The five positions they’re seeking to fill include: Treasurer, Secretary, Final Table Celebrations Program Manager, Raise It Up Program Manager, and Community Outreach Liaison.

WPA International Affairs Director Ivonne Montealegre is specifically looking to “make a mark by inviting women from all over the world to apply for these Board positions, rather than be exclusionary.”

Description of the Five Volunteer Roles

Applicants for the Treasurer position should have some sort of background in finance or bookkeeping, as their primary responsibility will be to create and oversee the WPA international Board’s budget.

Applicants for the Secretary position should have a strong working knowledge of Trello and Google Drive, as well as have strong organizational and written skills. Their primary responsibilities will be to assist with the communication among WPA International Board members, keep meeting records, assist with administrative work, and distribute communicative materials.

Applicants to fill the role of Final Table Celebrations Program Manager should be enthusiastic extroverts. This person’s primary role will be to conduct outreach with poker rooms worldwide and coordinate swag and merchandise offerings at the final tables of various events.

Applicants to fill the role of Raise It Up Program Manager should be excited by the prospect of enhancing the profile and visibility of women in the poker world. This role’s primary responsibilities include arranging business meetings with poker room managers and other industry business leaders for the purpose of promoting the WPA’s work in a positive light.

Finally, applicants to fill the role of Community Outreach Liaison should ideally have a background in marketing, sales, or communications, with documented experience in having forged business relationships being advantageous. This person’s primary role will be to identify new business opportunities for the WPA to achieve sponsorship, as well as research new markets in which to begin organizational activity.

Ready to Lend a Hand? Send in Your Application

Interested applicants should send their CV and a cover letter to: [email protected]

As far as commitment required, applicants should be prepared to devote approximately 10-15 hours per week to the respective roles.

Lupe’s term as President has now come to an end, and we caught up with her to hear some of her top highlights from the last few years, her thoughts about the current state of women in poker, and her plans for the future.

The embedded interview is followed by a transcript. Many thanks to the new WPA President Tara Windsor-Smith for her assistance.

Interview Transcript

Hey everybody this is Robbie Strazynski for Cardplayer Lifestyle and I’m here with Lupe Soto, the founder of the Women’s Poker Association and of course a Women in Poker Hall of Famer. How are you today, Lupe?

I’m great. I’m so excited to be here!

Well, a little birdie told me that your term as WPA President has come to an end. So, I figured now would be a good time to catch up with you, talk some about the WPA and your plans moving forward. Sounds good to you?

That sounds great.

Obviously, everyone knows the name Lupe Soto. You’ve done a ton in the poker industry over your career, you founded LIPS, you founded the Senior’s Poker Tour, and all manner of work in the online poker space, and of course you’re probably best known as a fierce advocate to grow the game, specifically for women. What was your vision when you first set out to found the Women’s Poker Association?

It was interesting. When you’re in the trenches of women’s poker and you’re kind of pounding on the doors and trying to get operators to understand the importance of having programming for women so that we can grow the game and all kinds of other reasons. But it was very difficult to do when you’re a proprietary kind of entity. Which I was. Which is LIPS. LIPS is definitely a for-profit business. It’s a poker tour for women. So when you go and share a message under that umbrella, everyone thinks you want something from them. So it’s like yeah, of course I would like your poker room to be a LIPS stop at some point, but that was difficult to separate from the message.

So there was an attempt in about 2009 or something like that. I can’t remember exactly when it was. I got together with a couple of my girlfriends who also had a passion for women in poker and we decided to try the Women’s Poker Association. The challenge with it is that it started to look like a tour. And that was not the objective. And I also believe that the minute you become a tour or another entity that is competing with an operator, there’s a tendency not to have a very open dialogue.

Right.

So we had to go back to the drawing board. Just completely wipe that idea out. And having the association become a non-profit was really the way to go. Simply because, now nobody’s after any dollars, the only dollars that are raised are for the good of the association, and for the betterment and improvement of it overall.

