Liv Boeree Talks About Female Poker Player Challenges

With career winnings of over $2,000,000 in live poker tournament earnings, Liv Boeree is one of the top female poker players on the circuit. She has been successful beyond poker as well, gaining popularity as a top TV presenter and model.

Originally from Kent, England, Boeree came into the limelight when she took part in a reality poker TV show. From there she moved to hosting poker coverage shows and then started her career as a poker player herself.

In her poker career of seven years, Boeree has stacked up some major wins, starting from the European Ladies Championship in 2008 for $42,000 to the European Poker Tour (EPT) Season 6 San Remo event in 2010 where she won a large cash prize of $1,698,300.

She has also tasted success in online poker, winning the PokerStars Sunday Warm-Up in 2011 to take home prize money of $147,780.

Interview with Liv Boeree with London Real:

Her first time playing live poker was when she was 21, in a £5 rebuy while she had just £10 with her in a cardroom in London. She had to compete against 125 players in the tournament and remembers getting a lot of attention back then as she was the only female poker player playing live poker. Though she enjoyed the experience, she found being a beginner and a female player a tough experience at the start.

Liv Boeree has come a long way since then and is now a member of Team PokerStars Pro and she campaigns to not only promote the brand but also to encourage more women to play poker. Boree opened up recently on her experience as a female player in a largely male-dominated game.

Commenting on the lack of women on the poker circuit, Boree said that although women are still very much underrepresented, things are a lot better today. According to her, the lack of women in the game was largely due to a combination of historical and social factors. Things have changed over the years and there are more women poker players attending live events and Boeree believes that as these female poker players taste more success, their winnings and popularity will be a platform to bring in more female poker players.

In a statement, Boeree said

Things are getting a lot better although we are still very much underrepresented. I get very angry when people say the female brain is not cut out for poker.

It drives me mad. The lack of women in the game is likely a combination of historical and societal factors. Also evolutionary factors play a part with males being more competitive and females more nurturing. Poker became popular at a time when women weren’t welcome.