Gender stereotyping

	Under pressure, many men tend to default to ancient views of women

As increasingly more females get involved in poker the debate grows about the place of women in the game. Should there really be gender-specific tournaments just for the ladies? Or should women not get a choice and be expected to hold their own in unisex competitions? While there are a number of valid arguments for both sides, it raises the interesting topic of whether there are differences in the way women players are treated by men and vice versa.

The focus of this article addresses this question at a general level, rather than predicting how Dave ‘Devilfish’ Ulliott might approach a heads-up battle against Annie Duke.

Evolutionary psychology tells us that there are definite differences in the way that men and women are viewed: men are the hunter-gatherers and require aggression to provide food for their dependents; women are the carers and nurturers, looking after their offspring to ensure their genes survive to the next generation. While these roles have changed discernibly over recent years, there are still throwbacks to our evolutionary past that might affect how the fairer sex is perceived at the baize.

A misguided perception is that women are incapable of aggression: they are as able fighters as men when push comes to shove – and at the poker table aggression is clearly needed in order to win. A lack of testosterone does not mean women are incapable of aggression, though the evolutionary stereotype that females are passive by nature is one held by most men (whether overtly or not).

So when a raise comes in from a female poker player, the tendency is to assume that she has a good reason for it, as it is not her natural way. Of course, women are fast to catch on to this and use such a stereotypical perception to their advantage.

Similarly, women are generally perceived as being far more honest than men, so any raise at the poker table is seen as being for a genuine reason (i.e. they have Aces) rather than an attempt to bluff their way to the pot. The fact is that women are actually as deceptive as men in real life; they just use their lies in a different (generally more supportive) way to men.

Men can be caught in a bit of a bind at the table. On the one hand, the testosterone starts to flow and their ancient genes of aggression dictate that they go out and gather scarce resources (i.e. chips). There is a need to be seen as the dominant hunter- gatherer with a reputation to maintain and an ego to bolster. But on the other hand, the evolutionary view is that women are not as strong as men and should therefore not be subjected to the same aggressive standards, i.e. they should be treated with respect for being the nurturers that they are.

So in a live game where women are seated at the table, the tendency to ‘ease off’ may arise from the hidden depths of the male’s evolutionary past and compete with their natural instinct to gather the chips.

Ancient stereotypes

Under pressure, many men tend to default to these ancient stereotypical views of women, and this wins out over their need to be aggressive – unless, of course, they’re presented with evidence to the contrary.

For example, if a female player has raised a couple of times and taken the pot down, the men around the table will assume that it was for legitimate reasons (this helps protect their male egos too!). However, when one of these raises is challenged and they find that a woman has been bluffing, the game suddenly changes.

The realisation that there is deception going on sets in, the stereotypes disappear and the natural male aggression returns. In short, gender differences can subconsciously affect a man’s game until he’s shaken out of his blinkered view.

Of course, the smart woman is quicker to understand these evolutionary throwbacks and will look to exploit them for all they’re worth. One way in which ladies may do this is by reinforcing the female stereotype; this could be as subtle as acting a little helpless and asking for a man’s help or opinion on an issue.

Another tactic would be to accentuate their femininity to disarm the natural male aggression. While this doesn’t necessarily mean fluttering their eyelashes or flirting, it may work on certain men.

To combat this, men must pay a little more attention to the decisions they’re making at the poker table when a woman is involved. This will involve justifying why they’re taking a certain action. For example, a man might check cautiously on the river (when a bet might win him more chips) because he may fear he’s beaten, or even because he feels a little sorry for his female opponent.

Knowing about our evolutionary past may help both men and women understand the gender politics at work at the poker table – though who will come out on top is a more difficult question.