Adjusting to Pro Status as a Female on Online Sites

Sunday, June 20, 2010

Adjusting to Pro Status as a Female on Online Sites

The week has been a tough one to say the least. It was like a complete transformation in my thought patterns which made adjusting to life as a FeltStars team pro very difficult. I look back at my poker game and sure; I haven’t won a championship or 1mil playing cash but I have held my own, usually cashing out at the end of the week when I have been fulltime playing and using the monies for the running of my household.


In one week my game has had a swing for the worst. Mostly I have copped bad beats thank goodness; some stupid moves I made cost me also though. The bad beats were unexpected ones at the start, after a few days I expected to see them come one after the other. I realised I needed some sort of adjustment to my game and to my life as being marked as a pro. Maybe going to a bad beat jackpot table where there is currently $354,000.00+ up for grabs may work! (jokes)


It wasn’t so long ago that I had a lot of issues with being women on a poker table. I had issues bluffing as the players would call me; why? Some men just do not take us seriously. I had a comment to that effect almost 2 years ago “When women start bluffing 20% more in their game THEN I will respect them!” I thought; “Right, bluff 20% more when I can’t bluff against the likes of you at the moment, that’s going to hurt the hip pocket to say the least! And hurt it 20% more!!”


Now; just when I thought I had overcome any issues that I had with being able to bluff and being called with crap I am faced with being marked as a pro. Nasty! This morning there were a minimum of 8 people watching my table; there are people who line up in wait lists to play on my cash tables. Worst of all these cash mongers call EVERYTHING!


I was looking at my beautiful pair of pocket Aces and threw in a nice raise of course! One wouldn’t believe it, call, call, call, call, call..... Then ALL-IN! I wasn’t folding, who would? I called!


Everyone else folded and I was dumbfounded as I see a guy turn over 69os and of course see him hit 69 on the damn flop!
My point; I am now dealing with 2 things; being called and bashed around for being female and also now for being marked as a pro. It’s enough to make you wanna rip your own hair out. Obviously in more serious tournaments such as the $50,000.00 GTD people play more seriously; cash on the other hand???? Look out me! The good news is I will smacked them around in the end. 69os are unlikely to win every hand against aces obviously!


I have toyed around with various hands, positions, playing tight, loose aggressive, tight aggressive and so on and so forth to see what works and I think finally as I write this I have it worked out. I played lower staked tables then I have in months and months; not just for this reason but also for getting a real feel for the poker software. I now know how I am going to deal with these crazy players and will be going back to the 10c/20c tables to get my $$$. Why? Principal! They owe it to me and I want it back lol.


In summary, being a female in poker can be tough, being a female marked pro is tougher, especially if you are not playing $5/$10 cash tables and above.