About Girls... ...& The Nutz!
I see more females playing texas hold-em today than ever before, but we're still the minority big time. Girls play a whole lot different than the guys do, and I've learned over the years to really use that to my advantage. It's more than just a card game. There's a psychological battle going on all of the time as well. It doesn't come across 100% when you watch the stuff on t.v. either...
As a female poker player, most men don't give me the time of day at first. Many have the attitude that girls are "dead money" and are going to be easy to read and get rid of. That's not always the case. I play regularly with several women who come in the money (finish within the winning few) at least 90% of the time they play. Girls can't just "show up and play" in a tournament like the guys can. Sure, some guys will put on their lucky shirt or grab a token they are superstitious about. But intimidation is a good part of the game. Sometimes I'll wear a dress. Sometimes I'll act like a dingbat. Sometimes I'll pretend I've never played before (that's getting hard to do now though, unless we're out of town because most local players know me now...) Sometimes just a wink or a smile can throw a man off his play, and if you learn to use that to your advantage and know who and when to use it, this can be helpful. ;)
The other night, I played in the biggest "big money" tournment I've ever tried. I went right after work so there wasn't time to put much effort into dressing. I wore a business suit, but did take the time to put on a World Series of Poker pin that I'd picked up while we were at the tourney in Vegas... (intimidation, any way it works!) There were a zillion people (or so it seemed) and with eleven players on a table, we were packed in there like sardines... it was kind of screwy, the way they ran the tournament. For the first hour, each time a player went out (lost all their money/chips and is out of the game) they were replaced by an alternate. That meant some players played up to an hour longer than others did. There were no rebuys (where you can get more chips/money when you run out). I drew seat 1 at my table, which is to the left of the dealer (it was a multi-table tournament...). When there are eleven at a table, and you are sitting next to the dealer, you can't get a really good look at the faces of all the other players. I took that in consideration and remembered to listen to the voices and watch the hands of the players I had a hard time seeing. Part of playing hold'em is reading the other players. Very important part in fact...
There was a guy sitting next to me wearing the hat/sunglasses thing. I used to wear sunglasses before I learned to stare. Some guys use them as a crutch. I'd sat next to this guy in a tournament before and knew how he played so it didn't matter that I couldn't see his eyes. I ended up taking all his chips away from him later on in the night and making him finish in 4th place... The rest of the table was a melting pot of two other women and seven men of a variety of ages. Most of them went out during the first hour. One of the women played one hand and lost all her chips. The woman I couldn't see played very tight but just couldn't catch any really good cards and ended up going out in fifth place... At the end of the first hour, my friend M got called as an alternate and took the seat on the opposite side of the dealer. I wished her good luck but really hated playing against her. I took all her chips away from her during the third hour and she went out in ninth place...
I wasn't winning all night, even though that right there sounds like it. For the first hour, I only played two hands besides the blind, folding every time and only winning one pot the whole hour. Even when the table's moving very fast, it can be hard to sit there and fold your cards every time and not get into the action. But sometimes you have to. The second hour, things started to rock & roll a little bit. I caught some good cards and won some chips, bought a couple pots (betting high so the other players will fold their cards and you get all the money) and managed to bluff a few times... when we got down to the final table, I took out the ones I've already told you about. There was a big ole boy and his even bigger father who were seated next to each other as they moved the players in. I took the father out, he had AK and I called him with 10-4offsuite because I was in the blind and already had 10,000 in the pot. I caught 10 4 on the flop, which gave me 2 pairs, and when he went "all-in", I had to call. We flipped our cards over and he didn't have a darn thing. I caught another 4 on the turn, which gave me a full house (or boat) and he took the walk of shame in 6th place... after the tournament this big ole man actually had the nerve for cussing me out publicly for playing 10-4 and winning. I looked his fat ass square in the eye and told him "you never know what I'm going to play, so watch out."
By the time we got down to the final three players, there was a ton of people standing around watching and shouting. Most of the time I was able to tune them out but I did hear quite a few of them cheering for "the girl"... It was the fat man who cussed me out's fat son, a skinny dude who looked scared to death sitting next to him, and me across the table. I was short stacked at that point and managed to bluff a little bit and buy a couple more and pull into second place. Then the fat kid started being a bully. Every hand he would go "all in" before the flop. I folded. And folded. The fourth time he did it, the scared guy called him. I don't remember what the cards were but the fat kid took mr. scared out and we started heads up play (two players). It went on for quite a while. My friend M was cheering me on and rubbing my shoulders at that point, hollering, "that's my girl! that's my girl" which was kind of funny considering she lost to me... anyway.
