Female Poker Players

Poker Playing Women

For hundreds of years poker was dominated by men. However, with the recent explosion in popularity, more and more women are playing poker, both competitively and in home games. Thanks to television coverage, we finally have female poker stars such as Annie Duke and Evelyn Ng. Is this a good thing? In my opinion, this is one of the very best things that happened to poker in a long time. It has added legitimacy to poker, and more personally, it is so much easier to get permission from my wife to go out to play poker since she has started playing some herself.

With the addition of women, many men have a tough time adjusting their game to this change. Some men find it difficult to accept just because it's a change. Others have a problem accepting that a woman can equally as good a poker player as a man, or maybe even better. Others get so caught up in flirting or talking to a woman at the table that they abandon solid play. Some men try to intimidate female players because they foolishly think they can bluff them more easily than men.

Well, if you are a male and you have some of the issues mentioned above, I have the solution. Of course if you are a seasoned poker player you have surely figured this out yourself. When I am pitched against female players at the poker table, I treat them identical to any other player. These ladies are there to take my money and you bet that I am there to take theirs. By observing their actions and play, I take note of their ability and tendencies and look to find any areas of weakness I may be able to exploit.

I also make a conscious point to not let the fact that my opponent is female alter my opinion of her playing ability. you must think about how you will handle a female at the poker table. This works similair to one of the best ways to avoid tilt is to make a decision to not let things get to you. Women are just other poker players, Don't think of them as female poker players.