon after the teaser trailer, another trailer for the documentary dropped on August 2019. This time, they actually show some of the players who’ll be featured in Poker Queens, like American Jennifer Harman who’s bagged close to $3 million in overall winnings. Another is Liv Boeree, a previous European Poker Tournament (EPT) champion who took home €1.25 million in a single win. And then there’s Canadian Kristen Bicknell, whose childhood was spent racing in male-dominated go-kart circuits, and whose overall pro winnings amount to almost $4 million. Bicknell also drops some succinct wisdom in the trailer, saying that “Boys don’t like being beat by girls.” Well, whether or not elite male pro poker players are ready for this to happen, they might soon have no choice on the matter.
Male or female, it’s easier than ever to get good at poker. Apart from tournaments exclusive to women, the burgeoning world of online poker is also doing its part to democratise the game and give more people access. In the past, players in online poker rooms had to deal with mismatched skill levels that made things hard for amateurs, with some digital tables even hiring paid pros to increase competition. And now, things have become much different in online poker rooms since they first boomed in the early 2000s. Yahoo News breaks down how community poker app PPPoker uses GPS restrictions to ensure fair skill levels among digital poker rooms, and allows the formation of private clubs protected from hired pros. The result is a streamlined online poker community where amateurs and budding vets alike are spared from poker’s digital sharks. It has not only changed the way online poker communities do business, but has also attracted an exponential amount of new players to the game, as women tend to see it as a non-intimidating way to break into the game.
What makes developments like this important is the fact that despite the above-mentioned female pros, women are still largely underrepresented on poker’s biggest international stage. In fact, there were only 300 women out of the 7874 entrees in the 2018 WSOP Main Event — a mere 3.4% of the overall competition. Meanwhile, 2019’s Main Event saw nine men in the finals, which was topped by Hossein Ensan who took home $10 million. Mohr was right — it really is the perfect time for a poker documentary centered around women. And it’s only a matter of time before we finally see a woman emerge on top. When that happens, maybe the much-anticipated sequel to Rounders will be about the WSOP’s first female champion. With stakes like this, anything can happen.