When I was asked to write an article about women in poker, I was unsure of a topic.

I did not want to write yet another “I want to be known as a great player…not a great FEMALE player” article. That angle has already been covered adequately elsewhere. I decided to write about a situation that women like myself sometimes encounter while playing poker. Now while there are many different characters to be found at the poker table, one that particularly stands out as unpleasant is the guy who feels that women have no place in a “man’s game” and will do his utmost to demonstrate his considered superiority by smack talking to get me on tilt. I must say that this particular type of character is rarely encountered in today’s game and I am glad that this guy’s opinion belongs firmly in the minority.

I remember one encounter with just such a character at the Goldstrike Casino in Tunica.

The table was $5-$10 Limit Hold 'Em and I was what can only be described as “on a bit of a roll”. For over an hour my blinds had been pure gold. My K7o flopped two pair, my Q8o flopped 88 and so on. The guy in question was on my right and was rather keen to point out just how bad my play was over what was now a sequence of four rather expensive (for him) winning blinds. Of course I neglected to add the small fact that if he himself had raised me preflop then I would never have been in any of those hands and the situation would have been much different. Rather than try to get me off balance and on tilt, he had himself lost sight and gone on tilt and was clearly going to stop at nothing to bring me down. Chances like this are few and far between and on that particular night I wasn’t about to let this one escape me.

The guy in question, now known as ‘Whiney’ for reasons I’m sure you could guess, had also taken a dislike to the new dealer on our table. He was incidentally a BIG guy, easily 300 pounds and was attracting a few nasty comments from Whiney about his weight. To the dealer's credit, he continued to let Whiney play. I personally would have bounced him but I think the dealer was getting a kick out of watching us go at it and let him stay. Whiney by now, was winning himself few friends by his remarks and I felt a small obligation to give as good as I got, both for me and the dealer. His trash talk continued, by now aimed equally at the dealer and myself.

Then came the hand that defined the evening: JT hearts, me on BB. Whiney had finally wised up and raised my blind. I decided not to fold and played just to get under his skin and smack talk. Even if I had lost, I knew I had him on tilt and would have got my money back before much longer. I re-raised and countered with some trash talk of my own that this was my blind, and I never lose a blind. Whiney was adamant that he had the winner, this hand was going to cost me a fortune and I should go back to the kitchen where I belonged. By now, I was happy to trade verbal blows with this guy and simply explained that I could happily stay there all night since I was playing purely with his money. Even the dealer broke into a laugh and was insulted once more by Whiney for the privilege; tensions were running rather high at that point. One other player stayed with us as we capped preflop. I was quietly a little nervous thinking that this hand might indeed cost me a fortune after all, and all in the name of needling someone.

The flop came 8h 9c 7h.

I had the straight, there were going to be fireworks now. I bet, to be raised by the forgotten third person in the hand, re-raised by Whiney (which came as little surprise), I called and the other two capped it out with me calling. I made a mental note here to not get careless and blinded by trying to beat Whiney and to remember the job at hand, my straight was probably not going to hold up here and I had a bad feeling that I’d let emotions get the better of me.

Whiney took a shot at me, was I scared now, in too deep? I simply reminded him that I had no need to be scared when I was playing with his money. Our dealer broke the tension once again with a laugh and earned himself another rude remark from Whiney.

The turn, I was chanting to myself in my head NO HEART, NO PAIR, NO HEART, NO PAIR, NO HEART, NO PAIR.

9h

Oh no! Pair AND a heart, I was too busy thinking I was beaten to realize what was in front of me. That’s MY heart!!! Then the adrenaline kicked in, I forced myself to stay calm and reminded myself to also breathe at this point (thank you Mike Caro). I could barely do more than check as my hands were shaking. I could not believe how much I wanted to beat this guy, not win the hand, but beat HIM. Mid position bets to be raised by Whiney who taunted me again, why was I still there, I’m obviously beaten. This was music to my ears now; he was going to throw everything at me, chips and insults and would still come up short. I reminded him that I never lose my blinds to which he bet where I backed myself up and re-raised him. Our dealer broke silence with yet another laugh that earned him more rudeness from Whiney. I was happy at this point to engage in as much talk as was necessary and cheerfully defended the dealer’s honor. The smack talk actually took the edge off of the nervousness.

We capped it out between the three of us with mid position still hanging in there. If he had dropped I could have taken everything from this guy. That would have been sweet revenge, but the most we could do now was cap the river.

River: 6s

Betting was capped and Whiney slammed down his Ah Kh flush with a timely ‘Take that Bxxxx’. Barely able to contain a laugh, I slow rolled my hand to the sweet sound of Whiney’s silence. The dealer, between fits of laughter called over the floor manager since I had a bonus hand for an extra $50. Mid position folded his 77 for the full house so while I signed for my $50, I couldn’t resist taunting whiney some more about him having the worst hand which was almost as bad as losing to a girl. I put the final nail in the coffin by handing the $50 to the dealer (who had put up with enough that night) and explaining that I had enough of Whiney’s money already that I wouldn’t miss another fifty.

It was at this point where Whiney completely lost his cool (but wasn’t that the point?) and swore and insulted me with language I never heard before in a casino. Since the floor manager was still at the table to overhear his comments he was swiftly ejected from the premises. I would like to add a special thank you to Jerry for taking up for me…the innocent victim ;-).

I still laugh when I think about that guy. He was trying so hard to show me I didn’t belong that he forgot why he was there. But I do belong. Anyone who has a love for this game, man or woman, belongs at that table. Don’t be intimidated ladies, throw it back at them. Like I said, he is one of the severe minority. You will get comments about how “The only poker you should be playing is strip poker!” and “You’ve got to have balls to play poker.” But by far, the men at the table are just there to play cards. Well, all except for the older gentlemen. They are there to play cards and flirt. You gotta love ‘em.

Doc