When you enter a poker tournament, do you ever look around to see how many women are playing? Do you wonder if there will be a “pro” at your table to cause you stress and grief? The truth is, both are a good probability with women’s success on the rise in the poker industry. Still, women make up less than 5 percent of most playing fields in tournaments.

The most untapped market today in poker is women. The online sites want them and are patiently waiting to scoop up the next winner to add to their promotable stable of professional players. One very possible venue for these ladies on the rise to emerge from is ladies-only poker tours. New women’s poker tours are popping up on an average of two a year, promoting events for women and providing environments for women to learn how to build their game and move into open events.

One of the most successful women poker tours traveling around the United States is the High Heels Poker Tour (HHPT). With founder Lauren Failla at the wheel, she plans to make the tour international and increase women’s interest in poker. “The only tour that existed prior to 2007 when the HHPT began was on the West Coast. With research in hand and realizing that women’s poker was virtually non-existent on the East Coast, I decided to create an outlet where women could make their mark,” she says. “Understanding the market is paramount as I continue through this journey to bring women’s poker to the next level. The High Heels Poker Tour now has events all over the United States and abroad. In looking toward the future, my efforts will continue to focus on this demographic while creating new and exciting opportunities for the HHPT and HHPT Academy for Women.” (more…)

The field for the WSOP Tournament of Champions has been announced and contains 20 of the worlds most prominent poker all stars. With $1 million dollars in prize money up for grabs, the play is sure to  of the highest caliber.

Poker’s very first fan-voted Tournament of Champions will feature 20 of the game’s most notable players, as 355,081 votes were cast to determine who will compete for $1 million in prize money in the 2010 World Series of Poker Tournament of Champions on Sunday, June 27 at the Rio All-Suite Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas.
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LAS VEGAS – WSOP.com, the UK-only facing online poker website of the World Series of Poker, announced today that Andrew Barton, 33, from Dudley, England, has won his way to the Rio Hotel in Las Vegas to compete in the 2010 World Series of Poker Tournament of Champions on Sunday, June 27.

Barton wins a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity that includes an all-expense paid trip to Las Vegas; a seat into the internationally televised-poker tournament; a chance to compete for up to $1 million in prize money; and the distinction of being the lone non-poker professional to sit among the game’s greatest players in the center of the poker universe, the World Series of Poker in the famed Amazon Room at the Rio Hotel in Las Vegas. (more…)

LAS VEGAS, Nevada — (PRESS RELEASE) — Poker players are among the most generous and charity-conscious people on the planet. They continually use the game of poker to help raise awareness and funds for many worthy causes throughout the calendar year.

The World Series of Poker will again use its platform in 2010 to bolster their efforts.The Nevada Cancer Institute (www.nevadacancerinstitute.org) is the official community partner of the World Series of Poker.

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Charity poker events have become commonplace in today’s gambling world and benefit many organizations. Annie Duke hosted an event to benefit the After-School All-Stars (ASAS), which began last Thursday.

At the Commerce Casino on Thursday, an interesting and eclectic group will come together to raise money for Arnold Schwarzenegger’s nonprofit after-school program, After-School All-Stars.
There will be poker players (like Annie Duke and Tiffany Michelle), actors (like Don Cheadle of Hotel Rwanda, Brad Garrett of Everybody Loves Raymond, David Zayas of Dexter, and Joshua Malina of The West Wing), and even the occasional politician (like Beverly Hills mayor Jimmy Delshad). (more…)