To be honest, I don't have a whole lot of heads up experience. I used to get scared and always lose, but now I take a whole lot of things into consideration and just try and play poker. We pushed those chips back and forth for what seemed like forever. By the end of the night I learned some things about that big ole boy just from the way he played poker. (the only thing I learned from him when he opened his mouth was that he is a Very bad sport and has even worse language...) So from his playing I could tell that he was single. Didn't play cards with women very often. I was able to intimidate him quite a few times and you could tell that when I took some of his chips away from him and everyone cheered it ate his guts. It killed him. I was a GIRL and he was a big ole redneck boy and everyone knows in the south how redneck boys think... And he thought he could bully me. HAH.
He started going all in every hand trying to buy the blinds. He didn't have anything, he was just bullying. I kept control. I caught a K J offsuite. Thought about it. Thought again, should I call? What if I go out? No. That's not it. Fold. The blinds were up somewhere up in the thousands, so it took quite a bit of the stack each time I folded. I caught a Q 2 and folded. Then folded a 10 4. He was quite a bit ahead of me at that point. I took a deep breath and my next hand was pocket Kings. KK was beautiful at that point. He went all in, which pushed me all in if I called. Of course I did. We flipped our cards and he had A 2, my kings started off the best hand. You never know what's going to happen with poker though. Anything goes. The flop was 475. Nothing. So far so good. The turn was a 6. wow. We both just stared at the cards. The dealer turned over a damn A on the river which paired him up and my kings took me into second place.
I know you can't always win. I felt so good though, that was the best I've ever played, and it was only because of the way the cards came out that I finished second. It was one of those no regret kind of nights. And I'm terribly sorry that I've rambled on about a bunch of stuff that probably makes no sense at all to you. I needed to write about it to get it out of my system and let it go because I'm going to play in another one tonight and I don't want all that in my head. Need to start fresh so I don't make stupid mistakes.
You know, as superstitious as I am about poker... I guess I could say that, had I been able to blog my "Rabbits! Rabbits!" for good luck the past two months, I might have won after all... but since I couldn't... well heck. You never know, right? LOL
Ok. Enough about cards. Time to get into my work and worry about tonight's game when it gets here... Have a great weekend!
As a female poker player, most men don't give me the time of day at first. Many have the attitude that girls are "dead money" and are going to be easy to read and get rid of. That's not always the case. I play regularly with several women who come in the money (finish within the winning few) at least 90% of the time they play. Girls can't just "show up and play" in a tournament like the guys can. Sure, some guys will put on their lucky shirt or grab a token they are superstitious about. But intimidation is a good part of the game. Sometimes I'll wear a dress. Sometimes I'll act like a dingbat. Sometimes I'll pretend I've never played before (that's getting hard to do now though, unless we're out of town because most local players know me now...) Sometimes just a wink or a smile can throw a man off his play, and if you learn to use that to your advantage and know who and when to use it, this can be helpful. ;)
The other night, I played in the biggest "big money" tournment I've ever tried. I went right after work so there wasn't time to put much effort into dressing. I wore a business suit, but did take the time to put on a World Series of Poker pin that I'd picked up while we were at the tourney in Vegas... (intimidation, any way it works!) There were a zillion people (or so it seemed) and with eleven players on a table, we were packed in there like sardines... it was kind of screwy, the way they ran the tournament. For the first hour, each time a player went out (lost all their money/chips and is out of the game) they were replaced by an alternate. That meant some players played up to an hour longer than others did. There were no rebuys (where you can get more chips/money when you run out). I drew seat 1 at my table, which is to the left of the dealer (it was a multi-table tournament...). When there are eleven at a table, and you are sitting next to the dealer, you can't get a really good look at the faces of all the other players. I took that in consideration and remembered to listen to the voices and watch the hands of the players I had a hard time seeing. Part of playing hold'em is reading the other players. Very important part in fact...
There was a guy sitting next to me wearing the hat/sunglasses thing. I used to wear sunglasses before I learned to stare. Some guys use them as a crutch. I'd sat next to this guy in a tournament before and knew how he played so it didn't matter that I couldn't see his eyes. I ended up taking all his chips away from him later on in the night and making him finish in 4th place... The rest of the table was a melting pot of two other women and seven men of a variety of ages. Most of them went out during the first hour. One of the women played one hand and lost all her chips. The woman I couldn't see played very tight but just couldn't catch any really good cards and ended up going out in fifth place... At the end of the first hour, my friend M got called as an alternate and took the seat on the opposite side of the dealer. I wished her good luck but really hated playing against her. I took all her chips away from her during the third hour and she went out in ninth place...
