When it comes to poker shows, one is much more likely to find men serving as hosts and commentators than women. One might argue that since there are more men than women playing in the games we see on television, it stands to reason that men would more likely be found hosting the shows, too. However, I would additionally point to the fact that poker shows have long been linked with sports programming as relevant here, too. And when it comes to sports (especially televised sports), that is an area of our culture also primarily dominated by men -- both in the commentator’s booth and participating in the games being televised.

As a result, when it comes to poker shows, one might argue there are in fact two forces working against women hoping to move into those host/commentator roles. One is poker’s long history as a game primarily played by men. And the other is that legacy of sports programming which today’s poker show tends to follow, a legacy that reflects yet another male-dominated area of our culture.

The emergence of poker on television is generally regarded as a major element of the so-called poker “boom” occurring just a few short years ago. Along with the rise of online poker and the surprise success of Chris Moneymaker in the 2003 WSOP Main Event, the sudden popularity of poker shows -- energized in large part by the introduction of the hole card camera -- is often referred to as a primary cause for the growth of poker in recent years.

While dozens of different poker shows have aired over recent years, I would argue they all more or less tend to reflect the influence of two shows in particular -- ESPN’s coverage of the 2003 WSOP Main Event, a seven-episode package hosted by Lon McEachern and Norman Chad, and the World Poker Tour hosted by Mike Sexton and Vince Van Patten. While shows like the U.K.’s “Late Night Poker” preceded both shows by several years, when it comes to the United States, those two shows were undoubtedly crucial to helping ignite the “boom.”

Appearing on a sports network, the ESPN show was not surprisingly packaged and produced like a sports show. And while the World Poker Tour’s initial episodes appeared on the Travel Channel, the WPT’s founder Steve Lipscomb has long maintained that a primary goal when first creating the show was to emulate sports programming. “Our intent was to re-create poker as a sport,” writes Lipscomb in his introduction to Sexton’s Shuffle Up and Deal, going on to note how the use of multiple cameras, explanatory graphics, and “play-by-play” and “color” commentary were all integral components of the broadcast.

Thus when considering the role of women on poker shows, generally speaking, I think it is worth keeping in mind this strong connection between poker shows and sports programming -- a connection forged early on by ESPN’s WSOP telecasts and the WPT, and further exemplified by those two shows’ many followers.

It was the WPT that first introduced to poker shows a woman also playing a role in the telecast by the inclusion of Shana Hiatt, a former model who had once appeared in the pages of Playboy. On those very first episodes back in 2003, Hiatt’s role was in fact quite limited, generally confined to introductions and occasionally sending the show to a commercial break. In many ways, Hiatt functioned as something akin to the “ring girl” -- that is, those attractive women who would enter the ring between rounds of a boxing match holding a sign to show what round was coming up. In other words, hers was at first a primarily ornamental role.

However, Hiatt’s role on the WPT would gradually expand to include player interviews and other “sideline reporting” (so to speak). Though not a poker player herself prior to her involvement with the WPT, Hiatt proved especially proficient in her expanded role, so much so that after leaving the show in 2005 she would later take on a similar role with NBC’s “Poker After Dark” upon its debut in early 2007. Indeed, many in poker continue to regard Hiatt highly for her work on both shows -- not just for her attractiveness, but also for her ability to engage players meaningfully in interviews. Though never quite commentating, Hiatt did help establish new possibilities for women’s roles on poker shows.

Both the World Poker Tour and “Poker After Dark” have seen multiple women succeed Hiatt as “sideline reporters,” all of whom have been asked to perform essentially the same duties as she did on those shows. In other words, while the role for women on those shows has moved beyond that of a virtual “ring girl,” one could argue that the well-established tropes of sports programming ultimately still limit the involvement of women -- that is, moving them to the “sideline” rather than into the booth to deliver play-by-play or color commentary on specific hands.

The recent move by “High Stakes Poker” to eliminate A.J. Benza as a commentator alongside Gabe Kaplan and bring in Kara Scott seems further proof that the limits imposed by sports programming -- that genre to which nearly all poker shows appear desirous to belong -- may prevent women from enjoying expanded roles as hosts or commentators.

Many expected Scott -- both a proven poker player (with a couple of recent deep WSOP Main Event runs to her credit) and with prior experience in poker media -- to join Kaplan in the booth to provide commentary much as Benza had. But, in fact, the new “HSP” affords only a minor place for Scott in the proceedings.

A recent episode of “HSP” saw Scott participating for only a couple of minutes during the hour-long show. First she appeared in a segment titled “30 Seconds with Kara Scott” -- in fact really only five seconds with Scott as it features her posing a brief question that subsequently gets answered by multiple players. She turned up again twice thereafter to interview two players, each interview clocking in under a minute.

There have been a few (rare) examples of women playing more prominent roles with regard to commentating on poker (Vicky Coren’s turns in the booth for “Late Night Poker” and other shows comes to mind). But those examples remain few and far between, coming about as frequently as one finds a woman providing play-by-play or color for a men’s basketball game. I would suggest that similar infrequency is not an accident, given poker’s close connection to sports in the world of television.

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