As increasingly more females get involved in poker the debate grows about the place of women in the game. Should there really be gender-specific tournaments just for the ladies? Or should women not get a choice and be expected to hold their own in unisex competitions? While there are a number of valid arguments for both sides, it raises the interesting topic of whether there are differences in the way women players are treated by men and vice versa.

The focus of this article addresses this question at a general level, rather than predicting how Dave ‘Devilfish’ Ulliott might approach a heads-up battle against Annie Duke.

Evolutionary psychology tells us that there are definite differences in the way that men and women are viewed: men are the hunter-gatherers and require aggression to provide food for their dependents; women are the carers and nurturers, looking after their offspring to ensure their genes survive to the next generation.