Personally, i have found that men generally fall into two categories whilst playing against a female - they either believe that you only bet w the nuts and hence fold too much, or they let their ego take over and try and take every pot off you.

i think as a woman this is great information to have against bad players however not all men fit into those two categories.

I do think that you need to have some level of randomness against those types of villians as if youre known to then then they can tell you are not what they first assume about you (as a female).

But, as i am from Australia, when (if) i play live 99% of the players of the casino are mega fish therefore it is profitable to put most of them into either of those groups.

I dont think you always need to ramp it up and play dumb but poker is all about exploiting small edges, right? So, if you think it'll be profitable to have that table image then go for it!

The only advantage I see in being female is that occasionally, guys will think I'm cute and play less aggressively and more straightforward against me, saving me money when I'm behind. Once I even had a guy to tell me stop betting because he had Aces full. Which he did in fact have at showdown.

When I sit down at the table, my first task is to show the guys I know what I'm doing. I'll ask for a seat change button, use standard bet sizes, etc and make sure to use standard terms (i.e. when I need change, I'll ask the dealer to "chop" my $5 chip, I'll say that the "button's right" after I move it)

Am I the only one who thinks that it's more of an advantage to have players at the table respect my game than to think I'm a clueless little girl? When nobody respects my game, nothing flows the way I want it to. When I raise, I get 6 callers every single time. Players are also constantly trying to bully me. In fact, by making everyone think I'm a total fish, the entire game revolves around me as the target, making it difficult to get away with anything.

I win a lot more when guys respect my game and play me the same way the play each other. I want them to know that I'm capable of making moves and bluffing so my thin value bets get paid off. I want them to know that I have a balanced pre-flop squeeze range so I'll get action from my big hands sometimes and they'll fold to my squeeze bluffs other times.

Why is it that all female pokerplayers seem to be hot? Maybe I've haven't played enough live games

I'm a guy and I just finished reading through this whole thread. Very interesting posts.

I try not to make any hard judgments about players before having a chance to see them play. I've seen women with all kinds of playing styles at the table and I don't assume anything about them when I start playing with them. That said, like most guys I do appreciate a good looking woman, and if a woman at the table is showing some skin, I'll notice that and I think I have enough self-control that it won't distract me. Although sometimes if the view is just too good I might spend too much time looking at her and not enough studying the play of all the other players. As some other posters have indicated, cleavage can really be distracting to a guy, just ask Jennifer Tilly.

All that said, when a really young guy sits down who looks too young to be in a poker room, it's difficult for me not to think he's a super-aggressive type. Sometimes I'm shocked and the kid is a newbie too afraid to make a play.

As an older guy, I know I get stereotyped too, and am trying to take advantage of that. I know I can get away with bluffs, semi-bluffs and aggressive moves because of it, so I try that.

Also, I am switching from playing low limit to No Limit, really just learning. But I play a lot in one room where the dealers and staff all know me, and know me as a limit player. So it can work both ways. Other players see everyone knows me there and are wary, I must be good. Or, the dealers start talking to me about how they're surprised to see me playing 1/2 instead of 2/4--now the players think I'm a novice at the No Limit table and may think they can take advantage.

My thoughts are that all's fair in poker. You would check-raise your own grandmother to win the most money, so why not use every advantage you can possible use?

I'm a 58 year old white male. I'm pretty new to live poker, I fumble the chips sometimes, and I'm just getting used to not folding when I have the option to check (no autofold button at a live table.)

My image says tight player, and my awkwardness with the mechanics of live play says new player (I started on PokerStars in 2006.)

I'm getting used to live play by playing $40 tournaments with 25-50 players at my local charity room. I play off my tight image by wearing dress clothes, and I've even started shining my shoes before every tournament. It's fun to open from UTG+1 with 65s and watch everyone fold. Also, there are a lot of family pots, which is a perfect setup for me to play 65s or 33 from any position and get good implied odds to go with those hands.

Setting up an image and playing against it can be a beautiful thing.