Right.

So that was game-changing.

Right. So I believe the president’s term at the WPA officially is three years. Can you share with us some highlights from your time at the helm of the WPA? Maybe you’ve got some particular achievements that you’re most proud of?

So in the first two years of my five years with the WPA, was in the Executive Director position, in that role. So I didn’t have a vote on the Board. I had a voice, but I didn’t have a vote. So when Bonnie Carl, who was the president at the time, stepped down, I knew that the transition was critical. So I said, ok, I will accept a position as president. But I’m really wanting this to be bigger than me. So I wanted to do one term, which was three years.

I’d say some of the highlights, in our overall mission, one of our missions was to educate women in poker. And having created a partnership with Poker Power, which is another organization that’s mission is to teach women how to play poker, and to instruct women as to how poker as a game translates into real-life business practices and things we can utilize in our regular daily lives. That was a huge thing for me.

Secondly, I think the Raise It Up program, to introduce that into the industry and to ask the industry to embrace it. We are asking all operators and all players to elevate their experience at the game by respecting their players when they’re playing, and to make it more fun so that we can grow the game. So the Raise It Up program is another thing that I’m extremely proud of.

And I would say the third thing, and these are just the top three things that come to mind. For years and years, the men in the game would say “I like LIPS and I like that women are playing in the game, and how can I help and what can I do?” And that’s when the Purple Tie Guy program came through. Purple being the color of the WPA, and ties being the thing that is iconic for a man, the Purple Tie Guy was born.

Absolutely. You have some real feathers in your cap. And of course, I am a very proud Purple Tie Guy myself. I am happy to always support and be an ally of the WPA.

The Board of Directors in particular, but of course all WPA members, are so thankful for everything you’ve done. The time has come to pass the torch once again, so to speak. Of course, even with passing the torch, there’s so much more work to do. With the poker community perhaps more aware than ever before, very much in part due to the work you’ve done, of the need to bring more women to the game, what sorts of milestones for women in poker would you like to see next?

I would like to see every operator on the planet have a program – wait a minute – let’s have a discussion! What are you doing to bring women into the game? What are you doing in your own house, in your own poker room, or your own business, or whatever it is, to bring women into the game. I would like to see that next thing happen, where there’s a conversation about what they’re going to do, and put a little bit of money into it. Even though they’re not looking at what’s happening, they’re only seeing a number. If you look and you see how many women…Maybe there’s the numbers in the highest levels.. If you ask me. If you’re playing in the World Series of Poker Tournaments, those are the highest levels of our game. Correct?

Right

If you’re playing in Main Events of poker tours, that’s an elevation of the game. If you start looking at the smaller buy-in kind of stuff, or even in cash games in poker rooms, there are women everywhere playing.

Right. Sure.

And you’ve seen that before. I think if you look at mixed games, there are a lot more women playing in mixed games than you’ve ever seen before.

That’s great.

So I do think that we are making progress, and I think that the conversation needs to be active every year. “What can we do?” “How can we do things?” That would be my parting thing. What can happen next?

That would be a wonderful thing. Speaking of parting words, do you have any special well wishes to Tara Smith? She was the Vice President of the Women’s Poker Association, now she’ll be stepping into your shoes. Anything that you’d like to wish her?

It’s not just Tara. I love Tara. I’ve known Tara for many years. She worked with me in LIPS back in the day. She got recruited away from me. Because she’s a rock star. And we don’t pay anything and she got paid really well. And she’s now working with an amazing company in her professional life. And she still has the passion for women in poker, and she’s such a rock star. Excellent hands. The Association, and the leadership that’s now in place. Our Board of Directors are simply amazing women. And there’s not just the Board of Directors, there are all the advocates out in the field that are representing women in poker and representing our association, they’re doing amazing work.

