Soapbox is a new regular series of passionate rants from poker players around the world. Have you got something you want to get off your chest? Just email us at hello@poker.org with a brief outline and you can get your very own Soapbox to rant from. You can get involved in the debate by adding your comments underneath the article.
A $600 buy-in Ladies event at Wynn Las Vegas caused a stir this summer when the remaining 15 players agreed to a chop, with Lisa Childers going on to claim the trophy. Lindsey Rowley-Kludt was quick to criticise the chop on X and has opened up about why she's not a fan of what happened.
When I heard about the 15-way chop in the Wynn Ladies event, my immediate reaction, like most of the people around me, was that it was laughable. It just felt absurd, and that's not the reflection that women in poker want: we don't want to be laughed at. We don't want to be the butt of the joke; we’re serious competitors here. This dumb thing that people decided to do reflects on all of us.
Then, once I had paused and taken some time to look at it and looked at all the different angles, I could see why they might decide to make a decision like that. It was late in the morning, they hadn’t had a dinner break... there were factors that led to that decision. But still, I don't think there should ever, ever be a reason to chop a tournament 15 ways.
You can be both friendly and competitive
Women's events are different, it’s true. They create an environment that, the majority of the time, is usually really open and warm, friendly, and chatty. People are getting to know each other and it's pretty loose and open, but it's still a competitive environment. There are differing dynamics too, of course, at various tables, but the majority of the time you have people chit-chatting and stuff, but that’s at the same time as big hands are being played.
And that’s because we can multitask. Women can f***ing do everything. And these are women who have raised children and have partners. Some even have multiple partners—we can manage a lot of things!
We can play hands and have a serious discussion at the same time, even when we’re playing in big games.
I have heard people say that they don't like ladies events because they're social and because people aren't as serious, but I don't feel that way; I absolutely love them. Women have always taken a ton of time and effort to be serious competitors, but I also love and enjoy that recreational women come out just for ladies events. I think it's a blast. Something like the WSOP Ladies Championship is an event that brings out friends that I only see at that particular time of year, as well as, for example, some dealers I know who only play that event. It's something special and fun.
I have friends in the game, and we're going to battle against each other, but that doesn't mean that we're going to fight about it. Kyna [England] has beaten me heads-up for a trophy, and she's one of my best friends in the world. We can set all of that aside, battle strongly, be big competitors, and still remain close and connected.
But no chops.
