The Image of Poker

By Crystal Osgood-Gray

It seems I’ve been playing poker forever; although for many years few people outside my closest friends and poker buddies knew of my secret pastime.   But, as the poker industry has grown so has the acceptance of poker.  Tell anyone nowadays that you are a professional poker player and you’re likely to get a response like “that’s cool.” With poker becoming a part of the cultural mainstream in the last few years, I have been less guarded about telling others of my involvement.  However, I continue to learn the hard way that not everyone is a fan and old stigmas die hard.

Recently, I have been looking at private schools in San Diego to enroll my daughter in first grade.  We have researched and visited several schools and filled out forms here and there to start the application process.  When asked about employment, rather than claim professional poker player as my occupation or President of the Ladies Poker Association, I chose to say simply that I was the owner of a small business.  That information wasn’t always sufficient for some schools where I endured probing questions related to employment, including hours of commitment, finances, address, phone, and other. 

We entered into the final stages of enrollment at one school, whereupon the director of the school phoned me to discuss the details.  I missed the director’s call and he was forced to leave a message on my voicemail, which answered as the Ladies Poker Association.  Later, when I spoke to the director, who had always been cheerful and courteous, he was now distant and sterile.  Clearly something had changed his mind about our attending his school, although he wasn’t specific.  Shortly thereafter, I received a rejection notice in the mail. 

In the same week, I was attending a luncheon with a friend in Los Angeles.  I brought him two LPA hats as he is fond of baseball caps and always likes to receive gifts.  The hats were sitting on the table when the waitress came by.  She picked up one of the caps and read the caption on the front.  “You can have one,” my friend said. “I have no need for two.”  “Oh goodness no,” replied the waitress.  “Everyone will think I am a compulsive gambler.  It is all right for you.  I mean you are a man. But me, a women playing poker, well I wouldn’t want them to get the wrong idea.”

Wow, I thought.  There it was again; that judgmental reproach so familiar over the years that I had almost forgotten.  My friend looked at me with apologetic eyes.  “No worries I told him, I’m not embarrassed by it anymore.”  It was the waitress this time that was embarrassed when I told her of my profession. 

I thought poker had come a long way since the days of smoky back-room games, when to be labeled a poker player was to be considered by most to be a compulsive gambler.  But maybe I was wrong.  Or, maybe it has come along way, but just for the men.   Perhaps this is why I chose to start the LPA.

I drove home from LA thinking how important it was for an organization like the LPA to exist so women can have a voice in the industry of poker to elevate them in to the respect we deserve.  I thought about how important it is for women to band together and have a tour of their own, and a ranking system that acknowledges the names who have committed themselves to the sport, as a reward for their efforts.  I thought about how I want my daughter to fight for what she believes in more than going to some stuffy school.