The wait is finally over and the first ever PartyPoker Women's World Open is upon us in London. Starting today, the event will run until Friday, and the field is no walk in the park as organizers are touting it as the strongest ever assembled for female poker in Europe.
The event will include many accomplished female poker players but all eyes will be on Los Angeles poker pro Liz Lieu as Party Gaming's online bookmaker, PartyBets.com, has made Lieu the 6/1 favorite to win.
"Liz is one of the most fearsome players in the world and her performances at the PartyPoker Premier League mean we had to make her favorite," said a PartyBets.com spokesman.
"The U.K.'s Katherine Hartree is not far behind. Over the last couple of years Katherine has been one of the most consistent female poker players in Europe and she has the knowledge and experience in this format."
Perhaps most famous for finishing fifth in her very first World Series of Poker event, Lieu has gone on to become one of the most recognizable players in the game. Play $500 match poker bonus.
Although the 2007 WSOP was somewhat disappointing for Lieu, she did manage to cash in the $5,000 Limit tournament and the $2,000 No-Limit Hold'em tournament. At the Women's World Open Lieu will attempt to re-establish herself as one of the most dominant women poker players in the game.
Hartree, meanwhile, made a name for herself by placing 150th in the 2006 WSOP Main Event winning $47,006 in the process. Since then Hartree has been a force on the European poker circuit cashing numerous times.
Lieu and Hartree won't be the only big-name players participating. Actor/poker players' Jennifer Tilly and Shannon Elizabeth will both be playing and looking to win it all.
The poker tournament is PartyPoker's first ever all-female event and will be produced by Matchroom Sport. The format will be similar to the one used at the PartyPoker World Open. There will be 36 players from around the world competing for a shared prize-pool of $108,000. The buy-in for the event will be $3,000 while first place will be $50,000.
There are plenty of talented challengers taking part in the event including Xuyen "Bad Girl" Pham, former PartyPoker World Open winner Pippa Flanders, European Ladies champion Jackie Meecham, Jackie Vanswani, Deborah Rogers, Jen Mason and more. Play online poker.
The event will be televised in the United Kingdom later this year with Elizabeth and Jesse May providing the commentary.
The time has come to give the woman poker player one single place to find everything poker, including information regarding the whereabouts of ladies only tournaments. That place is right here at CardPlayer.com.
I am excited to announce that Card Player and LIPS have partnered to bring our readers information specifically geared toward woman poker players. Together we have created a portal for women’s poker with a variety of new and exciting programs.
You will notice a new section on the CardPlayer.com home page entitled LIPSTOUR. With just one click, you will be directed to our women’s section, which will include women’s poker tournaments, profiles, schedules, articles, and more. Joining in our efforts to provide dynamic poker content will be Linda Johnson, Jan Fisher, J.J Liu, Cecelia Reyes, Lisa Wheeler, Lizzy Harrison, Pam Brunson, and many other respected women in the poker industry. This dynamic group will write articles for women, about women, and from a woman’s perspective. I am personally hoping Pam Brunson will be persuaded to write an article about her experience cashing at the main event of the WSOP while outlasting both of the other bracelet-winner Brunsons! Online poker.
Our new co-branded website will offer great services for all the ladies out there wanting to learn, have fun, improve, network, and participate in ladies-only tournaments all around the U.S.
Some of the new programs include a Worldwide Women’s Player Ranking System for women only events, Woman Player of the Year, player profiles, tournament schedules, featured player spotlights, articles, event results, and a ladies forum section on CardPlayer.com’s popular forum.
LIPS was founded in 2004 by Ms. Lupe Soto who has since grown the organization to a group of over 8,000 women around the nation who ask to be included and updated regarding ladies-only tournaments. Download poker wallpapers.
“We can't think of a more natural partnership than this one with Card Player, the brand that is synonymous with poker,” said Lupe Soto, Founder and CEO, Ladies International Poker Series. “Being able to provide women poker players these new services and opportunities is a huge progression in women’s poker. This will help us expand our reach to women who play women’s only events and secure a ranking for them as they play.”
LIPS is just coming off its Grand Championship, which took place at the Orleans Casino in Las Vegas. That event marked the beginning of the women’s player ranking system. Casinos that host ladies-only poker tournaments or are seeking to host them should contact CEO Lupe Soto to make arrangements to be included in this exciting new program. Play route 66 poker.
Soto states, “We have more women playing poker then ever before. With the LIPS Tour, women have an opportunity to be ranked, win their way into the LIPS Annual Championship, and other exciting events just for women.”
