Hey,

I've never played live poker, not even once. I guess the reason for that is that I was introduced to online poker first a couple years ago. It seems most people play live first and then start playing online. Anyway I was wondering, what are your experiences of live poker? Do you feel comfortable being the only girl at the table? Do you think people play against you differently?

Most times you won't be the only woman/girl at the table, but TBH, it doesn't phase me at all because I'm so used to it. The weirdest thing is when you sit down and you realize everyone at the table is staring for a good 5 minutes. I buy in for the max and don't usually dress that modestly so that might have something to do with it.

Give it a shot, but be prepared to for a lot of action on bets/raises. Men looooove getting into pots with me. And a woman that can actually play instead of just betting with the nuts, or calling down with decent hands intimidates the crap out of them.

Im solely a live player and always have been. Being a girl is a HUGE advantage when playing live. Guys automatically perceive you as a huge nit or an incompetent player. You can steal pots and get free walks like no other.
Im always comfortable being amongst guys at the table cause im used to it, 95% of the time it'll be me and 8 dudes. The cool thing is if another chick sits at my table chances are she wont be as good as me. This helps cause now they are focused on the new fish at the table (no pun intended), and it lets me do a lot more damage.
As a girl you should have an easy time transitioning to live play, you'll just have to get used to a way slower pace, and a spike in your bankroll.

Cleavage? yay or nay?

I say yay! The only drawback is that I can't control my pulse racing sometimes and it's so obvious! I just cover my neck with hands and my chest with my forearms during these moments because I think it's +EV overall.

Cleavage yay!!!!!!

Well I guess I should start playing live then. Good point about the pulse racing thing, I know I'd be really nervous playing live the first time, but it should be fun using the donk woman stereotype to my advantage. I was thinking maybe it could be a tell if you start covering pulse points sometimes :/ ? Do you think women show more tells than guys?

Most rooms that I play in are very cold...and most of the time I am in there for long periods of time. The Rio is notorious for being frigid during the WSOP.

It's definitely one way to tell a poker player off the street: it will be 95 outside and I'm walking through the parking garage with a long sleeve thermal shirt on underneath my polo.

So def no cleavage for me!

You can have cleavage and stay warm. Hoodies and tanktops!

Today I played live and got called "sugartits," but it was all good.

+1000

Most of the people at the lower stakes tables are not pro's but your average joe just looking for some fun. If you can get them thinking about your tits instead of thinking about your cards, that's a HUGE advantage. Once you move up you will find this works less and less, but still - Guys (and some girls!) are gonna stare and the more they do, the less information they are getting.

Perhaps relevant - Below is a convo I had with my bro Dave a few years ago after a long session in Reno

Dave - "You should have seen this table!"

Me - "Loose as hell? You make - "

Dave - "Naw man, this one girl...her tits were AMAZING dude!!"

Me - "Tits?" (Pause) "How much are you down?"

Dave - "About 1k"

Me - "You've lost half your roll to a girl and we just got here?"

Dave - "Yeah but dude...HER TITS!!! They were.....*gets a PRICELESS blank look on his face*....oh ****. I just got played, didn't I?"

Me (Laughing) - "Yes, yes you did. Hope it was worth it!"

Dave (After a moments pause) - "....no. But man.....those TITS!"

I still enjoy needling him every now and then with "THOSE TITS". So much fun. :-D

Lol, very true imo!

sometimes, it's annoying, because guys will instantly zero in on you and want to talk to you, when all you want to do is focus and take their money.

sometimes i play with headphones on (but with music turned off, so i can still hear the action), just so i look somewhat inaccessible and can concentrate on the game.

But I DID thank him.

stock reply...

if you look them straight in the eye first you'll have plenty of time to look them straight in the chest later...IN fact they will usually make a issue of it.

that being said appropriately displayed cleavage is a very nice thing.

Being the only woman at the table ROCKS! Especially if no one else knows you (local regs, dealers, etc.). It's true that women are perceived as complete nits...this means you can steal blinds, bluff occasionally, float, etc. If your sweet and nice, you can get away with murder. Some men will check down hands or fold the nuts, trying to be a gentleman. Other guys will bet into your nuts trying to be overly agressive. Then you have the guys who go on complete "monkey tilt" when they get "beat by a girl". It's a blast.

Words to keep in your arsenal...

The Clueless Chick Image
"Is it my turn?"
"My boyfriend taught me how to play on the internet"
"How much do I put in the middle?" "2 red ones and a blue one?"

The Motherly Image
"It's OK Sweetie. That river suck-out was just bad luck. The ATM machine is right over there. Why don't you reload and try again?"
"Your playing fine honey. Don't let these other guys get to you. You can play with a 9-5 offsuit if you want."

The One-of-the-Boys Image[/U]
"You guys need to start drinking. Shots are on me!"

and my all time favorite...

