Hello ladies, I come seeking your wisdom. for the 13 years I have been married, my lovely wife has filed poker in the "things my husband does that I don't understand but tolerate" along with race cars and guns.

However, in the last several months we have been playing poker with our two sons for our family game night, and she went from tolerating it to actually enjoying it. She mentioned that she might actually play poker on our vegas trip later this year! I want to try to make this the best experience possible for her, and had a few questions for you.

First a little bit about my wife, she doesn't have a competitive bone in her body, but she does love math/word puzzles, soduku, that kind of thing. also, she's a math and science teacher, so once I pitched how low level poker can be beat by simply playing the odds, she got more interested.

Do you have any suggestions on how to make her first time more enjoyable? any vegas rooms that would be more newby/woman friendly? I'm really worried that she will run into "that guy" that every table in vegas seems to have that would belittle her for not knowing the rules/making a bad decision/just for being an attractive woman. Any way to deal with this? I can't decide whether I should slum down to the 2/4 limit with her so I can stick up for her, or if she would find that more annoying. Thanks so much!

If she is attracticve (as you suggest) I think "that guy" is more likely to play her soft and hit on her than to belittle her, but maybe we are talking about two different guys.

oh there are two I'm worried about. the "i'm a pro" table coach tapping the tank belittling other players "that guy", and the "hitting on everything in site cause I'm in VEGAS BABY" guy. any tips on dealing with either of these types? I'm not as worried about the 2nd, because while she is attractive, she's also 34, a little old for most of those types, but the 1st type would really drive my wife nuts and make it an unpleasant experience.

Remind her that people who talk strategy at the table are usually far and away the worst players out there, and must compensate to try to make them feel better.

Seriously, though, I think you're probably worrying too much. There aren't that many people who will obnoxiously berate someone for being clueless, and by age 34 I'm sure she knows how to deal with idiots, anyway. Just let her know poker has some specific type of idiots and let her deal with them how she would deal with any idiot.

Also, let her know that if someone is really out of line, she can either call the floor and have them deal with the moron or request a table change.

Women are very rarely berated at tables in my experience. Although I do find that the reaction is often more severe when a woman abuses someone else about their play.

Ask her to post here herself

I'm not sure she's ready for 2+2, I'm sure yall are nice, but imagine if she stumbled on bbv4life on accident!

I post in 4L.

I think you're being way overly protective. If she's interested, tell her there are some nice lady poker players who will answer any questions she may have about etiquette and how to make playing in Vegas a fun experience. But leave this up to her. You seem more invested in this than she is.

A good first would be to let her know about the usual pitfall of the beginners behavior at a casino.
Things like protecting her hand, release once she got the pot handed over to her, verbal binding, betting is only once chips are behind the line etc. Those are easy mistake to make and that can ruin your trip to some extent.
Hope it goes well for you guys.

I frequent bbv4l myself, well lurk alot anyway, that was more sarcasm than anything, where's my sarcasm font dangit!

OH I have way more invested than she does. If she likes poker my hobby would be 100x more enjoyable/easier on me.

Would she be more comfortable playing with another woman? I play MGM $1/2 NL every weekend (I live in Vegas). A lot of time, I sit with other ladies at the table who are new to the game. I try to encourage them and help out as best I can.

MGM is also a great place for ladies to play. The dealers are very patient with new players and with new ladies especially.

If your wife would like to play with another woman, PM me. I'd be happy to coach.

I have mostly only played at Caesar's in Las Vegas. I never had any problems, I'm a female, the dealers are particularly careful to make sure that no sexist behavior takes place at the table. I think that any of the larger nicer casinos would be fine.

I agree with the poster who said to make sure that she understands the rules and etiquette of playing at the table, betting, protecting cards, etc.

I'm sure she will have a great time.

I've never had a problem at the tables either, she'll be fine!