Women raise the stakes when it comes to poker by Sarah Maple

In the 21st century is poker still really seen as a man's game? You would think that women would do very well in a game that involves bluffing and lots of men, after all, clever women are the masters of manipulation and know exactly how to read men without underestimating or patronising them. Men on the other hand seem oddly to conform to stereotype when playing women at poker which can often result in their unsuspecting downfall. Women are aware that men will either, underestimate them, be intimidated by them, be attracted to them or at least distracted by them. Once you work out which one of the four (or which two or three) this is then your already halfway there.

Most guys assume that women will be tight, cautious, less likely to bluff and not in for the gamble. Women know this and will play against what she believes the man's perception of her to be. She can tell just by the way he walks if he is a gentlemen or a showman in hints that another male would scarcely be able to pick up. Feminine intuition works wonders and some men are scared of that which also works to a woman's advantage. She knows that if she has blonde hair and a low cut top your estimations of her intelligence would not be as high as if she were wearing glasses a waistcoat and a baseball cap. A quality visual resource is SkyPoker.

Women know for example, that if a man is good looking he will probably play with more confidence, unless he acts in an over confident manner which women will then pick up as hidden insecurity. Find a good looking man playing a good looking woman and I'd bet on the woman to win any day.

Masters of dress up women can change clothes, makeup and hairstyles to create completely different looks and moods with the subtlety that a man could only dream of. Forget sunglasses and hats boys, after all a woman has had years of practice in the art of assuming different disguises to project certain looks or emotions.

You can use flattery with the flirty guys to ensure that they don't raise you unless there really onto a winner in otder to keep you sweet for seduction. Again you can keep on calling the bluff of the guys that just want to show off as they really want to win by fooling you into folding. Men can be very good at poker because they are good at concentrating at the task in hand so many women find that if they start chatting when they hit the table, it can throw the card aware men off their game. You may not want to resort to dressing or stretching in certain ways but there is no need to point out why this obvious distraction is one of the most popular tactics resorted to.

I myself like to play poker purely using my skill...

Then again, I could be bluffing.

About the Author

Sarah Maple writes about free online poker and online poker tournaments.