So I’m really excited about the next generation of women. I believe that it’s going to be wave after wave after wave of success from this point on. I’m just so proud of them, and the work that they’ve done, and the commitment. Because this is an all-volunteer organization. Nobody gets paid here. And as you know, volunteer jobs are schlep jobs sometimes. And even if it’s just stapling papers together sometimes, or licking stamps, or whatever the heck we need. These women are stepping up to the plate. From the smallest of tasks to the greatest of tasks. So I’m just extremely proud of them and I know they’re going to do a great job. And that the current Board that’s in place are rock stars.

Wonderful. While you’re not going to continue leading the WPA from the president’s seat, I have a hunch that you’re still going to be continuing to advocate for women in poker and growing the game in other ways. What are your upcoming plans with LIPS and your other ventures?

LIPS is always going to be my baby. It’s my passion. Right now, this is like the last chapter for me. I feel like 20 years ago, it was to bring women into the game. Then to add more things, I felt like I really started to understand the industry: who’s out there, who’s doing what, and what’s not being done. And now I feel like I want to use this next chapter as a culmination of everything. I’ve been given an opportunity that I’m so excited about. So I have a plan for the next chapter for me, and the next chapter for me is to introduce a new tour. And that new tour is open to everyone. It will have a Ladies event and it will have a Seniors event. So both SPT and LIPs will still be involved. But I’ve been blessed with the opportunity to grow a legacy and a namesake for Mike Sexton.

Wow.

So, I am going to be launching the Mike Sexton All-American Poker Circuit.

Wow.

So we’re currently in talks and we’re seeking out 10 launch properties across the States who want to be a part of this. There are very few people in this industry who deserve this kind of recognition, and Mike is definitely one of those people. So now we have Mike’s name being edified, and we’ll have the All-American Poker Tour as, I mean, red white and blue, honey. It is the Eagle’s Nest if you’re a champion. We’re talking draped in that stuff, and Mike is a Veteran. So it was really important to us to have an event in there that honors first responders and veterans. And we will have that in there. And that is also a fundraiser for Poker Gives. So it’s really a culmination of Mike’s legacy and what he’s given to this game, and the good that he’s done and to be able to continue that on. So that’s the next chapter!

Beautiful. So exciting to look forward to that and so exciting for you to have that wonderful thing to look forward to. I’m sure it’s going to be super-successful with you leading the charge there.

Lupe, before we let you go, do you have any parting words for the WPA membership, or perhaps for the greater poker audience of both men and women who will likely see or read this interview?

I think the most important thing is that our mission in the WPA is to really actively eliminate the barriers to growing our game. So if you are an operator, have a conversation about what you’re doing for women in poker. If you’re a poker player, have a conversation with yourself about how you behave at the poker table. And what is ok, and what isn’t ok. And be an advocate for a better game. And be an advocate to be a better player, not just in your skillset, but also in your persona.

Sure.

You know, just be friendly, be welcoming. Make sure that if you see somebody that’s new at the game, just introduce yourself. Just say Hi. And just remember to not be critical. I just think being welcoming, being friendly, and respecting the rules, and supporting the staff that’s there to serve you. To me that’s highly important. Treat the dealers correctly. And if you have a problem, don’t sit there and berate a dealer. Stand up and go talk to the floor. Take it away from the atmosphere of the game. Let’s elevate the game in all ways.

Such an important message. Not a better note to end off this talk. Lupe, I just want to thank you again for joining me here today. And I also want to chime in with my best wishes to you in all your future endeavors. Specifically with the Mike Sexton All-American Poker Tour. It sounds super-cool. And a huge thank you for everything you’ve done and everything you continue to do to grow the game of poker that we all love so dearly.

This has been Robbie Strazynski, for Cardplayer Lifestyle; thank you all for joining us.

The winner of the tournament will receive a $1,000 WPT Prime Passport, which can be used to play in new WPT live events, the first stops of which will be in Vietnam, Cambodia and Taiwan. If Asia is in your travel plans, you now have a new reason to play the tournament!

