Women in Poker

No longer is Poker a game played in a back room filled with cigar smoke, whiskey served by busty women in small costumes to rotund men. Even in the most fashionable manors, minus the busty waitresses, the smoke-filled rooms held only the men.

Today, poker is seen as a game of high fashion to which all the wild girls flock, including celebrities of all types and stars of stage and screen. And many of them are playing to win seats at high profile championships.

Take glamour model Abi Titmus for instance. She has signed on for this year's Ladbrokes Poker European Ladies Championship. She'll be in good company with 49 other women who will take part in the Championship in May. Titmus may be the most surprising addition to the lineup, but Ladbrokes Poker spokesperson Samantha Alleyne called the completion "the FA cup of the poker circuit...an unmissable tournament guaranteed to deliver a few shock results".

This tournament boasts many celebrity competitors. Many have proceeded to succeed at the highest levels of poker competition in the past, which speaks well of their abilities and the validity of this venue. Shannon Elizabeth, for example, went on to finish third at a National Heads-Up Poker Championship and Soccer AM's, Helen Chamberlain, came in an impressive second at the Ladbrokes Poker Million.

First Time Playing Poker

With the growth of the internet the growth of online poker players has also increased around the world. Online poker has provided people with a much easier and more convenient way to play poker games. Due to this convenience the majority of the games players prefer to play online poker rather than take the time and make the effort to visit a casino or other land based poker room. Playing poker games in real life or at one of the hundreds of online casino and poker sites for the first time can be overwhelming to a complete beginner. You may feel like a small fish amongst the sharks with no real idea what you are doing and losing chips fast. Before playing poker for the first time it is advisable to at least get a basic understanding of how the game is played.

You can do this several ways; the first is to read about the game. By searching online you can find hundreds of articles and pages explaining the rules of poker. The second way to learn about poker is by watching it on the television. There are several late night poker shows you can tune into, watching the pro's play can give you plenty of tips. The TV shows also like to explain why each hand wins with nice computer graphics.

The third method of learning about playing poker for the first time would be to actually play the game, you could play against your friends or even online. Online practice tables are not uncommon and good poker sites are happy to provide you with some dummy money or "fun money" chips. You can use these pretend chips to play for fun against others and practice your game. If you do decide to actually bet for real money make sure you have the money to spare, playing poker is easy but mastering the game is not. Practice is the only thing that can make you better at playing poker.