In the publicity blitz of WSOP 2008 one unique tournament went unnoticed. This was the first Gender Defender Poker Tournament held at the Orleans Casino on July 12th, 2008. The buy in was $300 and 80 players competed.
Initially the men and women competed on separate tables and once the field was narrowed to 25 in each gender the event was turned to a mixed one with the men and women competing for the top spot.
The final table was skewed in favor of the men with there being 3 women and 6 men. Patrick Podgorny knocked out two of the women when he came up with pocket kings to the their pocket queens and pocket jacks. But the third woman in the fray, Donna LaDuke of Texas, persevered and eventually emerged winner. It is true that this tournament did not field the best players because WSOP was running concurrently, but the scoreboard does not reflect such details. It is Women 1, Men 0 till the next such tournament.