St. Patrick’s Day Poker March 25, 2008
Posted by Jennifer in : feminism,poker , trackback.jpg)
"That’s great! The first prize should be about half a million dollars!"
I explained to him that he needed to shave off a zero, but he did not believe me, insisting for several minutes that it would indeed be a six figure prize. When he did begin to realize I may be right, he prefered to pretend we had differences of opinion rather than admit his error. My fear of shame defeats my fear of lies too so I can’t really blame him. Who knows? Maybe there are two ways of looking at it.
The math blunder was a great omen for the day, in which all the chips I gained by skill and not luck were based on the inability of my opponents to do basic math. I came in 21st out of 369 players, good for my entry fee back plus 200$. Not a great payday considering that i was trapped in a chair with only cookies and chips to eat for 9+ hours. But it was exciting. And yes, I was mad when i lost with AK on the river to trip sevens. The ladies and the crowd clapped loudly for the 7, but broke into an apologetic, half assed congrats when they realized I’d been stacked. I’m never popular at these things, especially at the end everyone hates me cause I keep saying "all in" and in response I hear a lot of "Why don’t you play poker for a change?" Which brings me to my next point.
One interesting thing about women’s poker tournaments is that the players tend to be very weak in the endgame, when math dominates all other considerations. Take this typical example. I have about 7x the Big Blind plus there are tons of antes. So basically, I’m really short stacked, and my effective stack size is more like 5x the BB. From middle position I push all in. The Big Blind thinks for like two seconds and turns over JJ, and says "RESPECT." OK, for those of you who are not big poker players, JJ is like fifth best hand in poker, and to fold there when I have so few chips is a terrible decision.
As a thinking feminist, I can’t escape the disturbing truth that the majority of women poker players I’ve competed with ignore or mock math. Perhaps women are too often taught to go with their heart, and rely on their "female intuition." Also maybe women are attracted to poker because of the glamour, and it’s not glamorous to calculate pot odds, while trying to gaze into your opponent’s soul IS glamorous? One of these days, I will get to the bottom of it all. Along the way, I will enjoy my beautiful expected value.
Comments
When will we see you on the World Poker Tour? I’d love to see you go head-to-head with JJ or that OTHER Jennifer (you know who I mean!)
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