What Tiffany Willaimson did right

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You say that she made mistakes that are common for someone that has been playing for that short a time. Ok, that’s fair enough. Then you try to say that it’s unfair to point out those mistakes and folks are only doing that because she is a woman.

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First off, I never said it's UNFAIR to point out mistakes made, as long as it's done in a, informative, nice and UNCONFRONTATIONAL way. NOT the the way it HAS been done, via personal attacks that have been leveled at Tiffany by calling her names and attacking her PERSONALLY.

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As for your comments on Annie Duke, I have yet to hear why anyone feels that she was speaking for “all women.” Annie is clearly not afraid to “play with the boys,” and I’m not so sure that because she made some comment to that effect that she was implying that other women are – no one has ever been able to give me a direct quote to that effect. She made it quite clear in her book that she played the Omaha event because it paid more money, a reasonable decision considering poker is her main form of income.

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As for Annie, while most of us FIGURED it was because the money was better for the Omaha event, it's NOT what she said on camera.

This as what she said ... it's on Television, filmed for all the world to see what she said. Just watch ESPN Classic the next time they air the 2004 Ladies WSOP event, (it was on again this past weekend), and you'll see what I mean.

Not only that, but she distance herself, when asked why she didn't play in the 2004 Ladies Event, because after all wasn't she an ambassador for Women in POker?? She added (parphrased here) "Well, I also don't play in the ladies events, because what Ladies should aspire to, is the next level like what I play, and what Kathy Leibert and (she named a few other poker pro's) other Women poker players play at".

Well, I know Kathy and several of the other Lady players she mentioned (as they showed footage of them at the time as well), do indeed play in Ladies Only events.

They don't think of Ladies Only events as 'beneath them' as Anne seemed to of implied that she's better than the rest of us, period, and that Ladies Only events are beneath her.

In other words, I took offense, that she was looking down her nose at the rest of us women poker players.

Like I said, watch the episode ... you'll see what I'm talking about.

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I don’t know why you keep saying that women’s events are “harder to win.” The style of play is different, but it’s certainly not the case that women’s events are filled with more skilled players than open events. I go to women’s events mostly to socialize; the adjustments that I have to make to my game playing in a ladies field are actually kind of a pain. I wouldn’t say that women’s events are harder or easier, but different enough that you have to adjust your play.

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Your last sentence there, it is indeed different, and you have to adjust your play BECAUSE you lose the advantages you get from playing with men.

Thus some of the things you do when you play with guys, you just can't get away with, when you play in a Ladies Only event.

You come across as if you resent having to adjust your play to play in Ladies Only events. Well, I think of it as yet another marvolous learning experience.

One that teaches me, provides the ability to me, to learn HOW to adjust my play. This because after all, if you CAN'T adjust your play, then you'll never be a consistantly winning player at tournament poker.

Women only events are HARDER to play and win because the tricks you can use on guys to win, you can't use them there.

Say what you will, but there STILL are guys that treat women differently at the table than their fellow men.

When you sit down at a table in a Ladies Only event, you truly are treated as an equal among your fellow players ... ALL of them.

Hence part of the reason they are harder to play in and harder to win, and also why they are great teachers when it comes to making me a better player overall.

As for how Tiffany was treated as opposed to Marketable Female Pro's ... well, it's all about money after all isn't it?

If ESPN can make more money (gain more viewers) by portraying the pro's (most of them) in a good light, and the beginners in a bad light ... then they are going to do it.

This all said and done, I also think, male or female, the CHIEF problem here ... is amnisia.

I say this because in my almost 3 years of playing poker, I can remember my very first year of playing.

Why you ask? Because of how in many ways, how rudely I was treated by more experienced players, who seemed to of forgotten what it was like when THEY first were learning how to play poker.


The Gaff's the mistakes, both technical and in ediquite, are all part of the learning experience.

Yet MOST players, seem to of chosen selective amnisia in remembering what THEY went through, when they were first learning how to play.

It's like they think they have always been the perfect player from the very first day they picked up a deck of cards to play poker.

It's like they knew each and every time what moves to make, what was considered 'bad form' and thus not to do it, also from the very first day the started to play poker.

I clearly remember, after only playing a mere 5 weeks, and being only my 2nd time of playing in a live B&M game, one guy deciding it was 'pick on the newbie' game day.

He made me the butt of every joke, pointed out in a loud voice every single mistake I made, and made me feel very VERY small. In the end, I grabbed my chips from the table, crying very hard, cashed them in, and ran out of there in tears.

I almost gave up playing poker that day. The management heard what happened after I left, inquiring from others as to why I was so upset, and ejected that player from the establishment (this was before I knew you could call the floor on such things .. yet at the same time, no one ELSE called the floor either, as I suspect they were having too much fun at the newbies (ME) expense).

He then made it his personal business to look up my phone number and call me, assuring me poker wasn't always this way to newbies. After much coaxing on his part, I came back and tried again, and have not stop playing ever since then.

After that, I swore I'd NEVER forget what it was like to walk in those newbie players shoes, and also swore I'd never let another player berrate a newbie for something the newbie just didn't know any better about.

In other words, I've walked in those beginner player shoes, and I won't EVER forget what it felt like.

Thus, I tend to give a LOT more slack to someone who's been playing for a short time, opposed to someone who's been playing for several years, and should KNOW better, and I tend to stick up for newbies, especially when others don't seem to want to.

JMHO, FWIW ...