In addition, as you can see in the image above, the World Poker Tour has partnered up with four wonderful organizations that promote the inclusion of women in the poker industry. Each of those organizations will have a designated bounty player and whoever eliminates them will also receive a $1,000 WPT Prime Passport.

There will be a total of seven featured bounties in the tournament, including:

• Katie Stone from LearnWPT / ClubWPT Username: KatieStone
• Kim Lepa from Poker League of Nations / Username: PokerKarma96
• Kyna England from Poker Power / Username: KynaCool
• Linda Johnson from Card Player Cruises / Username: ILovePoker
• Lupe Soto from Ladies International Poker Series / Username: PokerLupe
• Lynn Gilmartin from World Poker Tour / Username: LynnGilmartin
• Terry Hatcher from Women’s Poker Association / Username: hatcherhomes

An extra $1,000 in cash prizes will also be awarded to the top tournament finishers. The tournament will also be livestreamed with Lynn Gilmartin as commentator with these special guests: Linda Johnson, Natalie Hof, Katie Stone, Lupe Soto, Erin Lydon, Xuan Liu, Jamie Kerstetter, Tara Windsor-Smith and Jacqueline Marchan.

Tournament Details

• Date: Sunday March 13, 2022
• Time: 6:00 PM ET
• Eligibility: VIP & Diamond – and logged in physically playing from a prize eligible location
• Game: No-Limit Texas Hold’em
• Buy-In: 500 TP’s
• Lobby Name: $9,000 WIP Bounty Tournament under VIP tournaments tab
• Registration: Opens 1 hour prior to the start of the event

Payout Structure

The top 20 finishers in the tournament will also receive cash prizes, as follows:

1. $1,000 WPT Prime Passport + $200
2. $150
3. $100
4. $80
5. $70
6. $60
7. $50
8. $40
9. $30
10. to 20th place $20

Save the date and have fun playing the Women In Poker Bounty Tournament this Sunday! It’s a great opportunity for all women to learn the game and play in a super-fun tournament online. Poker needs more women at the tables, and this is an excellent idea to help bring new women players to the game!

Top Women in Poker Organizations Join Forces

Here’s some more information about those four great aforementioned leading women in poker advocacy organizations that the WPT has partnered up with in the wake of International Women’s Day for this fantastic promotion:

Ladies International Poker Series (LIPS)

It’s a global female community supporting and celebrating all women in poker. In the words of their founder Lupe Soto: “Ladies International Poker Series is the first poker tour established for women and expands the game of poker through live and online events across the United States.”

Poker League of Nations (PLoN)

It’s an international organization that actively increases the participation of women in poker through special events, staking opportunities, and its community.

As per Lena Evans, CEO and founder of PLoN: “Our community welcomes all who are aligned with our goal of empowering women through the game of poker. We aim to make women more confident in all facets of life through honing the skills necessary to be successful at the poker table.”

Poker Power

It focuses on the connection between the valuable lessons that are present in the game of poker and real-life application of those lessons.

Erin Lydon, GM of Poker Power, said: “Our organizations share a commitment to bring more women to the table and to empower them with game-changing skills. The power of poker is that by playing a game of strategy, we learn to master the game of leadership. As more women learn and play, the impact will be transformational for generations to come. It’s time to stop playing not to lose and start playing to win.”

Women’s Poker Association (WPA)

The WPA is a nonprofit, all-volunteer organization that works tirelessly to empower, elevate, and educate women in poker.

Said Tara Windsor-Smith, Vice President of WPA: “It’s crucial that women, at any stage of their poker journey, always feel welcomed and supported, plus know what resources are available to them within the poker community. Through strategic and thoughtful partnerships within the poker industry and purposeful WPA programs, we continue to bring awareness to women in poker within our industry. This has resulted in positive changes and forward-thinking initiatives which are being recognized and carried out worldwide by poker operators and the poker community. What has been accomplished over the past decade for the recognition and advancement of women in poker, is just amazing! However, the job isn’t finished yet, and the WPA still has a ton more to do.”

