Several years ago, the World Poker Tour took a major step toward trying to bridge the gender gap in poker. WPT Vice President of Global Tour Management Angelica Hael took it upon herself to host the first-ever Women’s Poker Summit in the United States. That summit brought together women from nearly every corner of the poker community, along with a few men who might be able to contribute and listen. The event was on a Sunday in August 2018.
With many great ideas and information upon which to build a framework for change, Hael began to put plans into motion to attract more women to World Poker Tour events. Ultimately, the pandemic got in the way of many of those plans, as did some internal changes at the WPT.
However, Hael remains determined to move forward with some initiatives. All the while, women’s participation in the ClubWPT subscription site and viewership of the World Poker Tour shows on television have shown progress, and that appears to have been an organic result of a purposeful company.
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Growth amidst a pandemic
After the 2018 Women’s Poker Summit, the World Poker Tour hosted regular poker seminars for women. At casinos like the Borgata in New Jersey and the Bicycle Casino in California, they invited women to learn some poker strategies prior to tournaments. Those were well received, attracting women who often didn’t feel comfortable with their poker abilities but found encouragement at the seminars. Unfortunately, the pandemic put a stop to those opportunities to reach women.
Hael also had new initiatives planned prior to the pandemic and the sale of the WPT by Allied Esports Entertainment to Element Partners in 2021. Hael told us, "We had so many ideas on how to bring more women into the game, specifically as it pertains to live event activations across our global events. We hired outside counsel to provide advice and assist us in navigating the waters. Regrettably and disappointingly, there are integrations that we will not be able to move forward with. However, we still have ideas and plans we will execute."
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Even so, the World Poker Tour showed growth with women. In 2018, female participation in the ClubWPT subscription poker site was approximately 25 percent. With regard to global television viewership, women represented about 25 percent of that number.
Hael is happy to report that those percentages have grown. In the past several years, ClubWPT has grown its female players to 35 percent, and 30 percent of the global television audience is now women. In addition, women remain the majority at the WPT executive offices.
Learn from a woman
As the WPT began to bounce back from the pandemic, there was a new face at some of the events around the United States. Veteran poker pro Katie Stone was playing more WPT events at various locations, but she was there for a bigger purpose. She was one of the newest additions to the LearnWPT team.
LearnWPT is a comprehensive teaching program for players who want to advance their cash game or tournament play. There are monthly or yearly membership options.
Poker pro and coach Nick Binger was the original instructor for LearnWPT. Veteran pro Andrew Lichtenberger and WPT commentator Tony Dunst were also on the team, as was former poker pro Vanessa Selbst. However, the recent addition of Stone to the roster put a woman front and center. She used her social media to promote her new partnership, and she is an avid promoter of poker and advocate for women in poker.
Women responded well.
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According to LearnWPT CEO Adrian Naggy, “Since Katie Stone’s addition to Team LearnWPT last year, we’ve absolutely seen increased interaction from women in our online training membership community, social media platforms, and while on tour at WPT events.”
He added that he expects another increase soon – the attendance of women at live strategy workshops. Even so, right now, those classes attract a solid number of women. “LearnWPT has historically had great attendance numbers from women at live strategy workshops; nearly one-third of all live workshop students are women.”
It seems inevitable that the higher numbers of women in training courses, playing ClubWPT online, and watching the programming will lead to more women playing live poker. To what degree remains to be seen.
In addition, Hael said that there will be a second Women’s Poker Summit. They have yet to set a date but indicated it will be in the third or fourth quarter of the 2022 calendar years.
What the World Poker Tour has already shown through all of its women-focused initiatives is that organic moves are the key to sustained growth, and there is more on the horizon. The WPT remains purposeful in its efforts to create more opportunities for women to learn and play, though.
It is that consistency that matters. It makes the message to women clearer and expresses the WPT’s seriousness about the issue. Women matter, and the company’s efforts to show it in greater ways should eventually translate into more women in the game overall.