Using Women to Market Poker
Women Sell Poker
A disturbing trend in the poker industry is to use young, attractive and (possibly) mediocre poker players to market many of the major poker websites, poker magazines and tournaments.
Guys Like it But..
Firstly, let’s be brutally honest here – nobody can deny that most guys enjoy seeing well-endowed, underwear clad young ladies sitting around a poker table. Some segments of the poker industry have picked up on this and are catapulting beautiful young women to the forefront of the media simply because they look good. Their skills at the game are secondary.
Slogans such as ‘Poker Babes Good for the Game’ have a double meaning, insinuating good things to come. Some magazines run portrait articles of ‘up and coming’ young poker players and then add sentences such as: “She has the looks and the skills” – as if her skills came second to the way she looked.
Real Women Players Take Offense
Female poker players – the ones who are REALLY good at the game and who manage just as well as their male counterparts at tournaments, justifiably take offense to the sexualization of poker. Just as using a woman flung over the bonnet of a car to market the vehicle is passé in the motoring world, so too should this trend in the poker industry be nipped in the bud.
Before we come off as being straight laced and puritan, there is no denying that female sexuality adds a little fun to the poker industry, bringing light humor and entertainment to a game that demands brain power and seriousness.
Top Players Can’t Sell Due to Looks
However, problems start to crop up when true female poker players such as Annette Obrestad are left off the front pages of poker magazines simply because their particular look doesn’t sell. As such, women who reach the top of the poker rungs by their skills alone deserve more exposure than ever to truly commend them for their abilities.
Sadly, the majority of female players don’t get to grace the cover of magazines, including Obrestad, Kathy Liebert, Cindy Violette and Mimi Tran.
“I Take Offense”
Some female players such as Annie Duke also take offense to poker tournaments that are geared only towards women. They feel that their accomplishments as a poker player should not even delve into their gender, and many tend to agree. In Annie Duke’s case, she has proven beyond a doubt that she can take on any poker player – man or woman.
An interesting point brought up sometimes on poker forums is that some women may use their gender as part of their strategy around the poker table. These women understand the tough, burly and aggressive male world they are playing in and use it to their advantage, softly flirting and distracting their opponents. Feminists may argue that this is the exact reason why men won’t take them seriously at the tables, and all this makes for lively debate on each end of the spectrum.
Author: Joseph Falchetti (twitter)
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