The Women’s Poker Association (WPA), based in Las Vegas, is excited for the women who are exploring and crushing the poker mixed games arena while preparing for the World Series of Poker (WSOP).

The WPA who works with Poker Power, the educational partner of WPA, has high hopes for one of our own board members, Rebecca Scales. Like many women who are introduced to poker, Scales quickly became a poker enthusiast. She set out to expand her poker repertoire to include mixed poker games and actively studied to become a serious contender at the table. This is her first year entering the WSOP, considered the most highly competitive field of poker players in the world. She aspires to take home one of the coveted WSOP gold bracelets.

Rebecca Scales

Scales is also an instructor for Poker Power, which teaches women how to play Texas Hold‘em as a way of showing them how to compete and win in business, finance and more — all in a fun, supportive, safe-to-fail environment.

We teach poker to anyone who identifies as female who wants to win or change the world, because poker’s more than a game. It’s a game changer. And it gives you the skills to succeed at every table in life—from the classroom to the boardroom. – Poker Power.

Currently Poker Power teaches the two-card Texas Hold‘em (NLH) poker game to women around the world. However, given the rising popularity of mixed games and encouragement from teachers like Scales, they are looking to incorporate mixed games lessons in the future. In the meantime, the WPA offers recorded video lessons for Omaha, Omaha 8 or Better, Razz, Stud, and Stud 8 or Better on the wpa.poker website.

Read More: A Beginner’s Guide to Poker’s Mixed Games

Women account for roughly 5% of the poker players in major tournament festivals. It’s believed the percentage is much lower in mixed games fields, where women account for approximately 1% to 2% of players. Many seasoned poker players of both genders have never entered into mixed poker games in their poker playing lifetimes. The strategies are different, the games are not widely played across the country, and mixed games can be more difficult to grasp.

Of 124 players we had 18 women participating (15%).

We’ve got 6 tables left and 46 players with a dream of winning a @PokerStars #PlatinumPass pic.twitter.com/M6TNUD87lv

— Robbie Strazynski (@cardplayerlife) October 7, 2021

“I am finally ready to play at the highest level this fall in the WSOP. I just want to show the world women can hold their own in all variants of poker. And we can have success and win in all poker games.” — Rebecca Scales, Las Vegas

In Vegas, if you’re a mixed game player, you know Jeanne David. David is affectionately known as the “lady in charge of mixed games” in Las Vegas. She is definitely the go-to person if you want to know what mixed games are being offered and where. She runs and plays in the Vegas HORSE League at the Orleans Casino that awards entries to the WSOP after nine months of play. Her concentration on mixed tournament play paid off when she won this year’s first place prize of a $5,000 entry to the 2021 WSOP series.

Jeanne David

Her impressive win record also includes two wins this summer with the Ladies International Poker Series (LIPS) Omaha O8 tournament at the Sahara and the Poker League of Nations (PLON) Omaha tournament at South Point. Jeanne also made a final table in the $1,500 Razz event in 2018 World Series of Poker and her Hendon Mob is a directory of mixed tournaments offered in Las Vegas. All of this preparation has her ready to go big this fall.

Interestingly, the Ladies WSOP Championship used to be a mixed game. Stud 8 was the championship game up until 2000, when it became ½ Stud 8 and ½ Limit Hold ’em. This remained in effect for four years until 2004, when it changed to Limit Hold ’em and eliminated the Stud game. In 2005, after the poker boom began and the popularity of No Limit Hold ’em took its hold on the industry, the Ladies Championship turned to No Limit Hold ’em and still remains the same today.

