The Quiet Revolution of Women in Online Poker: How Digital Play Is Reshaping the Game

Poker is the king of card gambling games, and this descendant of poque sunk its teeth into American culture in the 19th century, during the Gold Rush period and the Wild West. Even though today it is a sophisticated social activity usually enjoyed in high-end establishments, many still link it with poorly-lit back-door rooms. Moreover, despite the dramatic increase in the number of female players, it is still primarily seen as a man’s activity dominated by a bravado culture.

Women who enter this world, sadly, for the most part, are still seen as curiosities, with their skills getting overshadowed by gender stereotypes. For many, it is hard to shake preconceptions and biases built up over a lifetime of societal pigeonholing. Thankfully, the digital age has given birth to online poker, which, with its penchant for anonymity, global reach, and accessibility, has done loads to empower women to compete in top-level card action and excel in it.

Per a 2024 YouGov report, the worldwide ratio of men vs. female poker gamblers is now 75% to 25% in favor of males, which aligns with general gambling trends. While that may look like a massive gap, it is worth pointing out that a few decades ago, women barely constituted 5% of players in live poker rooms. Therefore, this surge indicates that interest in the game among women is growing rapidly, which is to be expected, as online platforms have lowered barriers to entry, offer low-cost games, and have robust social capabilities. All this has led them to foster a new era of inclusivity and redefine a game that got seen as a male bastion.

Women's History in Poker

As noted above, poker’s roots can be traced back to the 19th-century American frontier. That is shocking to many, as this game is far younger than most people were aware of. It morphed into its modern form from the mentioned French poque and the Persian as-nas. Many think it originated from Faro, but that is not a direct relative. It is a game of chance that was equally as popular in North America in the late West period, especially in Arizona.

In an era synonymous with masculinity, Alice Ivers rose as a female card gambling trailblazer, a legendary cardsharp who defied norms by running her own gambling house. Born in 1851, she earned the nickname Poker Alice after earning a reputation for herself as a skilled player of a game she turned to for financial support after the death of her first husband.

Until the 1970s rolled around and the World Series of Poker got up and running, Alice Ivers was likely the only female card shark most gamblers had heard of. However, after the WSOP started, other women began making names for themselves in the sphere. Vera Richmond was the first woman to win an open WSOP event, and Barbara Enright, the victor of the 1986 Ladies WSOP Championship, became the first woman to reach the WSOP Main Event final table in 1995.

Jennifer Harman, Kathy Liebert, and Joanne Liu also did a lot to dispel the notion that women players were less aggressive, less analytical, and less psychologically savvy.

The Online Poker Boom - A Level Playing Field

In 2003, as real money online poker was heating up, with the emergence of Internet satellite events, Chris Moneymaker sent this sector into a new stratosphere by winning the WSOP Main Event that year by qualifying for it through one. Fueled by platforms like PokerStars and PartyPoker, the online domain flourished, revolutionizing the game for women.

Kristen Foxen was one of the original female Internet poker phenoms. In the mid-2000s, she rose to prominence under the monikers krissyb24 on PokerStars and krissy24 on Full Tilt. She then transferred her online success to the WSOP realm, winning five bracelets and finishing 13th in the 2024 Main Event.

Without question, the accessibility of Internet card gambling hubs introduced was transformative. They featured micro-stakes games starting at $0.01/$0.02, making poker affordable to all, even for women with limited resources, curious to try the game. Freeroll tournaments, ones requiring no buy-ins but still offering cash prizes, also did much to help, boosting women’s online tournament entries sizably post-2010.

Building Communities - Women’s Poker Networks

It must be pointed out that over the past three decades, women’s rise in online poker and the game in general has been largely fueled by the communities that pros like Kathy Liebert have aided in building. Today, women have support and education networks and even a Women in Poker Hall of Fame, founded in 2008.

In more recent years, platforms like X and Discord have become homes to vibrant women’s poker groups, and organizations like The Ladies Poker League now host online tournaments and strategy sessions that have been many females’ first steps into this arena. The renowned streaming platform Twitch is also being used by people like PokerStars ambassador Georgina James to guide girls into poker entertainment by showcasing women’s expertise in the game. Maria Ho, a Poker Hall of Fame and award-winning TV personality, was doing the same on YouTube and her official site, before it was cool.