I'm not a woman, so maybe I don't get it, but for me my job isn't to be a good representative of any group, or to defend any person or group. You can insult my children or tell me my wife was good last night, and I don't care about any of it. I'll sit there and take it, because my job isn't to protect my family's honor. My job is to bring home money to my family. At the poker table, nothing else matters.

Call my wife a whore while I walk out with $300. I'll take that deal.

If you're talking about taking advantage in terms of 'opportunity', the only answer is "play in every women-only tournament you can" and it's not even close.

If you're talking about taking advantage in terms of exploiting sexist stereotypes (other than the above), don't bother. Anyone dumb enough to fall for it will have their money separated more easily by just focusing on whatever stereotypes THEY have and playing around them; anyone smart enough not to fall for it won't start playing soft against you because of your breasts. But if you want to expose part of your body that gives them something VERY easy to spot an elevated heart rate, because you think they're just another stupid and easily-manipulable man, by all means, hoist yourself by that own petard all day and night.

First time venturing into TWSS, and wanted to share my thoughts on this interesting topic.

I stand out when I walk into a room (as you gals might appreciate, being the minority being in a room full of OMC types). I dont enjoy this attention, and if I could, I would rather have everyone perceive me as one of them. I could, but I rather remain silent, than excusing why I won a hand with petty girliness.
Why?
1) its distracting to be hit on/stared at while you are trying to pay attention
2) Your opponent becomes unpredictable when their decision is influenced by perceiving you in line with some kind of female stereotype. Who's on the losing end when your opponent becomes unpredictable? You. When we talk about hands and logic on here, its all in a vacuum. It becomes that much harder to apply this logic when there is some kind of gender-based ego/leveling at play. Furthermore, as responses in this thread has already indicated, men has vastly different perceptions of women players, it's difficult to assess whether they are doing certain things because they perceive you as competent, or because they think they can push you around. Of course this could apply to anyone's table image in general, but Ive seen more confusing plays against females than anyone else. your table image is more uncontrollable as a female than a male.

Also, the few benefits one gets with being a female will only occur at lower limits against recreational players. I know that if I ever wanted to advance, improve, play against better players, i have to ultimate work on the mechanics of the game. If Im folding only because someone was being nice and showed me a hand, I actually get pissed at myself because Im obviously not good enough to make that read on my own. Im in it for the game itself, and I just dont have the energy to figure out the additional layer of dynamics involving how to manipulate the female image to my advantage - to be honest, i believe it's a waste of time anyways. Against better players no amount of skin or cutesie-ness will give you an edge. It might be fun to play a certain role just to shock people that females can be attractive AND intelligent, but in the long run people will always figure you out.

Anyways, I guess Im just trying to say that the only way to close this gender gap in the game is to compete on the basis of skill, and not on actual or perceived gender differences. (That's pretty hard though, as literally every televised female pros have been sexualized in some way (except for v. selbst) - but that's a topic for another day)

I don't think we can take away the perception of "soft" in a lot of other players minds, without altering our physical appearance to literally be more angular.

It's no surprise that women who are in incredible shape are thought of as "in control" at the table. Beasts. Animals. Men make their expectations clear when they talk about them.

I see people relax when I get to the table. They also set an expectation that I am easy to play against. And that perception is something I take as a personal challenge.

When I played live in Vegas men had two thoughts about me in mind. Dinner or Dessert. Dinner of course, meant they had an innate desire to take all my money, insult me at the table, play every pot against me, or be an all around ass. Dessert meant they tried to take care of me at the table, let me know they had the best hand, bet less when I was behind, and occasionally try to get my phone number.

I think overall there are advantages to being dinner, and to being dessert. But instead of worrying much about male appetite at the poker table, I prefer to just think about the poker and let others get wrapped up in the sexual social elements of the game.

I kinda have a grudging respect for you lady-folk. It's perhaps true that most men negatively stereotype female players (passive, fragile, lacking "balls"). It's also true that if you are attractive, that will give you an even greater edge over the stereotypers, if you are a competent player.

