This whole story is so ridiculous on so many levels that it nicely encapsulates just how stupid The Great Stupid has become. Allow me to explain…

Dave Hughes, 70, entered what was advertised as an all-women poker tournament at the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Florida and won $5,555. This somehow sparked outrage, but all-female poker tournaments are illegal in Florida, violating the state’s anti-discrimination laws. Any man could have entered, but for some reason, only he did. The other 82 players were female.

• Why are women even pretending to hold an all-female tournament? Weren’t all-male clubs thoroughly tarred as wrongful and discriminatory decades ago? Didn’t women’s rights activist argue successfully that separate was inherently unequal, and that gender segregated social groups kept women out of networks and power?
• Apparently it’s not illegal for a tournament to advertise itself as all-women, even though by law it can’t be all-women. It is, however, misleading, dishonest and unethical.
• Of all games or sports, none justifies gender segregation less than poker. Men should have no special advantage in a card game, and don’t. A women-only card game is exactly as unethical as a whites-only card game.
• The news stories about Hughes entering and winning the tournament all make a point of noting that he was “bearded.” This is because moronic but woke reporters and editors were attempting to confound this story with the episodes of obvious males “identifying” as female winning women’s sports events like powerlifting. This is fake news and flogging a narrative at the expense of public comprehension—but then that’s journalism today. Hughes didn’t “identify”as female to make a point. He didn’t have to! He entered as a male and won as a male, in a game where naughty bits confer no competitive advantage whatsoever.
• Incredibly and hypocritically, some of the female players were resentful, though a woman entering an all-male poker game would be considered heroic. Some even offered a “bounty” to any player who eliminated him. Player Ebony Kenney tweeted“I really wish men would get what these events stand for. So I put a $300 bounty on his head and Tamra & Noah Piderit matched it.  Let’s get him.” Wait: what do these events “stand for”? Cowardice? Discrimination? Fear of competing with men? Double standards? Stupidity?
• Here’s a typical moronic reaction from one of the female players, Poker Hall of Famer Linda Johnson, in an interview with 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 would have no problem if they had a tournament for 26-year-old, motorcycle riding, Mohawk-haircut seniors and I wouldn’t enter it because I wouldn’t qualify. 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.”

Wow. I guess you can be really skilled at poker and not comprehend the Bill of Rights, anti-discrimination laws and the ethical problem with apartheid. How do you feel about professional baseball leagues that are only for white players, you cretin? That might have been a tough question in, say, 1947. And no, the men aren’t looking for attention, they are looking for $5,555. “Maybe we should just ignore them and play our best,” she concludes. Sharp as a a tack, that Linda!

• Charlie Carrel,  a British poker player, entered the Idiot Sweepstakes, which were obviously open to both sexes, with this fatuous analysis:

“It pokes fun at the idea that anybody can identify as a woman and be allowed to enter women’s spaces. It’s a real issue that people are taking advantage of in many different areas, including sports, prisons and changing areas. This has lead 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). It does suck that it comes at the expense of the women’s only space. I wouldn’t do it, even though I probably share the same criticisms. Female only spaces in poker are really needed. Mixed poker can often be absolutely horrendous environments for women to be a part of. The trans issue is a lot easier to handle in poker, as the stakes are relatively low. The difference between male and female players is negligible enough that the incentive for men to join women’s spaces isn’t really there. It does speak loudly to the insanity that’s playing out on a larger scale”

Moron. Hughes wasn’t identifying as a woman, so the episode has exactly nothing to do with the trans issue whatsoever. Nor is a poker match a “women’s only space,” and can’t be by law. This guy is completely confused.

But then so is almost everyone else participating in the trans-in-sports debate. The news media like it that way—the more confused people are, the more gullible they are, and the more easily manipulated.

And The Great Stupid keeps rolling along…