I wasn't winning all night, even though that right there sounds like it. For the first hour, I only played two hands besides the blind, folding every time and only winning one pot the whole hour. Even when the table's moving very fast, it can be hard to sit there and fold your cards every time and not get into the action. But sometimes you have to. The second hour, things started to rock & roll a little bit. I caught some good cards and won some chips, bought a couple pots (betting high so the other players will fold their cards and you get all the money) and managed to bluff a few times... when we got down to the final table, I took out the ones I've already told you about. There was a big ole boy and his even bigger father who were seated next to each other as they moved the players in. I took the father out, he had AK and I called him with 10-4offsuite because I was in the blind and already had 10,000 in the pot. I caught 10 4 on the flop, which gave me 2 pairs, and when he went "all-in", I had to call. We flipped our cards over and he didn't have a darn thing. I caught another 4 on the turn, which gave me a full house (or boat) and he took the walk of shame in 6th place... after the tournament this big ole man actually had the nerve for cussing me out publicly for playing 10-4 and winning. I looked his fat ass square in the eye and told him "you never know what I'm going to play, so watch out."
By the time we got down to the final three players, there was a ton of people standing around watching and shouting. Most of the time I was able to tune them out but I did hear quite a few of them cheering for "the girl"... It was the fat man who cussed me out's fat son, a skinny dude who looked scared to death sitting next to him, and me across the table. I was short stacked at that point and managed to bluff a little bit and buy a couple more and pull into second place. Then the fat kid started being a bully. Every hand he would go "all in" before the flop. I folded. And folded. The fourth time he did it, the scared guy called him. I don't remember what the cards were but the fat kid took mr. scared out and we started heads up play (two players). It went on for quite a while. My friend M was cheering me on and rubbing my shoulders at that point, hollering, "that's my girl! that's my girl" which was kind of funny considering she lost to me... anyway.
To be honest, I don't have a whole lot of heads up experience. I used to get scared and always lose, but now I take a whole lot of things into consideration and just try and play poker. We pushed those chips back and forth for what seemed like forever. By the end of the night I learned some things about that big ole boy just from the way he played poker. (the only thing I learned from him when he opened his mouth was that he is a Very bad sport and has even worse language...) So from his playing I could tell that he was single. Didn't play cards with women very often. I was able to intimidate him quite a few times and you could tell that when I took some of his chips away from him and everyone cheered it ate his guts. It killed him. I was a GIRL and he was a big ole redneck boy and everyone knows in the south how redneck boys think... And he thought he could bully me. HAH.
He started going all in every hand trying to buy the blinds. He didn't have anything, he was just bullying. I kept control. I caught a K J offsuite. Thought about it. Thought again, should I call? What if I go out? No. That's not it. Fold. The blinds were up somewhere up in the thousands, so it took quite a bit of the stack each time I folded. I caught a Q 2 and folded. Then folded a 10 4. He was quite a bit ahead of me at that point. I took a deep breath and my next hand was pocket Kings. KK was beautiful at that point. He went all in, which pushed me all in if I called. Of course I did. We flipped our cards and he had A 2, my kings started off the best hand. You never know what's going to happen with poker though. Anything goes. The flop was 475. Nothing. So far so good. The turn was a 6. wow. We both just stared at the cards. The dealer turned over a damn A on the river which paired him up and my kings took me into second place.
I know you can't always win. I felt so good though, that was the best I've ever played, and it was only because of the way the cards came out that I finished second. It was one of those no regret kind of nights. And I'm terribly sorry that I've rambled on about a bunch of stuff that probably makes no sense at all to you. I needed to write about it to get it out of my system and let it go because I'm going to play in another one tonight and I don't want all that in my head. Need to start fresh so I don't make stupid mistakes.
You know, as superstitious as I am about poker... I guess I could say that, had I been able to blog my "Rabbits! Rabbits!" for good luck the past two months, I might have won after all... but since I couldn't... well heck. You never know, right? LOL
Ok. Enough about cards. Time to get into my work and worry about tonight's game when it gets here... Have a great weekend!
posted by Kim at 7:56 AM
4 Comments:
I love it!!!!! I watch on TV when I catch it. I am soooo fasenated with the "control" some have. NOT ME it is right out there on my sleeve you know me. Anyway I did your "rabbit rabbit" for Sept. but forgot in Oct. sorry I'll take the blame. hahaha Good luck tonight, and have a good weekend!!!
Sounds to me like you have a real leg up on Psychology. Your analysis of body language is impeccable. Take it easy this semester and maybe even next if you have to, but with only six hours to a degree grab it while you can otherwise all that went before becomes a waste of time and money. Glad to see you posting again and your life starting to turn around. I've got some ideas on the novel, but the stress level is too high for creative thought right now. Maybe I'll finish it up over Christmas break.
BTW your banner playing card is darling.
Wow! I'm exhausted! Lol... just watching you play (over your shoulder like that) gave me the goosebumps! Now I want to learn how to play. How fun!
Let's see, it's 7 am here, so that means hopefully you are done with last night's tournament by now...
Are those chips rattling that I hear?
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