Head to any poker tournament or card room and the odds are that the vast majority of players are male. Efforts to bring more women to the tables have been underway for several years, with mixed results.
But one woman is not only hoping to change that, but also looking to teach women to use some of the skills they learn at the table to advance their careers and make better decisions in the business world.
“Poker is a really special tool to have in your toolkit,” Chicago options trader and founder of Poker Power Jenny Just recently told a group of women at the University of Chicago.
Hitting the Tables
Poker Power’s goal is not only to teach one million women how to play the game, but also to show them how the skill they learn can be applied to their lives. The University of Chicago event attracted several women who’d never played poker before.
What are some of the benefits for women learning the game?
“Practicing risk taking,” Just told CBS News recently. “It is the ability to make decisions with incomplete information and to practice doing that over and over again.”
Poker Skill in the Board Room
The group’s events feature women learning how to play the game and competing at the tables. Just first became interested when her teenage daughter began playing poker with friends.
Just began playing as well and soon felt more confident in the poker room and in the boardroom, both environments often dominated by men.
“I’ve been playing poker my whole life, I just didn’t know it,” she says. “If we want equality in the workplace, we have to be decision makers and be skilled around money.”
Poker Power now hopes to bring more women into the game and help them in these environments – one hand at a time.
