Jonathan Epstein gets a fair reward for getting to the final table of WSOP Women’s Event

Jonathan Epstein has been the butt of ridicule for his huge success in the $1,000 “Women’s Unlimited” tournament in the “World Poker Series.” And he deserved everything, from the ” dude” chants that rang just before he finished ninth in Sunday’s tournament to being booed loudly at every hand involved on Saturday night. In fact, there were more people in the Amazon Room at the Rio All Suite Hotel & Casino lining up to laugh at Epstein than watching Phil Helmus, Doyle Brunson, Michael Mizrachi, Daniel Negreanu and Tom Dewan play in the $50,000 championship.

Epstein is not the first man to play in a women’s game. WSOP and other poker tournament organizers often require men to register for women-only events, and WSOP cannot stop men from participating in women’s events without violating gender discrimination laws and regulations. Greg Sessler won the WSOP Ladies Siruckit competition in 2009. Some men dressed up as drag to play the game. Others played because they believed there shouldn’t be a women’s game. Why should there be a separate game for women when poker offers benefits inherent to either gender? At least that’s the rationale they provide. 에볼루션 바카라사이트

And that’s an argument that has merit in a vacuum. Poker is a game of skill. Men and women can master the game the same way. And there’s no physical element that gives either gender the edge. But we don’t live in a vacuum. We live in a world where about 4% of all stadiums for WSOP competitions are female (excluding women’s games). We live in a world where we can get 115 women in open $1,000 events, but 1,055 women in women-only events. Can anyone remember the last time we saw 1,000 women play in a poker competition? Join the 2010 WSOP Ladies Championship, where 1,054 players entered the stadium last year. These competitions make women come out and play. And that’s good for poker.

So credit to WSOP’s fans (mostly men). They figured out that men were being ridiculous about participating in an event for women. They knew it was important for women to have a moment like this in poker, and they shouldn’t take away the moment. And in the end, they provided the greatest deterrent that the event could have against male participation: public rejection and censure.

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