{"id":773,"date":"2017-01-23T09:23:42","date_gmt":"2017-01-23T14:23:42","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.advancedpokertraining.com\/poker\/blog\/?p=773"},"modified":"2017-01-21T13:39:29","modified_gmt":"2017-01-21T18:39:29","slug":"top-four-reasons-love-poker","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.pokertraining.com\/poker\/blog\/top-four-reasons-love-poker\/","title":{"rendered":"Top Four Reasons I Love Poker"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>I love poker. Even more, I love being a woman who plays poker. I\u00a0enjoy tournaments, I enjoy cash, I\u2019ve even been known to put my money down for the insanity of a live Sit &#8216;n&#8217; Go.<\/p>\n<p>Given my location in eastern New England, I mainly play in a local 25 table card room. \u00a0A couple of times a year I will venture down to Foxwoods or Mohegan Sun, and have taken trips to play in Vegas, Atlantic City, Maryland Live, and Montreal (for those who haven&#8217;t been there,\u00a0<a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.pokertraining.com\/poker\/blog\/goto\/aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cucGxheWdyb3VuZHBva2VyLmNhLw==\"  target=\"_blank\" class=\"broken_link\">Playground Poker<\/a> is a great room).<\/p>\n<p>Much of what has been written about women and poker has focused on issues of sexism and even misogyny. Although I am generally treated well by the vast majority of men (and women) at the tables, \u00a0I have definitely heard\u00a0endless versions of &#8220;my ex-wife&#8217;s a shrew who stole all my money&#8221; and &#8220;I told my wife I was at work&#8221;.<\/p>\n<p>So why do I love to be one of the 10% of women\u00a0putting my chips down in a sea full of testosterone? Here are the <strong>Top Four<\/strong>\u00a0reasons:<\/p>\n<p>1) <strong>I love being the sole woman in\u00a0a group of men<\/strong>. Often when I sit down to a table I am the only woman there. That\u00a0is when I feel most\u00a0in my element. I&#8217;m a sports-loving, beer drinking woman who\u00a0hates to shop and couldn&#8217;t care less what the Real Housewives of Topeka are up to (OK, I may have verged into sexism myself there). I would rather talk about Carolina\u2019s odds in the Final Four this year than where to find the best infinity scarf. Do people still wear infinity scarves?<\/p>\n<p>2) <strong>I\u2019m the real slim shady<\/strong>. As a suburban mom who analyzes data for a living, I love the instant thug cred of saying &#8220;I play poker.&#8221; I love the slightly horrified looks I get from non-poker playing friends and family. I love the feeling every time I sit down at\u00a0an activity that has not been sanctioned by the PTA.<\/p>\n<p>3) <strong>I chase the\u00a0rare adrenaline rush in an otherwise mundane life<\/strong>. Texas Hold \u2018em is (almost) never boring. The mere fact that money is on the table gets the heart pumping. Then there are all the big decisions, uncertainty when you are ahead with\u00a0cards to come, and finally\u00a0that moment when someone shoves all in on your nut flush. You just don&#8217;t\u00a0get that feeling helping\u00a0with math homework or nailing\u00a0the perfect Bernaise sauce. \u00a0At the tables suddenly I&#8217;m Danica Patrick for a day.<\/p>\n<p>[bctt tweet=&#8221;I&#8217;m the real slim shady&#8221; username=&#8221;PokerTraining&#8221;]<\/p>\n<p>4) <strong>I love the look of shock in a man&#8217;s\u00a0eyes when they realize I can play<\/strong>. Many men do tend to underestimate the skills of the average poker playing woman. I&#8217;m no Vanessa Selbst, but I know my way around a flop. So I love when men make certain assumptions about me and my play that are dead wrong. For one, it makes me more profitable. More importantly, I love that moment of recognition in the guy&#8217;s eyes when I have outplayed them. Nothing else in my life allows such immediate positive feedback. It may be even better than winning the hand.<\/p>\n<p>The culture of the poker table, even with some of its darker\u00a0elements, brings this woman great enjoyment and fulfillment. I am more my true self there than\u00a0I am at work or\u00a0in any other\u00a0social situation.<\/p>\n<p>So guys, I think I&#8217;m here to stay.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><strong><em>Enjoying the blog? Go on over to the sidebar and subscribe. Each new installment will arrive in your inbox the day of publication.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I love poker. Even more, I love being a woman who plays poker. I\u00a0enjoy tournaments, I enjoy cash, I\u2019ve even been known to put my money down for the insanity of a live Sit &#8216;n&#8217; Go. Given my location in eastern New England, I mainly play in a local 25 table card room. \u00a0A couple [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":803,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mi_skip_tracking":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[8,68,67,66,64],"class_list":["post-773","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-poker","tag-slim-shady","tag-top-four","tag-vanessa-selbst","tag-woman"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v24.0 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Top Four Reasons I Love Poker - Advanced Poker Training Blog<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.pokertraining.com\/poker\/blog\/top-four-reasons-love-poker\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Top Four Reasons I Love Poker - Advanced Poker Training Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"I love poker. Even more, I love being a woman who plays poker. I\u00a0enjoy tournaments, I enjoy cash, I\u2019ve even been known to put my money down for the insanity of a live Sit &#8216;n&#8217; Go. 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