Over 40 casinos are participating in the tour, with more being added all the time. Next stops on the LIPS Tour include the Legends of Poker Ladies Event at Bicycle Casino, the Ladies of the Derby Series at Hollywood Park Casino, the Gulf Coast Poker Championship at the newly resurrected Beau Rivage Casino in Biloxi, and always a favorite, the California State Ladies Championship at Ocean’s 11 Casino. Any casino wishing to participate in the tour can still be added. For details and how to get involved, click on LIPS at the CardPlayer.com home page. Play $500 match poker bonus.
I invite all you ladies out there to check back often and watch our women’s section grow! If you would like to be involved in our efforts, contact me with your ideas at allyn@CardPlayer.com.
The World Poker Association (WPA), which promotes professionalism in poker worldwide and supports the highest ethical standards in poker tournament activities, today announced adoption of an Ethics Code that is mandatory for admission and continued membership in the WPA.
“The Ethics Code is the cornerstone on which the WPA has established itself as a single, unified voice for millions in the commitment to professionalism in the worldwide poker community,” says woman poker pro Wendeen Eolis, Vice Chair of the WPA and Chair of the Ethics Committee. At the first organizational meeting of the WPA’s Board of Directors, a framework for the Ethics Code was defined. The Board then developed and adopted an Ethics Compliance Pledge as part of the membership application and a condition for continued membership in the Association. It states:
“As a condition of admission and continued membership in the World Poker Association (WPA), I pledge to support and uphold the highest standards of ethical conduct in all aspects of poker competition and poker tournament activities, and hereby agree to comply with the WPA’s Code of Ethics as developed and periodically updated by the WPA and posted on its official website, wpapoker.org.” The Ethics Code expands upon the Ethics Compliance Pledge with detailed provisions that advance the WPA’s mission to promote professionalism in the poker industry around the globe. “The Ethics Committee devoted many hours to the development of language that integrates standards of sportsmanship as well as integrity into the WPA’s Code of Ethics,” explains Eolis. Ethics Committee Co-Chair. and World Series of Poker Champion Tom McEvoy adds, The Code is pointed and clear in its message,” beginning with Article 1 which states: “WPA members commit to support professionalism in all aspects of poker competition, recognizing that the play of each person’s poker hand is strictly an individual undertaking, and that any form of “team cooperation” with respect to the play of any poker hand is strictly prohibited.” Download poker wallpapers.
The general provisions of the Code also require: “Members agree to treat all those involved in poker competitions with courtesy and respect. Members are expected to reflect admirable sportsmanship in the context of spirited competition.” Additional sections of the Ethics Code address relationships between players as well as relationships between players and dealers, players and management, and external relationships. Play route 66 poker.
The WPA now boasts more than 1,300 voting members. The Association is growing rapidly with a highly recognized core of marquee players and other leaders in the poker industry paving the way. The WPA is setting the benchmark for professionalism in poker worldwide with its uncompromising standards of integrity and sportsmanship. Stay tuned to our poker blog for more updates.
Ladies International Poker Series Tour Hit Orleans Open this Weekend
The Ladies International Poker Series Tour held its third annual Grand Championship tournament this weekend at the Orleans Open in Las Vegas with great success.
The weekend kicked off on Friday with a championship dinner in which winners from this year’s LIPS events came together for an exclusive reception. The next day, a warm up H.O.E. (hold’em, Omaha eight-or-better, seven-card stud eight-or-better) tournament took place.
On Sunday, 289 women poker players entered the $330 buy-in no-limit hold’em ladies championship. The prize pool was $83,230, much of which was donated to Breast Cancer Angels. This is an organization that assists women without insurance suffering from breast cancer. Those who cashed were asked to donate 5 percent of their winnings.
One of the women who donated to the foundation was 25-year-old Pamela Bigelow. “I appreciate the cause. I also think ladies poker tournaments are great because a lot of women who don’t get a chance to play can do so. I personally like playing in open events but enjoy playing with just women as well,” said Bigelow.
She won her trip to Las Vegas for the LIPS Grand Championship by winning a LIPS event at Canterbury Park Casino. She is one of the many LIPS champions who made the final table.
Before final table play began, the nine women decided to do a by-the-chips chop but reserved the trophy and $2,055 of the prize pool for first place. In the end, it was Debbie Burkhead who won. She is a long-time poker player from Las Vegas. Download poker wallpapers.
The LIPS Tour began in 2004 and has been gaining momentum ever since. It includes more than 40 partner casinos that host their events as well as numerous home leagues throughout the country. Online poker.
“When it comes to women, they are really coming into their own. They are also still the fastest-growing demographic in poker. Whatever we can do to help women in this industry, we want to do it,” said Lupe Soto, founder of LIPS. “Women are not only playing more, but they are beginning to win with significant success.” Stay tuned to our poker blog for more updates.
