BAD Poker Podcast

Do you think women-only events in poker and chess are pointless and should be done away with? So did I. At seven years old I was consistently winning the “First Place Girl’s trophy” in every regional chess tournament I entered, even in open sections for boys and girls. I didn’t want a girl’s trophy. My performances quickly began qualifying me for overall trophies, and tournament directors sometimes gave me the choice: “Do you want the 3rd place overall trophy or the first place girl’s trophy?” I would roll my eyes and take the overall one. After all, I was playing in an open category, so I wanted the trophy the boys could win too. I started rejecting girl’s trophies in favor of the overall category. I probably even became “too cool” for them, calling them stupid. I believed chess didn’t see sex or gender, so why should trophies? I’d eventually go on to win a USCF National Scholastic Blitz championship. Who needs a girl’s trophy, right? But then I grew up and got educated. Women’s or girls’ trophies and events do not exist because women are lesser or unable to compete at the highest levels. I honestly cannot believe I ever held that opinion, but in my defense I was not even a teenager yet. Such events exist for multiple reasons, beyond simply giving women a place to play without men (though that remains an important one). History and barriers to entry are the main drivers, and women’s events make positive contributions to the activities they support. Who traditionally had leisure time? Who was deemed worth investing time and money in for serious training? Who controlled financial decisions? Who had access to education and travel? For much of recent history, women were not seen as reasonable answers to those questions. These systemic barriers limited participation for generations. Even now, girls and women drop out of competitive chess at higher rates than boys, with similar underrepresentation in poker. Women’s events help overcome those barriers. Far from implying women cannot compete, these events acknowledge that equal opportunity requires addressing decades of unequal access. Thank goodness these events exist, and thank goodness I grew up. Dismissing women’s events ignores both history and the practical steps needed to build a truly level field. Keeping and strengthening them is not about separation for its own sake. It is about finally giving women the chance to participate fully in games that belong to all of us.