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Equity v Equality: Context about Women in Poker
Gather ‘round, class. I think it’s time for a discussion. Yes, it’s about women in poker, but it’s also about equality and equity.
Wait, come back! Give me a chance to explain. Don’t worry; you can still scream “WOKE!” and walk away when I’m done, only having dedicated a few minutes of your life to reading this. You’ll live to complain about it on X.
Vanessa v Ben
There has been a very contentious kerfuffle over on Twitter/X for nearly a week. It started when CoinPoker announced that Benjamin “Bencb” Rolle would be its newest ambassador. Vanessa Kade weighed in to say it was a disappointing move to hire an “overt sexist.”
Where It Actually Started
The abbreviated backstory is that Rolle often spews longwinded opinions about things that are evidently very important to his life, like gender. He did that on an Instagram post in mid-June of this year, just around the time that women were gathering for a week of women-only poker tournaments in Las Vegas during the WSOP. Women in groups can trigger some men, and Rolle appeared to fall victim when he posted about men being better at poker than women.
When Blaise Bourgeois (a man – gasp) called out the post on X for its lack of context and understanding, Rolle accused Bourgeois of engagement farming (irony notwithstanding), accused anyone with a different opinion of not being able to handle reality, wrote about women being more emotional than men (irony notwithstanding, again), and explained biological gender differences to the class. I’ll link the full tweet for the curious.
When Alex O’Brien (a woman, poker player, and science writer – gasp) kindly offered to debate the topic, Rolle dismissed her as a stranger from the internet, and dismissed her entire book The Truth Detective with “cool stuff but…” and by asking that she post “nuggets” on X. Other women, like Victoria Livschitz, offered to debate him as well, but he wasn’t interested.
Kade weighed in with her own competitively longwinded tweet, explaining the concept of inequity for women in poker due to a lack of high-stakes backing opportunities, lack of inclusion in high-level poker discussion cliques and groups, presence of harassment, and a very notable lack of data. I’ll link her full tweet as well.
Most X interactions in response to the initial discussion came in the form of insults and diversions, which was predictable given the topic and forum.
When It Returned
The recent news that Rolle obtained a sponsorship (another one, as he has had no lack of lucrative opportunities) prompted Kade’s tweeted objection. From there, again, the discussion devolved into personal attacks, insults, sharing of private messages, bandwagon comments, and over-the-top wackadoodle responses.
In true male-dominated-arena fashion on a forum with no moderation, Rolle and many men tried to explain his opinions about women, and a few women and men defended Kade’s opinions about women in poker (from her perspective as an actual woman in poker). Mostly, however, the responses to Kade’s tweets were intolerable insults that overshadowed any hope for constructive chatter.
Necessary Context
There have been many takes on the topic and will be more. Gender is an issue in poker for many reasons, most notably because there are so few people who play poker who are not men. After decades of efforts to attract more women to poker, women continue to be approximately 3% to 5% of tournament fields. Though more women tend to play dailies (often unreported tournaments), online poker, and cash games, the numbers are still low (but incalculable due to the lack of data).
The primary reason for the consistent lack of full understanding with regard to women in poker is the non-distinction between equality and equity.
As he often does, Matt Berkey offered a nuanced take on the Kade v Rolle tweet battle. (Okay, it was nuanced minus his personal feelings about some of the people involved, which he admits and qualifies.) On an Only Friends podcast this week, the male group of hosts discussed the topic with Berkey providing the overarching context. You can listen for yourself, starting at the 49-minute mark of this episode:
A couple of points are worth an outtake.
- Berkey noted that a lot of people defended Rolle, specifically men who were triggered by Kade’s use of the term “overt sexist.” What Berkey didn’t do was balance that by saying that many people defended Rolle by giving him the benefit of every doubt, extolling his virtues as a “high value content creator” and “nice guy” who works hard and expresses views shared by men and women alike. In fact, Rolle didn’t even weigh in on this current battle on X, as his friends and fans did it for him. Meanwhile, they attacked Kade at every turn, commenting on everything from her looks to her intelligence.
- In agreement with a tweet from Will Jaffe, Berkey took issue with qualifying Rolle as an “overt” sexist by saying that there are many men who express markedly more sexist opinions. In my opinion, ranking Rolle’s level of sexism as compared to others erroneously puts the onus on Kade to match her level of outrage with the level of sexism in play.
- “There’s no level playing field here,” Berkey said about poker, referencing socioeconomic, racial, ethnic, and gender differences contributing to privilege in poker. He went on to specifically address the reasons that women do not have a level playing field in poker due to access to money, access to poker knowledge, access to the brightest minds in poker. By calling out young players like Landon Tice and his access to knowledge, peers, and games, Berkey noted that access for non-young-white-male players is limited in many poker circles. Vanessa Selbst broke that mold through sheer aggression, though she was much maligned for that same aggression. Liv Boeree and Kristen Foxen have overcome the usual barriers, but their partners were/are in that young, male, high-stakes poker demographic with almost unlimited access to great poker minds.
Equality and Equity for Women in Poker
Who’s still with me? I’m just getting to the good part. Humor me. Don’t leave yet!
The point from Berkey about a lack of a level playing field in poker is vital in explaining why gender matters in poker. It is the difference between equality and equity.
- Equality: At its core, poker is a game open to all, equally. Everyone of legal age – no matter their gender, race, ethnicity, even physical ability for the most part – can play poker.
- Equity: As a result of being generally unwelcomed – marginalized, in many cases – in the poker community for much of the game’s history, women have only recently entered the poker sphere in somewhat larger numbers. They also face adversities unique to non-male players, such as verbal and physical harassment, lack of expectation and support, traditional societal and familial roles and responsibilities, and lack of access to resources.
This video explains equality versus equity in a powerful way, and it applies to poker as it does in most facets of life. (Excuse the bible verse at the end, as I’m not making a religious point.)
For the reasons I mentioned in the equity bullet point before this video, equity matters for women in poker. Notice that tradition, history, and factors outside of one’s control play an integral role in the situation at hand. While everyone in poker can start at the same point – same number of chips, same timed levels, even the same poker courses leading up to the game – other factors will inevitably influence the outcome.
This is why women-only poker tournaments exist to make women comfortable in poker games. This is why there are women-only poker organizations and groups dedicated to supporting women and creating community.
Full Circle Moment
How does this apply to the Kade v Rolle (now Kade v Rolle/Martin/Depaulo/et al) war of words?
When Kade calls out sexism, she has a unique perspective of it from her place in poker. This can spur healthy conversations about improving poker for women. Or, in cases like this week’s online battle, it can prompt men to insult her for being (insert pejorative term), for “overreacting,” for using terminology that makes them uncomfortable, and for suggesting they think outside of their bubbles.
There is no perfect spokesperson for women in poker. We all have our faults, made mistakes, and misjudged and misplayed situations. We grow and evolve, and we all have unique experiences that we bring to the table, experiences that are uniquely ours as women. Insulting, demeaning, degrading, and criticizing doesn’t change that.
The go-to argument for many men and even some women in poker is equality. Poker is an equal playing field without favor. But when you look at the importance of equity, which includes past and present extenuating factors and circumstances, it opens up new levels of discussion…for those willing to see the bigger picture.
Class dismissed. Thanks for reading.
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