Liv Boeree gets positively harassed @ the on-line tables I've been at (whereas other verified PS pro females don't) and in live play people flirt and glance. I'm 100% sure that some players have folded in spots to Liv that they wouldn't have to other players, just to keep her at the table lol. I mean half of them say as much in chat. Not that she gets an easy ride on PS, I've witnessed a few rough beats come her way.

When I see a chick @ the table the first thing I want to know is, "why is she here?" If she ISN'T with a man then girls are much more likely to be hardcore players IMO. They either play bc they did it growing up with their dad/family/close friends and became good through competition, or are really smart girls who like to gamble. Not good targets to try and beat up on pre-flop or bluff out of pots.

I did a couple of traditionally male-dominated degrees (physics and finance) and "to a man", it was true that the few girls that were students/lecturers, had more talent than the average male counterpart. Your silver lining is that all the try-hard to impress/beat/compete with us men in male-dominated fields, gives those claws a razor-sharp edge

Love dejenerate's comment about "dinner or dessert".

There's actually some research done regarding being a female poker player: http://dacc.coalliance.org/fedora/re...%20Players.pdf

IMHO, simply being a woman - no matter how attractive/feminine/stereotyped - does not give us an edge. The consequences of being a women poker player is not that simple; it depends on so many factors - opponents' stereotypes, the extent to which opponents apply the stereotypes, the perceived image of the female poker player, hand history, the specific hand, the specific situation, etc etc. It can be dangerous to assume, for example, that just because I am girl, I will be perceived as weak/tight, and/or receive more respect.

Some examples when I play 'bimbo newbie' style (i.e., wear party dress as if I just came from a club, handle cards/chips in a super clumsy way, and appear to play tight/fit-or-fold):

Sometimes when I raise preflop, I get zero callers, because opponents snap put me on AK+. Some other times, I get tons of callers, because opponents know my range is exploitable.

Sometimes when I bluff, opponent snap folds, because they believe they are beaten. And they'd even show their hands (which are so strong and totally beat mine), or come tell me what they had, being confident/proud that they made a good fold. Some other times, opponent would say things like "I know I am beaten, but I will call because I want to give you my money", and calls...

Sometimes, opponents will stay out of my way whenever I bet, because they believe I only bet when I have a hand. Some other times, opponents will get sticky, or even raise me light, simply because they want my attention, or want to protect their ego.

Given all these complications, I'd say to 'take advantage of being a woman poker player' is a very complicated, challenging skill. It requires no less work than any other skill. Only when combined with poker skill, the ability to understand your opponents' tendencies toward female players, and experience, can it produce an edge.

Try playing as a man. IMHO being a woman gives you a HUGE edge in live games as YOU are the unknown quantity. As you said, you can be loose or tight depending on your reads on other players. You can dress for your desired persona (lesbian or party-girl). You WILL get freebie pots just because ur a woman and you WILL get more/less respect for pre-flop raises. These are variables you can use to your advantage, which men do not have. Also you perhaps do not realise that having a woman at the table "ruins" the whole atmosphere, most of the time, and can put men off their game. It was all boasting, un-PC comments, much swearing and aggression b4 YOU came to the table lol.

It would be nice if we could remain 'unknown'... but in reality we can only be 'unknown' for so long. Observing opponents will figure us out quickly.

We sure have more variables to play with, but it's no easy task to master them :s It can even backfire if used recklessly (e.g. While I *think* I am taking advantage of my image, my opponent is taking advantage of the fact that I *think* I can take advantage of my image...)

No I don't... Maybe next time I will cross dress, sit for some time, then go to the restroom, come back in my girlie outfit, and observe the difference myself.

Jennifer Shahade just had a great interview on the Thinking Poker podcast. One point I really appreciate d was the view that men polarize opinions about her play ("She's amazing!/She's horrible"). I see this all the time at the table.

Discussed female vs. male play with a long-time pro I truly admire. He said that he saw being a woman as a huge advantage. In his words, "You have the privilege of being under-estimated." I guess I'm learning to appreciate that.

Im a man and play as one and I disagree with everything in your post.

Every player is an unknown quantity.

Men dress for their desired persona just as much as women do if they wish to manipulate those around them.

