2001 Could Be the Year of a Female Champion
By Susie Isaacs

For a woman to become the first World Champion, to win over a million dollars playing no-limit poker and win the big one, they first must learn to play the game correctly. The odds of a woman winning the "Big One," is of course, slim but not impossible. The reason the odds are slim is due to the limited number of women who enter. The event is primarily dominated by male entrants, as is the norm in most major tournaments, making the ratio of men to women about 25 to 1, in favor of a male winning the "Big One."

No-limit hold'em tournaments have rapidly been increasing in popularity since the early '90s and women are becoming more and more visible in these tournaments. I hope to become the first woman to win the big one, but I also think there are a select handful of talented women out there that also have a chance at the title. To name a few, my partner and student, Debbie Burkhead who has played two of the main events and placed 33rd the same year I took 10th. The very talented, Barbara Enright, who is the only woman ever to make it to the final table and place 5th (the highest finish ever for a woman.) Other top female players who I believe have the talent to become the first female world champion are, Kathy Kolberg, Marsha Waggoner, Kathy Liebert and Jennifer Harmon. There are many more with the ability to win the gold but the ones I've mentioned would be my picks because of their solid play and overall knowledge of the game of no-limit hold'em.

As I have said in my book, MsPoker: Up Close and Personnel, "No-limit Texas hold'em is not for the timid or faint of heart; it will give you gray hair before your time. It is the most stressful but exhilarating and rewarding game I've ever played."

This does not mean it is a game that women should avoid, on the contrary, I think it is a game for women to study. But for women to successfully compete, they first must learn to play the game properly.

If you women have the dream to dance the big dance or play the "Big One" with the "Big Boys," you're going to have to learn how to play no-limit hold'em. To have a shot at becoming the first ever female world champion and winning a million dollars, you must learn to play no-limit hold'em correctly. You can make errors and even misplay hands in limit tournaments and overcome your mistakes. In no-limit one mistake can cost you all your chips, even if you have a mountain. On the other hand, if you have an ant hill of chips, you can double through, then triple through, and then the mountain is in front of you.

Most poker games can be learned by a lot of reading, studying, and participating, but with no-limit I believe you not only need to read, study, and participate, but continue to participate and participate until you get the feeling of how to win the game.

Many players think no-limit Texas hold'em is simply Texas hold'em with a twist, and the twist is that you can bet a lot or all of your chips at any time. Otherwise, it's just like limit. Wrong, wrong, wrong! No-limit is an entirely different game. No-limit is often a game of outplaying your opponents. It is also a game of traps, so you need to learn how to set a trap and how to avoid stepping into one. Another major factor is the art of bluffing. The nature of the game creates an atmosphere conducive to bluffing, and to be successful in no-limit hold'em, you must learn the skill of the bluff. It's not what you have that counts; it's what they think you have. To quote World Series Champion Dr. Max Stern: "In no-limit hold'em, you must be willing to die in order to live."

If you think your heart can take it, then learn the game, practice, practice, practice and some day you could be the first female to win the World Championship and over one million dollars.

For some inexpensive ways to win a seat in the $10,000 event, see my upcoming article in the Poker Pages newsletter.