Bearded Florida man casually joins a women-only poker tournament — he won $5,000 and got away with it

All-female events are typically meant for women only, but that didn't stop a Florida man competing in a woman's poker tournament and winning. According to reports, David Hughes participated in a $250 buy-in Lady's No-Limit Hold’em event at the World Series of Poker’s Ladies event at the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Hollywood in South Florida, alongside 82 women.

As a loophole, he used the anti-discrimination legislation, according to which Florida casinos cannot ban men from entering into a women’s tournament. Hughes ended up defeating Dayanna Ciabaton at the end and took home $5,555, according to the Las Vegas Review-Journal. A video from Hughes’ time at the tournament on Saturday was posted to Twitter with some players putting a bounty on him, which rewards a player for eliminating him. "Good luck, not really," the woman in the video can be heard saying.

A man playing in a woman's tournament also sparked a debate online. "That’s obviously the point of a woman’s tournament! Why was he allowed to play?! Someone needs to make a change!!!" wrote Matty Ice on X, while @SpaceGrass asked,"curious as to what the purpose of a lady's event is? charity? poker isn’t a physical sport so I’m genuinely curious as to why the genders are separated. is it too many guys winning bracelets and rings and women aren’t?"

Others like British male professional player Charlie Carrel took to X to talk about the incident. He wrote, "1) Hilarious that he won. 2) It pokes fun at the idea that anybody can identify as a woman and be allowed to enter women's spaces," before adding, "It's a real issue that people are taking advantage of in many different areas, including sports, prisons, and changing areas. This has led to some horrific repercussions (female inmates being raped in prison, or women getting destroyed in MMA fights by somebody who spent 95% of their life as a man)." He concluded by saying, "It does suck that it comes at the expense of the women's only space. I wouldn't do it." 

Another professional poker player Linda Johnson tells Poker News, "I love ladies-only poker tournaments. I would have no problem with them having a men's only and I wouldn't enter it as I would not qualify for it." 

"I don't think men should play in ladies-only tournaments. That said, I think there is a total overreaction to the few men who do enter. They are usually looking for attention, so why give it to them? Maybe we should just ignore them and play our best. This is just my two cents and you are welcome to your own thoughts on this," she continued. 

Another poker player Andy Bloch responded, "1) The guy could be a nice guy, who has what he honestly believes is a good reason to play, unaware that it may be a “dick move.” 2) For sure people would criticize him even more if it was obvious that he was pretending to identify as a woman."

While the incident took place in Florida, the practice is against the law in many states. For example, men are not permitted to enter the World Series of Poker (WSOP).