I find having a woman at the table generally enhances the atmosphere and there is nothing that I would say around a man that I wouldnt say around a woman.

I perceive many women in poker as TAGs, very few seem to be LAGgy.. just droppin in my 2 cents, do with it what you will

I love listening to Jen's interviews. Even though I consider her one of my closest friends and have known her for >15 years, I never get tired of listening to her answer thought-provoking questions.

First: What's with the theory about Asian women being crazy maniacs?

Second: There must be something I do different since I moved to Vegas to grind live cash more seriously. On multiple occasions, I've been told or asked by recreational whether I was pro because they thought I had the demeanor. Really something because female pros are relatively rare, and I dress a couple steps up from the hoodie and basketball shorts poker attire to not look like a grinder right away, but some of the more observant ones can still tell.

Can have to do with the way I stack and play with my chips? The way I always buy in 200BB+ when allowed and top off? Still, I did those same things before I moved to Vegas and never got called out.

I always thought it was a stereotype that Asians in general were crazy gamblers? Lottery tickets (and spit...) cover the ground in BK Chinatown.

A gentlemen and a scholar-

As an Asian guy, Asian PEOPLE. What kellerz said. I think the assumption is that lots of Asian people love gambling/action so they get bored fast in poker

I would bet you're not doing that much different and it's just people are more likely to talk about the subject when they go to Vegas. (I know I probably would)

Also, there are no female "2+2 types" in my area, but I would profile someone as comfortable with the game regardless of their gender - it's the same tells. Youth is a huge one, comfortable/confident demeanor, shuffling chips/playing with them, using poker terms (even simple things such as "nuts")... basically the opposite attributes of how we profile rec fish

As a rec/casual player, I'm actually wondering out loud in which situations it's good ev to represent a specific type of player (clueless rec, young internet kid, or even regfish) ?

I would assume acting clueless tends to give a calling station / straightforward bets image to observant people. It's so hard not to riffle chips though .

I justify being a hoodie kid by assuming it gives me a bluffy image to older people (I hope it actually does).

Back in the days, a woman Poker player would be perceived as a straight up tight-passive or tight aggressive ABC player who would overplay the nuts and check or fold everything else.

Times have changed. Most of the games I encounter women are live tournaments. Of course the live tournament field is so bad that playing TAG or ABC is usually the way to go until comes the big antes.

I have managed to label the good female players from the bad ones pretty well with time. But by default a female player making any sizeable bet is always perceived as the nuts or close to it.

What bothers me the most is that on a board of ATxxT (preflop raised), the original raiser will bet 2 streets into girl, check the river and when she bets out big, he'll say something like "trips minimum, nice hand" and fold. Of course, it turned out that girl was overbetting into weakness no matter what, even marginal hands with showdown values where stronger hands will call and weaker hands will fold. It took me a while but I figured her out and started passively trapping/pot-controlling just about any hand worth a showdown.

Edit: Just like male players, females that balance their range well (not too loose, not too tight) are rare. They seem even rarer because 98% of the Poker players are male. But proportionally, I'd say women are better tournament players simply because they spew much MUCH less than some of the worst male donks.

Did I also mention, Asian women players are perceived to be absolute SHARKS? Unless proven otherwise, I sh*t my pants when I see a young Asian lady at the table with a 200BB+ stack. We're talking frightening to the likes of Phil Ivey.

Had my most phenomenal advantage ever at a tournament I played at Cesar's. I was in party attire, guy to my immediate left was a mid-aged white male. He plays decent and I think he is a reg. We don't really talk to each other except during the following two hands:

In one hand, I was short so I shoved with 77. He showed me AKo and said "I don't want you to leave", then folded :O

In another hand, I had decent stack and I raised OTB with Q9o after three limpers, he called in the SB, another player called. Flop QT2r, I cbet 1/2 pot and he called. Turn A bringing two spades and he shoved. I tanked for a while then said to him "I remember last time you shoved, you had flush draw." He replied "Oh I don't have flush draw this time. If you have the straight you win. I can show you." I folded and he showed A6o.

Interesting experience.