When 31 year old Londoner Louise Duffy takes her seat at the World Series of Poker in Las Vegas this weekend she’ll be hoping to become a rare breed – A female world champion at Poker.

Miss Duffy, who runs two youth hostels and an Internet hostel booking service, hopes she will not be intimidated by the big money and serious competition when she plays on Friday.
She said: 'If I win a tournament it's a lovely bonus but it is out-witting people that definitely gives you the buzz.'

The English lady won her place in the Ladbrokes Team 100 after ten hours of playing her favourite online poker game 'Emotivator'. She also picked up £8,000 worth of VIP hospitality plus £1,000 spending money.

Miss Duffy, of Russell Square, Central London, has already won two professional tournaments this year, netting £2,000.

Females make up just 10 percent of the field in the Las Vegas competition which is expected to attract 20,000 players.

If she’s successful Louise could scoop more than £5 million in one of the biggest events in the poker calendar.

Women’s poker in the UK is going through something of a revolution at the moment with recent stats showing more and more women are joining poker clubs.

However its in the online poker sphere that women are coming into their own. A report released last year by eCOGRA showed that an increasing number of ladies are now playing online poker favouring the relaxed and less stressful environment than male dominated poker clubs.

With the standard of female players improving all the time it’s likely that we’ll see a female World Series of Poker champion in the coming years.