Some of the major centers of poker are also the most sexual cities in the United States, the name New Orleans and then Las Vegas. These cities are literally brimming with sex, and while this paper doesn’t attempt to make a moralistic argument criticizing the lifestyle of these wild cities, many of these images have stuck to the game of poker itself. Perhaps this phenomenon wouldn’t be so bad if it were played out evenly between the sexes, but what we see is only a partial depiction of women in the cloak advertising for poker sites. One just needs to log on to the internet and search for “Women and Poker” to have a dozen women in bikinis immediately appear on the screen.
In fact, you literally ran a search for Situs Casino Resmi “Women and Poker”, and here are some surprising results. In no particular order, we present the 10 best poker sites on the web:
-Pokerium Online Poker Rooms and Casinos: The front page of this website is a fine model of taste and restraint. Many searches yield interesting results, but this website excels. On opening the home page, one finds an illustration of a brown-haired vixen with a little flower in her hair (no real woman was harmed during the production of this design). The interesting part about this image is that it is housed inside a large Ace of Clubs. In the center of the card, where the woman is, lies a very large club, and the rod of the club happens to end up in the middle of the woman’s crotch. While it’s possible that this not-so-subtle satire was unintentional, we wouldn’t bet on it.
-Next on our list is a deliciously delicious advert on hollywoodpoker.com for their “Babes & Bounties” tournament. To begin with, the title itself should be enough to ruffle the feathers of most female poker players. Then, the image used on the page is of a woman in a bikini with money in the background behind her. And finally, for those players who aren’t sold with the picture in the middle, the site claims that “12 of the sexiest poker hostesses in the game” will be at the table. This is a good thing too, because most serious poker players refuse to play in tournaments with less than 8 sexy poker hostesses. Finally, just to make sure that one can see all the different features on the side, there is an image of a woman on the left side of the screen wearing her somewhat unsupportive underwear lying in front of a laptop with poker chips lying around her body. She happily wears a nice pair of white high heels so she can model any time during her poker game. Really classy website.
-PokerWorld.com, a rising online card room, is another tastefully crafted website, with nothing to offend but save for their new “Topless Bonus”. “No Top Bonus: The Shape of Things to Come” seems very interesting: with this promotion they will “boost” your account with a free 20% bonus. The stingy bonus is not only far from the 200% bonus circulating on various sites, but also offensive to the eye. They advertised it with a tiny silhouette of a woman, exposing almost nothing. Why they chose to try and hook up 20% with topless women is a mystery, but they definitely did.
-Not to be outdone, Jungle Poker has its own female spokesperson: none other than the lovely Cheynelle Fraser, a bartender/model who is now the official face of Jungle Poker. Why a poker site would need a sizzling hot model as a spokesperson is a huge mystery. We suspect that’s because the photos of Cheynelle – which include some great cleavage photos – must have something to do with poker and nothing to do with selling sexuality. While the site may be using Cheynelle’s gorgeous looks to help promote their site, they’re not just about Q&A on their site: on the front page of the site they have an advert for their heads at Sit & Go tournaments, featuring two headshots of a man and a man. women, both fully clothed, challenge each other to a card game. Hooray for equality!
-Europe is no exception when it comes to using alluring images of the female form to help them sell their products. In a recent article published on poker.gamble.co.uk, the author wrote about the upcoming Great British Poker Tour, and the main image of this article is of a naked woman relaxing in a bathtub full of poker chips. Good thing they posted this picture, because nothing says the Great British Poker Tour better than women naked in poker chips.
-The most gruesome result found during the search came from best-poker-rakeback.net in their rakeback ad, which features a scary illustration of a zombie woman in a corset, fishnet stockings, heels, and short skirt using a rake to collect some playing cards that are sure to fall from the tree. While the idea of having someone actually sweep the poker cards is hilarious, we’re not convinced about the need for a sexy undead woman.
-Gambling blog Oddjack pays homage to poker women in an article entitled “Top 10 Sexiest Women of Poker”. This enlightening four-part series takes readers through a list of what they consider the sexiest women in the poker world. Just to give you a little idea of their picture of these women, we’re going to look at the first three women they talk about. Each woman has a picture with writing underneath. At number ten on their list is Courtney Friel, the television hostess for the world poker tour. The image they have of her is in a frilly tank top: fair enough. He’s obviously fine with his photo considering he’s modeling it. Underneath the image was a caption that read, “Stop teasing us, Courtney, tear that rope!”
The next featured profile is Evelyn Ng’s profile. Underneath the photo they put a quote that says, “Evelyn has been such a sweet trip…” Unfortunately, they didn’t even try to get creative with this comment, the only possible connotation for this statement is a sexual one. They also commented on her profile that she won the WPT Ladies Night show and that, “Yup, she kicks ass. Annie Duke and Kathy Liebert’s donkey. Ass I don’t want to see anytime soon. It doesn’t matter how much they pay me for. This hilarious joke about the physical assets of two of poker’s biggest female players is insulting.
At number 8 on their list is none other than Lily Elviro. This strong poker player, apart from being a strong poker player, also has a good physique. The picture they used for him was taken during a poker tournament he was playing and showed him at the table holding a pair of cards. She leaned forward slightly showing her not-too-small breasts. Unable to resist, the comment under the photo said, “It’s hard for Lily to always carry puppies like that.” If it weren’t for such brilliant writing, most of us would be completely missing out on a feature that’s hard to miss.
-Next on our list is an article written by Toby Bochan on his poker blog. This photo article, featured on about.com, is titled “The hottest women in poker”, and is essentially an amateur photo gallery of professional female poker players. The women featured in this article are Evelyn Ng, Shannon Elizabeth, Clonie Gowen, Jennifer Tilly, Liz Lieu, Vanessa Rousso, Isabelle Mercier, Cyndy Violette, Jennifer Harman, Annie Duke, Kristy Gazes, Chantel McNutty, and Jennefer “Jennicide” Leigh. . Perhaps the most disturbing part about this gallery is not that these women posted their pictures, but none of the pictures are studio shots. They all look like photos taken discreetly on a digital camera. Does this strike anyone scary?
-Coming last on our list is none other than Full Tilt Poker, which recently put out a challenge between Paris Hilton and Clonie Gowen. Their hearts are definitely in the right place: they will host a heads-up challenge between two women and the winner will take the $100,000 prize and donate it to a charity of his choice. This sounds great, so why did it make our trash list? Well, if you go to the website, the page they created for this challenge put these two ladies on top of each other. The title for their stats is called their “Sexy Stats,” and just to make sure that the best poker players win, they even add “Who is hotter?” poll at the bottom of the page.
Thus concludes our list of lousy websites (NEED TO THINK THE WAY OF PRINTING THIS ARTICLE). Part IV will conclude “Women and Poker” by discussing what the future holds for women and poker.