Absolute Poker Launches AP Lady - An Online Poker Site for Women

SAN JOSE, Costa Rica, July 19 - AP Lady will help women learn the basics of poker and advance in the game; Harris Interactive Research shows the time is right - Absolute Poker (www.absolutepoker.com), the fourth largest online poker website in the world, today launched an exciting new venture called AP Lady, an online poker site aimed at helping women who want to learn the basics of playing poker and advance in the game. In an industry that is projected to reach $70 billion within five years, interest from women is noticeably growing. Women who would like to join AP Lady and start improving their game can visit aplady.com.

"Poker is popular with women because it can be very social and it's also a thinking game," said Lacey Jones, one of Absolute Poker's professionals and an active participant in this year's World Series of Poker. "AP Lady is a very safe way for women to take the first few steps into poker from the comfort of their home and it also gives more experienced female poker players a great way to refine and improve their skills by practicing between live events."

AP Lady offers women poker players all of the innovative technology that has led to Absolute Poker becoming the fourth largest online poker website in the world such as a wide variety of games, the ability to 'chat with other players, forums and easy ways for them to customize their poker rooms and player personas. Additionally, AP Lady is exploring partnerships with other relevant women's groups that will help to achieve the site's mission of helping women who want to get better at poker.

"The market is at an interesting point," explains Jones. "There are a lot of women who want to try their hand at poker and AP Lady is a perfect way for them to get started. Its also a really great way for experienced players to fine-tune their game by playing against players from all over the world."

Women Versus Men in Poker.

Absolute Poker recently commissioned Harris Interactive to conduct research into this area and the results helped to confirm some stereotypes and also turned up some interesting trends. A summary of the Harris Interactive research is below:

* The gap is narrowing: men are more likely than women to have ever
played live poker but the difference is not as big as it once was - 64%
men vs. 45% women and 49% men vs. 35% women for blackjack which is also
offered on the AP Lady and Absoluter Poker websites.

* When it comes to online poker specifically, twice as many of the men
over women surveyed had played poker on the Internet. Absolute Poker
believes this is because to date there has been no tailored offering
for women.

* The men and women surveyed agree that men are better at poker (56% men,
53% women).

* Men are more likely than women to play poker at least once a month (21%
men vs. 11%), so it is not surprising that those who think men are
better poker players attribute this advantage primarily to the
frequency with which they play (76% men, 84% women).

PRNewswire - 2006-07-20 04:34:46