Poker has lengthy been thought of a “man’s sport”, nevertheless there was a documentary-style movie launched in 2020 that confirmed everybody that ladies might maintain their very own – or higher – once they went up towards their male counterparts on the desk.
Poker Queens offered viewers with a novel perception into what girls would face as they put together to go face-to-face with among the largest names within the sport, with Sandra Mohr’s depiction highlighting simply how intimidating the poker world may very well be to a feminine.
Her depiction, although, was one which managed to obtain an enormous quantity of reward from critics, with these within the poker scene additionally commending the work that was achieved. It helped shine a light-weight on an space that many didn’t know existed whereas additionally serving to to propel among the world’s finest feminine gamers into the headlines wherein they need to have been featured a while in the past.
Which gamers had been included?
Poker Queens does a superb job of making certain that as many individuals from the skilled and movie star spheres are included in this movie. It featured among the most notable feminine gamers identified for enjoying the sport and reaching a constructive repute on the desk, with the likes of Jennifer Tilly, Jennifer Harman and Liv Boeree all making appearances. Poker Queens additionally went additional, although, because it offered distinctive insights from among the largest names in WSOP, with the person with essentially the most bracelets – Phil Hellmuth – and others akin to Wild Bill Hickok.
Mohr’s movie additionally explored how skilled poker gamers have advanced over time. She took a take a look at the formative days of the sport and when it was performed in Saloons all through the Wild West to the fashionable day and the way it’s performed in entrance of tens of millions and by tens of millions, with on-line poker video games now accessible to everybody. However, whereas giving viewers an essential historical past lesson and the way far they’ve come, she does so by maintaining a concentrate on telling tales from the ladies that had been and are concerned as we speak.
She tells comparatively unknown tales about Boeree and Harman and the way they bought into the sport and have become as expert as a few of their male counterparts. At the identical time, she additionally shone a light-weight on those that are nonetheless unknown and largely unknown to these not a part of the skilled poker scene.
Why did Mohr create Poker Queens?
Mohr wished to showcase the gender roles and inequality girls confronted when it got here to enjoying poker. During the Poker Queens movie, she revealed that she was the writer of Black Widow Poker, which was a controversial e-book. In order to put in writing it, she regularly went undercover as a male participant and competed in competitions, akin to taking part within the WSOP Main Event. Viewers of the movie can expertise footage captured as she was undercover, thus giving them a novel perception into what was occurring.
The filmmaker wished to attempt to “encourage extra girls to play” via the movie and hoped to make “males perceive feminine gamers higher”. Various statistics are offered all through the documentary, together with simply 6% of the sphere at a professional match is feminine, though roughly 25% of these watching are girls. Online, it’s claimed round 25% of these enjoying are girls. In order to encourage extra females to play, Mohr consists of overviews which will help present a glimpse into what poker entails.
How did the poker trade obtain Poker Queens?
Following its launch, Poker Queens has continued to be acquired positively by these within the skilled poker trade. It has additionally earned constructive vital evaluations from these outdoors of the trade, thus suggesting that she was profitable in offering an unseen perception into the feminine perspective of this as soon as male-dominated sport.
According to Mohr herself, she revealed in an interview shortly after its launch that she had been reached out to by “so many ladies” who had acknowledged that they’d give enjoying poker a go after watching the documentary. With increasingly girls regularly taking over the sport and hitting the skilled tables lately, it’s a movie that has maybe managed to realize its final end result.
While maybe interesting to girls greater than males, Poker Queens is a movie that males also can take pleasure in studying from. It does effectively to offer an introduction to the sport, whereas it can be a good way for male gamers to find out about sure issues.
