I find it hard to believe that a table full of guys would let a random kid berate a woman. I don't think it makes them noble or special. It just makes the kid a douche.

But to be honest, I feel like I can stick up for myself and wish the white knights would stay out of it. I spend all this time on the internet sharpening my verbal claws. I like to be able to use them when I get a chance.

LOL, reminds me of a time when some guy called me a "stupid b*itch" at the table, promptly got kicked out and a reg at another table asked what happened and was all, "awww, you're not stupid." But he knows me.....he knows I can take a joke and just laugh stuff like this off.
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Why is it that when two women are heads-up, someone always has to say "cat fight!"

I loathe that.

I think it's because men love to fantize about the whole girl-on-girl thing (whether we're fighting or f***ing). I loathe it too.

Equally loathsome: "A woman is gonna win this pot!"

In professional poker settings, I tend to fly in under the radar as a player. Being middle aged, mom-like, I don't get noticed. People notice the super-old types, the young aggressives.

It's usually a while before players notice me and my chip stack.

As far as cleavage, I am constantly amazed that men tend to like cleavage, even *if* it is attached to middle aged mom types. My husband doesn't seem to be shocked by that reality, but it suprises me every time.

I don't dress with the intention of showing, but for comfort and confidence. If that includes cleavage, that's fine. My cleavage is one of my better physical attributes.

I should add my favorate mixed poker experience. I had just final tabled a circuit event (women's) and went to the poker room to "chill" because I sure wasn't going to be able to sleep at that point.

It was me and a table full of men from 8:00 pm until the next morning. I left with more than I bought in for. At first, they didn't believe I had just final tabled, then they thought it was "cute" and finally, they began playing with me as a "real" poker player. It was a great night.

If I am new to the table, or have a tight image (that has yet to involve c/r) I like to check/raise c-bets vs one opponent on a dry flop that I've missed.

I just wanted to mention that I am a guy and definitely prefer to play with women poker players. They are almost always better behaved and the game runs smoother than playing at a table off disgruntled old guys who only get enjoyment out of creating a miserable environment. I hope to see more of you at the tables in the future.

Yeah, playing with women is pretty sweet. Usually more chatter and you got a nice face to look at! I'm all for more women playing poker, keep em coming.

I'm a guy and it makes no difference to me the gender of my opponent, it doesn't even cross my mind.

One thing I will add though, A girl at a poker table, sexxxxee

Playing against women is difficult because when you want to put them on tilt you are conceived as mean.

Example: my "you're not as good as you think" stare is misinterpreted to be define as sexist.

I noticed that no one ever addressed this, so I thought I would give it a try. Before BF I was almost exclusively an internet player. When I started to play live I was so twitchy, fidgety and clumsy that having a poker face was the least of my concerns. However, I did discover that when you are generally nervous about the whole situation, your opponents eventually discover they can't put you on AA or a pure bluff! Also keep in mind that someone at the table will almost always soft play you and some one else will go completely into re-raise mode if you are in a pot (I am a tournament player for the most part). Figure out who they are and use it to your advantage!!! BTW, it won't always be the "young guns" doing the re-raising and the older gentlemen soft playing...(I am always willing to change my opinion about my opponents from that first impression and in my area there are just as many TAG young men as LAG older ones).

My best advice is that if you feel you are giving off tells because you are nervous about live play, the best thing you can do is don't freeze up and appear different when you do get that monster hand, try to keep doing the same mannerisms you have been showing throughout the session.

It always helps to have someone you know play with you at the same table to tell you about any tells you are giving off, and I totally agree that whatever they are (your tells) make sure you do them consistently when you do or don't have a hand.

I play in low stakes games. .50/1.00 NL and 1-2 NL. I don't think I can say the bit I've bolded above with as much zeal as you've framed it. Sure, it's true to some extent, but in the games I'm used to playing a lot of the players tend to play their cards more than they play the player. So many low stakes players don't bother to give much thought to how nitty or incompetent an opponent might be. All they know is they have a 93 of clubs and might make a flush this hand. Sometimes the games I play in are so good that half the table couldn't care less what kind of player I am, they just want to see if their cards can win at showdown ("AK is a powerful hand and I just can't fold it"). That dynamic can make it difficult to get free walks and steal pots regardless of gender.

Also, a distinction has to be made between the players who snap judge you as generally incompetent and the ones who think you are nitty because they require different adjustments (in addition to having to tread carefully between the calling stations land mines I mentioned above).

Pre-Black Friday my response to this would have been: 2-5 penny online is more difficult than 1-2 NL live. Significantly more difficult in my opinion. The plethora of information which is available live is part of it, but I believe that people online are just more fundamentally sound at much lower levels. I've played at some 1-2 penny tables online that were tougher than $1-$2 live.

I'm finding that guys either give me credit for a big hand any time I bet or raise or think I never have anything. Only the extreme ends of the spectrum. Thoughts?

IDK if it has anything to do with being a woman or not, but I played last night and finished up over $300 at 1/2, almost all of it off of a single hand where I flopped top two on a JTx board and got all in on the flop vs. two other villains (one I had covered, the other had both of us covered, but the side pot was pretty small).

