Top Female Poker Pro Kristen Bicknell Shares Thoughts On Misogyny in Poker

Last Updated on March 29, 2021 Author:Gabrielle Monet

kristen bicknellKristen Bicknell is one of the world’s most successful female poker players. She is a three-time World Series of Poker (WSOP) bracelet winner and a back-to-back female GPI Player of the Year. Throughout her career, she has amassed over $5 million in live earnings, enough to put her at number 15 of Canada’s All Time Money List.

Bicknell’s success in poker proves that women has a place in the game, and amid the recent controversies on the subject of gender bias and misogyny in the world of poker, Bicknell wants to send out a message to all aspiring female poker pros – do not focus on the negative.

While Bicknell acknowledges that misogyny indeed exists in poker, dwelling on the negativity will only make matters worse. From a personal standpoint, the Canadian poker pro said she has experienced “more positive than negative” playing the game.

Bicknell shared that she too had become subject to misogynistic attacks numerous times in her career, but she chooses not to pay too much attention to the negativity as it won’t do her any good.

Men Also Deal With The Same Challenges

The 34-year-old, who is widely considered one of the best female poker players of all time, went on to say that it’s not only women who are treated rudely and discriminated upon in a poker room. Men also have similar struggles.

Bicknell’s views come amid the Vanessa Kade-Dan Bilzerian-GGPoker saga. In December 2020, Kade strongly criticized the signing of Bilzerian as GGPoker’s newest brand ambassador. Three months later, GGPoker terminated Kade’s affiliate account with the site as a form of punishment, and the bad news was delivered to her right as the world was celebrating International Women’s Day.

That controversy once again highlighted the long-standing issue of gender bias in poker, with Kade gaining sympathy from the poker community.

She has since moved on from that painful experience – she subsequently secured a sponsorship deal with Americas Cardroom and recently won the Sunday Million 15th anniversary event on PokerStars for $1.5 million.

Poker Community Supports Bicknell

Meanwhile, some prominent poker pros supported Bicknell’s thoughts, among them was Justin Bonomo who sits in second place on Hendon Mob’s All Time Money List. Bonomo said there is no “one size fits all” approach to these scenarios.

Phil Galfond‘s wife Farah also chimed in on the conversation, saying she shares a similar opinion with Bicknell.

  Contact Me

Gabrielle is our resident French author, as well as managing our French site she specialises in breaking the latest European poker stories whether related to France or not.

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