'Ladies Championship', R&R and Iron Maiden
Środa, Czerwiec 10, 2009 03:56
Some people have a problem with women-only poker tournaments, and I can understand why. There really shouldn't have to be a special tournament for women only, since being female is in no way a disadvantage in poker. If anything, being female might even be an advantage. However, women still only make up a small percentage of the poker world, and if these segregated events encourage more women to play in live tournaments, then I'm all for it.
When it comes to the WSOP, I'm not quite sure if I think that a 'Ladies Championship' should warrant a bracelet, just as I'm not sure that a 'Seniors Championship' should award one either. I think that bracelets should go to winners of open events only. All of the other 'Championship' events are $10K buy-ins (and one $50k buy-in). I propose that if a bracelet and a championship title are at stake, the buy-ins should be higher than $1000, it should be at least a $5000 entry. I don't think that the $1000 events should be done away with, but maybe there should be more than one women's and one senior's tournament.
Besides that, I think it's about time that we start calling it a Womens' Event, instead of Ladies' Event. I'm not a hard-core feminist, but I think that this simple change would help with the perception of these tournaments as serious competitions, and not just a quaint little gathering of 'ladies'. It always makes me envision us dressing up in our Sunday best (incidentally, it was held on a Sunday), along with hats and white gloves, and enjoying our tea and scones while we gossip and discuss things like make-up and who has gotten fat. I'm not denying that these are some of the things we discuss, but I could still go without the subliminal suggestion that the name might imply.
All bitching aside, I'm probably just disgruntled because I busted out late in Day 1, LOL. I really tried to enjoy myself and the feeling of sisterhood and friendly competition, but to be honest, I was pretty miserable inside for most of the day. Message to the Rio: Your chairs suck. My back was killing me from those cheap chairs! I'm almost six feet tall, and if I'm stuck in any of the seats besides the end seats, it makes it very difficult to get any back-support out of those uncomfortable things. I was also really tired, but that's my own fault, I guess.
Me looking slightly less energetic.
I've been pretty busy and haven't been able to feel rested lately. In my nocturnal world, it's not uncommon for me to stay-up all night and get by on very little sleep without feeling too crappy... but for some reason, even though I've gotten to bed at an almost-reasonable hour every night, I am constantly exhausted and just not feeling well. I think that just being busy and having a lot on my mind has really effected my sleep and state of mind. I decided that it was best for me to take a few days off after the 'Ladies Championship', even though it meant that I had to miss the $2500 6-Handed NLHE. I had planned on playing about 20 events, but I might have to skip a lot of events just to keep myself from stressing out and maybe playing badly as a result of it.
Yesterday, I spent a whole blissful day of doing absolutely nothing. Man, was that fun! Today I had two Bodog TLB matches, which was my only resposibility scheduled. I won both of my heads-up matches, so maybe it's a sign that I might be playing better because I'm not stressed-out and tired! Aside from that, I spent a few hours playing the new Iron Maiden track-pack for Rock Band 2 which came out today, and then Lex and I went to see the movie Up in 3D at the Palms with some friends. I highly recommend both activities 
Here's a YouTube video I made of me playing 'Hallowed Be Thy Name' by Iron Maiden (there's even an added shout-out to Toronto in the end!):
Tomorrow I'll be playing in the $1500 NLHE Shoot-out. I really like shoot-outs, and I'm looking forward to it. I'm also happy that I won't have to play the whole day, whether I win my first table or not. There's always plenty of down-time while all the tables play down to the winner. Maybe I can come home for some Xbox in between rounds!
Also, happy birthday to David Williams (June 9th), who celebrated in true Vegas style all weekend
***You can find me on the Evelyn Ng table on Bodog http://www.bodog.com***
***Follow me on Twitter! http://www.twitter.com/evybabee***
Komentarze
LOL I must admit that's the strangest band I've ever seen playing an Iron Maiden song... 
Great blog and updates. GL 2u and Lex.
Evelyn, I agree with you. I don't often like things that are separated by gender or by age. However, a women's or seniors tournament is probably a good idea. Broadening poker's appeal is important.
If some women and seniors feel more comfortable in an event without 22-year-old prodigies or 45-yaar-old WSOP veterans, having a special event for them is OK to me. Given the WSOP's scheduling, I'm not sure it's physically possible to play in all the events anyway so there are two that can be crossed off the list.
That said, it's concerning that barely more than 1,000 runners competing in the Women's Event this week (I'll use that term instead of "Ladies' Event" in the future). It was the Women's World Championship. The buy-in was $1,000.
I'm not sure how the WSOP could be more accomodating yet I think there were fewer players than last year. I also believe the percentage of women in 2008's Main Event decreased from 2007, although the sheer number of females increased. Two not-so-great signs when it comes to growing the game among women.
<3 you. "the" Maridu (hehehe)