Florida man wins women's poker tournament, sparks debate over male inclusion in female sporting events

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A Florida man drew ire over the weekend when he entered and won a women’s poker tournament at the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in the Sunshine State.

Dave Hughes, 70, entered the $250 no-limit Texas Hold’em event with a prize pool of up to $17,450. Of the 83 competitors to enter the tournament, 82 of them were women, and the last one was Hughes. Hughes ended up defeating Dayanna Ciabaton at the end and take home $5,555, according to the Las Vegas Review-Journal.

Hughes was allowed to enter the women’s tournament as Florida casinos are prohibited from banning men from entering women’s tournament, according to anti-discrimination laws. The newspaper noted that Nevada casinos have a similar rule. The World Series of Poker’s Ladies event has a $10,000 buy-in tournament, and women receive a 90% discount in hopes of keeping men from entering.

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The guitar-shaped 400-feet-tall Hard Rock Hotel is seen as it is under construction on May 24, 2019 in Hollywood, Florida. (Joe Raedle/Getty Images)

A video from Hughes’ time at the tournament on Saturday was posted to Twitter. Some players put a bounty on him, which rewards a player for eliminating him. The bounty went unclaimed.

"Good luck, not really," the woman in the video can be heard saying.

The issue of a man playing in a women’s tournament sparked a debate.

"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," Poker Hall of Famer Linda Johnson said, via Poker News. "I would have no problem if they had a tournament for 26-year old,