“Wishing all the ladies playing mixed games the very best. Go get ’em ladies.” – Terry King, 1978 Ladies Limit 7 Card Stud WSOP champion

Only six women have won WSOP bracelets in open mixed game events: Linda Johnson in Razz, Cyndy Violette in Seven-Card Stud/8, Annie Duke in Omaha High-Low 8/OB, Katja Thater in Razz, Vanessa Selbst (3 Bracelets) in PLO, 10 Game Mix and Omaha Seven Card Stud Hi-Lo Split 8 or Better, and Carol Fuchs in Dealers Choice. We have big hopes for the women who are stepping up to potentially become part of this exclusive list of amazing mixed game players this year.

Many men have been active supporters of women learning mixed games. One of them is four-time WSOP champion Robert Mizrachi. Mizrachi is currently writing a book featuring split pot games and has a full schedule of mixed games this fall. He is a WPA Purple Tie Guy (ed. note: as is Cardplayer Lifestyle founder Robbie Strazynski) and enjoys sharing his experience and knowledge with all new mixed game players.

“I support all women in poker. I love playing all the poker variants and look forward to seeing more women at the tables this WSOP. I wish these ladies all the very best.” —Robert Mizrachi

Even with the COVID-19 pandemic still raging, the Women’s Poker Association (WPA) made a point to come together to hold a spectacular week-long virtual celebration in lieu of it’s previously planned annual series of in-person gatherings. Events during the “virtual ladies week” included featured interviews with well-known poker pros like Jamie Kerstetter and Joey Ingram, industry spotlights, poker training sessions with Alex Outhred, and more,

The festivities culminated in the WPA Virtual Excellence Awards Gala, hosted by the organization’s Board of Directors, that was held online at the end of last month.

The WPA is an all-volunteer professional organization for female poker players, and they coordinated the event as an opportunity to “come together to experience a virtual version of mingling, friendship, game talk, poker news, strategy, coaching and camaraderie,” according to a WPA press release.

Table talk with a digital twist

The WPA 2019 Excellence Awards Gala was originally set to take place live in Las Vegas. Since the live ceremony unfortunately had to be cancelled due to COVID-19, the Women’s Poker Association wanted to make sure that individuals and industry partners still received recognition for the extraordinary achievements and support provided in 2019 for women in poker.

Close to a couple dozen honorees, a full listing of whom can be seen on the WPA website, were recognized in the hour-long ceremony as recipients of Excellence Awards, Humanitarian Awards, Rising Star Awards, and Industry Innovators and Contributors. Of particular note, Veronica Brill was recognized as the WPA’s Industry Voice of the Year, in a nod to her role as the courageous whistle-blower in the Mike Postle scandal.

Two additional names that Cardplayer Lifestyle fans are certainly familiar with, site founder Robbie Strazynski and contributing writer Maureen Bloechlinger, were recognized as WPA Media Support Persons of the Year.

It’s so incredibly humbling to be recognized in this way by the WPA. I consider it not just a responsibility but a privilege to be an ally of women in poker, and Cardplayer Lifestyle has always been and will always continue to be dedicated to highlighting the great women in our game and our industry.

Robbie Strazynski

Finally, the WPA awarded their Player of the Year distinction to Ruth Hall for climbing to the top of the WPA tournament leaderboard and earning the title. “I’m humbled to end up on top and encourage more women to get into the game!” said Hall, who also sits on the WPA Board of Directors. She is a two-time breast cancer survivor, and uses her poker platform to share the message for women to do their annual exams and in doing so, saving lives.

Boasting over $230,000 in career winnings, clinching the Women’s Poker Association POY title represented another notable poker accolade for Hall, who boasts a WSOP Circuit Ring and a LIPS Grand Series gold bracelet among other titles. For her achievement, Hall was presented with a specially designed ring that she added to her “jewelry collection”.

For those who missed the Virtual LIVE Gala, the video can be watched via the Women’s Poker Association YouTube channel (clip embedded below).