Jonathan Epstein didn’t join the Ladies No-Limit Hold’em Championship game to make waves. He just wanted to play in one more tournament before he left Vegas and went home to LA. Make waves, however, is exactly what he’s done, bringing to the forefront a heated issue.
Epstein wasn’t the only male who entered the ladies championship; every year, many men do. Some claim that they’re “rebelling against discrimination,” which is often code for “I think women are less skilled, so I’m going to play in the tournament because it’s an easy win” or “Hey, look at me, I’m so funny– I’m a man in a women’s tournament!” For those who genuinely think that they’re standing up to the man by entering a tournament designed for women, one has to wonder about the exact nature of the statement that they’re making. Women now have women-only basketball, football, and hockey leagues (not to mention rugby leagues and wrestling, fencing, and martial arts tournaments), precisely because there’s an unspoken understanding throughout society that the sports leagues that aren’t designated “women-only” are, of course, men-only.
Poker has been, for the longest time, an activity dominated by men. The sociological reasons for this are plentiful but largely situation-dependent: women make less money than men, therefore having less income to spend on non-essential activities; women are expected to prioritize family, such that if they have a career (and therefore the money to spend playing poker), the expectation still remains that their free time will go to home and children. In a society where women do not have the privilege that men do, saying that one is bucking the system by competing in a womens-only event is like saying that you’d like to join the Black Panthers just because you think that it’s unfair of them to exclude you for being white.
Epstein has had a hard time in the three days that he’s been playing in the event; despite solid poker playing, he is consistently booed and ridiculed by the spectators and WSOP officials alike– WSOP Media Director Seth Palansky attempted a slight at the men who had entered the event by saying that they “are not men.” One has to wonder if Palansky realizes that by saying the equivalent of “if you entered this tournament, you’re a bunch of girls,” where “girls” is an insult, is really just perpetuating a larger problem.
So then, where do we stand? If Epstein wasn’t trying to make a statement and really just wanted to play some poker after suffering some staggering losses elsewhere in the World Series of Poker, and he was just listening to the advice of his friend, who suggested the Ladies event (and, as he claims, it fit with his schedule), should he be persecuted for being in the wrong place at the wrong time? If it was legitimately an honest mistake, is the ceaseless harassment and bad sportsmanship (albeit not from the players– from the spectators) really the best way to handle the situation? Or is it enough to have to compete against some of the most incredible poker players in the world today, like Liv Boeree, Vanessa Selbst, Susie Isaacs, and Evelyn Ng? Women’s tournament or not– these are players that pretty much any rookie player would be terrified of facing. Perhaps this year’s spectators could learn to handle disappointment and disapproval with a little more grace, accepting that more good would come from cheering on the women playing than from verbally assaulting the lone man at the table.
Nevada law has changed, and the new legislature states that casinos can now ban men from competing in women-only events. By this time next year, we can expect not to relive this issue. The state of Nevada doesn’t seem to think that this is an issue of discrimination, so WSOP 2012 will have Ladies events where the final tables are full of ladies.