The World Series of Poker (WSOP) is always full of surprises. With regard to this, the poker tournament is no disappointment this year. It takes place in Las Vegas right now. The most recent reason for all the headlines and the smiles is: male poker players enter the ladies event.

Only for the Ladies

At the WSOP there are certain tournaments for female poker players since 1977. Back then, it started with a rather low buy-in of only $100. In the meantime, it became a tournament of superlatives – the $1000 Ladies No Limit Hold’em World Championship is the most important poker tournament for the ladies and pays a price pool of more than 1 Million Dollars. The participants are the best female poker players of the world and they are amongst the winners of other tournaments, too. This year the winner was the French female player Vanessa Hellebuyck who was participating at the WSOP for the first time in her life.

Male Participants

However, the Ladies Event 2010 was clouded by other participants – male ones. To their surprise, the female players had to recognize that were some male players at the tables, amongst them were the poker pros Shaun Deep and David Sesson. Many spectators showed their displeasure even though the male players were not prevented from participation. Most of the female participants took this situations with humor – especially Shaun Deep, participating dressed a woman, received much laughter. However, the male players may not laugh any more: the management of the WSOP announces consequences that could even result in a lifelong ban at the WSOP. Sesson, who participated because he had lost a bet, regrets his actions and hopes not to have offended anyone. The most important result was achieved by the ladies themselves: all men were eliminated from the tournament before they came into the money.