Kelly Jo McGlothlin has had a good run lately dominating her home game in Pasadena, Calif., but now she’s looking to raise the stakes.
McGlothlin, a 41-year-old dispatcher for the Pasadena (Calif.) Police Department, is one of two women poker players remaining in the main event at the World Series of Poker. She is trying to become just the second woman to reach the final table, matching Barbara Enright’s feat in 1995.
McGlothlin survived Friday’s action and is one of only 114 people remaining, having outlasted 6,244 players.
She plays in a regular home game with nine men, four of whom (Jason Money, Ted O’Neill, Eric Henkels and Guy Labbe) were in attendance Friday, cheering her on from the rail in hopes of putting her opponents off their games. (In fact, they’re considering wearing t-shirts that say “You got beat by a girl.”)
In their monthly home game, the 10 players pooled their money and kept track of how everyone did, with the overall winner earning the right to represent the group in the main event.
Money said McGlothin won the first two poker tournaments and never looked back, winning the contest wire-to-wire.
“She just works on her game,” Money said. “She’s probably the most dedicated player in our group. She’s a great player. She knows every move and she’s smart. She really doesn’t make mistakes.”
McGlothlin, a former cheerleader for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers (1989-91), grew up around sports. Her father, Jim, was a major league pitcher for nine years, pitching in the 1967 All-Star game for the California Angels and playing in two World Series for the Cincinnati Reds (1970, ‘72).
Jim McGlothin was also into gambling, teaching Kelly Jo poker in the fifth grade. He died of cancer at age 32, but passed on his passion for gambling.
“We’re big into sports, and I got into gambling from my Mom and my Dad,” she said. “They’re both big gamblers. Blackjack, poker. My dad used to take us to the race track when we lived in Kentucky. He’d let me and my sister pick out the prettiest horse and he’d put two bucks on it.”
McGlothlin, who is single, says she plays in $200 or $300 buy-in tournaments every week or two, with her biggest cash prize being $3,200. Until now that is. Play route 66 poker.
She says if she were to win the main event, she had modest plans for her part of the $8.25 million first-place prize (her nine home game opponents will split 45 percent between them, and she’ll get the other 55 percent). She would pay off her mortgage and perhaps buy new houses for herself and her older sister, a single mother of two.
“I’d pay off everything she needed,” McGlothlin says, and invest the rest. “I’m 41 and that’s not young, but it’s a long ways away to just quit your job and do nothing. I want to make sure that I’ve got money there for retirement and everything. I wouldn’t go out and spend it all or anything.”
The other woman still alive in the tournament is Maria Ho, a 24-year-old professional poker player from Arcadia, Calif. Ho said she started playing poker in college at UC-San Diego, going to local casinos once she turned 18. Play online poker.
“We see each other all the time on the breaks in the bathroom,” McGlothlin said. “We’re rooting each other on. We both want to see each other do well.”
Despite living in close proximity to each other — Arcadia and Pasadena are neighboring communities just east of Los Angeles — they have never played against each other. But both would like to end up sitting side-by-side at the final table on Tuesday.
“I’ve never played with her,” Ho said. “But we have a solidarity thing going right now. There’s only been one woman to make the final table. Two would be great, and to have one win the bracelet would be tremendous.”
Ho, who is also single, said she recovered from tournament fatigue early on Friday, building her stack up to $885,000, just ahead of McGlothlin. Play $500 match poker bonus.
“For the past three days I think I’ve been playing great,” Ho said. “I really feel like I deserve to be here.”
And she’s optimistic that the numbers will eventually catch up, and a woman will again make the final table.
“Generally women make up three percent of the field,” she said. “It’s a numbers game. If more women played we definitely would be making it a lot further. The numbers are against us, but our play and a little bit of luck are going to get us through. I believe that.”
The World Series of Poker bestowed the game's ultimate honor today on two of poker's premier players, inducting Barbara Enright and Phil Hellmuth Jr. into the Poker Hall of Fame.
Enright is the first woman poker pro inducted into the Poker Hall of Fame in its 28-year history. Hellmuth recently won a record 11th WSOP gold bracelet, breaking a three-way tie with poker legends Doyle Brunson and Johnny Chan, who've earned 10 bracelets apiece.
"The criteria and standards for induction into the Hall of Fame are high," said Jeffrey Pollack, WSOP Commissioner. "A gambler must have played against top competition for high stakes, played well and gained the respect of his or her peers, and stood the test of time.
