 Ladies Tournaments in the ForefrontIt appears that over the next two and a half months the ladies of poker will be in the over drive mode with a spate of tournaments scheduled.
Most of them are a part of the LIPS circuit. LIPS is the sexist but appropriate acronym for the Ladies International Poker Series. Check out the pair of luscious lips that dot the “i” on the LIPS Tour website. Even before WSOP 2008 ends, a new type of tournament is being given birth in the Orleans Casino on July 12. This is the Gender Defender No-Limit Tournament. Initially the men and ladies will be playing on separate tables. When they are down to 50 players of each gender the play will shift to mixed tables with the men in the odd numbered seats and the ladies in the even numbered seats. The gender of the winner will decide the outcome in this battle of the sexes.
Thereafter follow a series of LIPS Tour events. The Orleans Open is on July 13. On July 19 the Tour will move to the Wildhorse Resort and Casino in Pendleton for its annual Summer Poker Rodeo. On July 27 the ladies move to Reno for the Grand Sierra Pot of Gold Poker Series. The month long Legends of Poker begins on July 30 at the Bicycle Club in Bell Gardens, California. This tournament hosts two ladies events. On August 3 is the LIPS no limit ladies event. And on August 16 is the ladies event that is traditionally the qualifier for WPT Ladies Night. The winner of this event used to get direct entry to the final table for the WPT Ladies Night. In 2007 it was Pamela Brunson, the daughter of Doyle Brunson, who won this event to qualify for the WPT Ladies Night. There she met five invited women players - J.J. Liu, Linda Johnson, Kristy Gazes, Mimi Tran, and Melissa Hayden. Kristy Gazes eventually won and joined the ranks of Clonie Gowen, Isabelle Mercier, Jennifer Tilly and J.J. Liu. Unfortunately this year WPT has not announced its new season yet and therefore there may not be any additional benefits for the August 16 event.
The scene then shifts to the famous Oceans Eleven in California, which will host the 2008 California State Ladies Championships from September 18 to September 21. This is recognized as the biggest poker series on the ladies’ circuit. Apart from poker there is food, fun and frolic and women poker players from all over the United States zero in on Oceans Eleven. Hence despite the brouhaha led by women players against only women’s events, such events are only on the rise. Poker fans may recall that Liv Boeree after winning the Ladbrokes Poker European Ladies Championship had said that ladies tournaments demean women by implying that they are either less capable poker players than men or that they get intimidated by men. The fact of the matter is that until half the players on WSOP final tables are women, ladies only tournaments will continue to thrive.
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