Him: "Do you mind if I straddle you?"
Me: "You gotta buy dinner first baby"

Really?

I think women have a huge advantage in live poker. If you're young, men will flirt with you and be distracted by your aforementioned tits. If you're not so young, they'll just think you have no clue, only play "big" cards and don't bluff. They'll also think you're a wimp. They're more likely to show you their cards when they don't have to (and be sure to sweetly thank them so they'll keep doing it) and softplay you. I have found this to be the case so much that, if there is more than one other woman at the table when I sit down in a cash game, I'll immediately ask for a table change.

I seem to be one of the few women who are against women's events. Why on earth would I want to play against women who aren't going to be thinking like men (see above)? I want to be the only woman at the table bluffing and reraising the little darlings while they're thinking "what's this grannie doing at my table? OMG - she raised, she must have it!".

On a more basic level, I don't think a group of people who have been discriminated against for centuries should be holding events that discriminate, but that's a whole other thread.

Generally speaking (and I apologize for playing into heteronormative stereotypes here), men seem to have trouble "reading" women, while we have a lot of experience with picking up on subtle cues about their emotional states, level of aggression, etc. This is a huge advantage.

One disadvantage is gang mentality. I've seen it approach the level of collusion at times -- they subconsciously band together to punish and take down that threatening female who stole their brothers' chips.

Also, sexual tension is a double-edged sword, tiltwise. If you have any kind of submissive streak they might pick up on that and use it against you. Some of you may be familiar with the research saying that during the fertile times in our cycle, we're more attracted to aggressive men... this can impact decision making, so it's something to be aware of.

But for the most part I'd say that being female is a plus for live play. Poker may be one of the few "professions" where this is the case, actually.

I raised 3x in a row in a WSOP 1500 and a guy told me that if I raised the next hand he was going to have to get rid of my husband and marry me, lol.

haha...I had something similar from a young (omg, i felt old) obv. internet player during the 1k last week.

I pulled off the best squeeze play of my young poker life with what looked to be about 5 minutes left to go before our table broke. I had been playing pretty tight (meaning, I was super card dead at an overly agro table), and the young kid had been raising a lot. I'm in the BB, he raises in MP, the small blind calls, and I come over the top all in.

they each tank for about 3 minutes before folding, and since the table was about to break, I granted their request and showed my 97o. needless to say, the table went nuts. After the kid got up and walked around and went to tell his buddy all about it, he comes over and goes "are you single? I think I love you". LOL!!!

Yeah, stuff like this happens all the time. Last time I was at the Venetian there was a nice young woman to my left, and a nice fatherly 60-ish guy to my right.

The woman was a solid player who wasn't having any trouble putting together a winning session, but the older gent to my right would check down with her unless he had the nuts, in which case he would over bet the pot and say "fold."

Embarrassing.

Also, I've played some with Pez, and can confirm that she gets a lot of attention at the table, and does a great job of using it to her advantage.

Yay for Me!

Him: Young gun walks up to table.

Me: Sitting behind big stack of chips.

Him: Sits down across from me and says nervously "Nice Stack".

Me: Grab Tits in both hands and push together while saying "Thanks Man!"

Him: Turns red and says "Uuuuhhhhh..."

Me: "Oh STACK? , I thought you said RACK . My Bad .

The rest of the table gets really quiet and nervous. I proceed to stack more chips.

All right, either I'm going to end up looking like some kind of new age hero or I'm about to get flamed right off this board but....

Personally/IMHO/JM2C/TBQH

I don't really care if you're male or female, got a great looking personality with tits to match or a fugly bag ugly mug....if I think I can beat you I'm going to play my best and win the pot regardless of who is behind the stack. Don't get me wrong, I'll joke and laugh with the best of them but....really folding because you're a girl?

Away from the tables, it's a different story. I hold doors open, pick up the tab, offer to pay, hold chairs, give my coat to a lady, and the rest of the gentleman-like behaviors my Mother and Grandmother ingrained into my psyche from the moment I was born....but you sit down to compete you had better bring your best and expect no quarter.

The person behind the cards is your opponent. Male or Female, Young or Old, New or Vet, Sister, Grandmother, Mom, or Adopted friend from down the street....I want to beat you.

I expect the same in return.

^^^ Fair enough, and that's the norm. We expect most of the players there to try to take our money, but that doesn't take away from the fact that that is not always the case.

I've had other women play me soft too because of the sisterhood thing. These are just live poker experiences, which is the whole point of the thread. Soft-playing does happen on a fairly regular basis, but more often than not, everyone is playing their own game. To be honest, I seem to attract the "I'm going to call her and outplay her" type more than the soft-playing type. Either way, I think I get treated differently than the typical player at the table.

Hi I play reguarly live and love it. Yes, i'm in the minority but mainly it rocks.

Since I am league leader the last 2 months the mens play has now changed but generally, they are non believers and I get paid