"Barbara and Phil clearly meet these high standards, and we are delighted to welcome them into the Hall of Fame as the Class of 2007," Pollack said. Play online poker.
Enright and Hellmuth join 33 other members of the Hall of Fame, including legends such as Brunson, Chan, Stu Ungar, Johnny Moss, "Amarillo Slim" Preston, Benny and Jack Binion, Chip Reese, T.J. Cloutier, Puggy Pearson and Nick the Greek Dandalos.
Enright was born in Los Angeles. Her first job was as a cocktail waitress, where her photographic memory enabled her to remember numerous drink orders at once, a skill that would prove useful at the poker table. Download poker wallpapers.
Enright earned a cosmetology license and worked as a stylist in Hollywood with several celebrity clients. During her free time, she started playing poker in the cardrooms of Gardena, California, during the 1970s. She did so well she eventually decided to quit her regular job and play poker for a living. Specializing in lowball draw games, she made enough money to support herself and her son for several years.
Enright won the very first poker tournament she entered - the Ladies World Championship at the 1986 World Series of poker. She played numerous tournaments and side games over the years and won her second Ladies World Poker Championship in 1995.
The following year, Enright made poker history by becoming the first woman ever to appear at the final table of the $10,000 buy-in Main Event - a record that still stands - and finishing in fifth place. Enright went on to win the Pot-Limit Omaha world championship in 1996 - giving her three WSOP gold bracelets.
Enright has led a colorful life both at and away from the poker table. She was once married to a pitcher for the Los Angeles Dodgers, was editor of the first poker magazine for women, called "Woman Poker Player," and today she lives in Hollywood with poker writer Max Shapiro.
Hellmuth began his spectacular poker career with a victory in the 1989 WSOP Main Event, a win that ignited a meteoric rise of personal and professional achievement unmatched by anyone over the last 18 years. Hellmuth holds - or is well on his way to holding - virtually every meaningful record in WSOP history, remarkable achievements for a man who is just 42 years old.
Originally from Wisconsin, Hellmuth dropped out of college to pursue a poker career and has since become one of the most instantly recognizable celebrities in the game. He has more cashes - 59 - at the WSOP than anyone in history. Hellmuth has gained fame for both his outbursts at the poker table and for a number of his quotable statements, including "If there was no luck in poker tournaments, I'd win every single one of them" and "I can dodge bullets, baby." Play $500 match poker bonus.
The 2007 World Series of Poker Presented by Milwaukee's Best Light, the world's richest sporting event, began June 1 at the Rio(R) All-Suite Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas. More information on the tournament is available at www.worldseriesofpoker.com.
Editors note: Congratulations to Woman Poker Player Editor and Poker Legend, Barbara Enright!
Oscar-winners Matt Damon and Ben Affleck showed up at a charity poker tournament in Las Vegas, in order to raise money for the victims of the ongoing genocide in Darfur.
Entitled Ante Up for Africa, the event was organised at the Rio Hotel. The money raised by the event went to the Enough Project and the International Rescue Committee, which are providing relief for the two million refugees displaced in the conflict-ridden region of Sudan. Play route 66 poker.
Adam Sandler, Ray Romano, Martin Sheen, Kevin James, Hank Azaria, Shannon Elizabeth and Damon's Ocean's Thirteen co-star Don Cheadle were the other celebrities to show their poker skills.
Professional women poker player Annie Duke made a valuable contribution in organising the tournament . Damon, who helped popularise the poker craze in Rounders , expressed hopes that the event would become a yearly affair. "I'm here to try and raise money and awareness for the tragedies taking place," a website quoted him as saying. "I really hope it becomes an annual event. I hope it does and I hope it doesn't . I hope we can solve this issue and re-focus the efforts on something else in Africa," he added. Play online poker.
Affleck, a former poker tournament champ, said that his game had become a little rusty because of his new responsibilities towards his family. "I've got a kid and I'm directing movies. I have hardly any time now," Affleck said. "Poker takes a lot of time if you want to stay good. I don't want to suck. I was good. I'm still good. Family is better though," he added.
Meanwhile, Damon and Affleck have once again joined hands to work together on a new script, which will be their first work together ever since they won a Best Original Screenplay Academy Award in 1998 for Good Will Hunting. Download poker wallpapers.
Damon's publicist has confirmed that they are working together although she did not reveal anything about the storyline. "That's their plan. Whether or not they are doing it right now, I don't know," she said. Stay tuned to our poker blog for more updates.
The wait is finally over and the first ever PartyPoker Women's World Open is upon us in London. Starting today, the event will run until Friday, and the field is no walk in the park as organizers are touting it as the strongest ever assembled for female poker in Europe.