J OTT, boat is good. Villain 1 said he had AKo (); continued play revealed him to be a massive spewbox so I doubt my being female had anything to do with him calling (he raised pre and cbet the JTx flop, FWIW). The other guy eventually turned out to be a relatively tightish player, so I do wonder what in the world he could possibly have been calling with in that hand, and if he had a view of women as spewy. Since he folded, though, I'll never know for sure. For all I know he had bottom set and I four outtered him, but I thought I heard him mutter "no good" when an ace hit the river before I showed my hand, so I think he was playing some sort of draw.

Honestly, I think this behavior is exhibited by weak players of both genders, to players of both genders. When I was a regular in a local cash game, I came across both brands of weaklings.

Of course, strong players see right by stereotypes and play you for who you are.

If he was playing some sort of draw, he wouldn't need to see the turn to know his hand was no good, since he'd have been drawing dead on the flop.

If you did hear correctly, and he did have a hand that warranted huge action on the flop but still had outs when you had the nut boat on the turn, the only real possibility is bottom set, *maybe* JQ/JK with a flush draw (didn't catch whether there was two of a suit on board), or maybe unlikely, Jx where a T on the river would have given him a chop.

But if all he had was a draw and not a made hand, he wouldn't wait to the river to be disgusted IMO.

I was very fortunate with the people I played with in Vegas, both men and women. Only came across 1 real obnoxious guy and when he gave me bs, I gave it back. The being perceived as nitty thing I think is true and I use it to my advantage, especially in the UK. The guys at my local casino even joke 'here comes Kate, now, if she raises PF she has aces'. Wonderfully exploitable. In Vegas, female+British accent+military = EZ game. Guys could not stop talking to me or asking about what I did. I'm pretty sure they folded in places that they otherwise might not have. That sounds kinda big headed - sorry, not meant to be.

A big difference I found though, is that there is very very little chat over here, whereas in America, people were pretty friendly. Not saying the table has to be super chatty or anything, just a general feel. Although, I think my home country is generally ruder then anywhere else I've been! lol

Whoever asked about the nervous thing (caveat: I'm a recreational player, nothing else) the first few times you look down at a monster, you will feel your heart race and feel like everyone has noticed, but it gets easier...plus, like someone else said, if you are generally feeling nervous overall, its tough to spot!

pezbaby:

It's one of the interesting dynamics about playing at a table with a good woman player. Against a certain type of egotistical male player, a woman who knows how to handle her chips has a tremendous advantage.

This is the kind of thing that will really tilt some guys, but a woman player who is aggressive to the point of "acting like a man" can really drive a guy (or some guys) up the wall. I have never watched her play, but from what I've read about her, I get the impression that Vanessa Selbst is such a player. Not only is she a good card player, but Vanessa isn't reticent about telling a guy that he just made an idiotic play. That kind of needling (from a woman player) can drive a lot of guys crazy. When a woman has the skill to back that kind of talk up, it has a devastating psychological effect on some male players. (It won't have as pronounced an effect on really good male players, as they will have "left their ego at the door" as Doyle recommends and they won't be intimidated, but a certain type of male player is especially vulnerable to attack from a lady player like Vanessa. Maybe it's a misplaced sense of chivalry or whatever, but most guys have a really hard time "getting tough" on a woman.

The poker table is the one place where male chauvinism can be deadly - to your bankroll.

Former DJ

A dude at my cash table was too drunk to stack his own chips last night and the dealer was telling him he had to stack or leave. I offered to stack his chips for him, and he tipped me $100!

I 1-outed someone in a $1100 pot in 1/2 PLO. I think he was a degen gambling his entire networth (which PLO is probably THE worst game for). Overfull vs quads on the turn, and I rivered quads.

He was so pissed, I seriously thought he wanted to kidnap and rape me. Practically the entire room attempted to calm him down before the floor had to threaten to ban him if he wouldn't.

Plo can be a killer id still be playing full time if I hadn't succumbed to her tempting ways.

This thread is just terrific. So many great stories.

I must admit that as a guy, I am particular interested in the posts regarding women taking advantage of their gender to distract male players with a pretty face or...um, cleavage. Yes, it's true, men are weak! I notice this being done even at the low limit games I usually play. I refer to a female wearing something low cut at the poker table as going for the "Jennifer Tilly Effect" for obvious reasons.

I was wondering if it would be against forum rules for me to post links on my personal blog to some of these great stories? They are too good not to share. Or....do posters here have a problem with me posting links to your posts? I don't want to break any rules or offend anyone.

But regardless, this is a great thread.

A dealer recently told me "no racks on the table." I lolled.

I have to agree with a lot of the posts in this thread. Women players have some distinct advantages, most significantly that men really don't know quite how to play against them. I say them, because I feel like I mostly just get treated like a guy at the table, being a butch dyke. Hell, half the guys that I play with in Vegas never even figure out that I am a woman. But I watch guys misplay against more feminine women constantly.

The most common tendency I see is for guys to play way too aggressively against women. It may work for a while against some, but almost inevitably they overplay their hands at some point. This can be very, very profitable to exploit.