Digital Cowboy

Take special note. I’m about to take the women’s side on the sexism issue.

I’m watching “High Stakes Poker” on GSN. If you haven’t seen it, make it a point. It’s the first time in history that cameras have been allowed into the biggest cash game in the world. There’s over $2 million on the table at any one time and this ain’t tournament poker like you normally see on TV. It’s real money. Minimum buy-in for a seat at that table is $50,000… of YOUR money. (That’s an exaggeration. YOU can’t sit at that table. It’s invitation only.) It’s not unusual to see a pot of $80,000 plus on one hand. There is no maximum buy-in. Daniel Negreanu bought into this particular game for a million dollars. He’s younger than me and a self-made man. Grew up in an immigrant home. The little prick.

But I digress. (And I’m just kidding. I love Daniel.)

Jennifer Harman is sitting at that table. Besides the dealer and the cocktail waitresses, she’s the only woman in the room. That’s for good reason. She’s often described as “one of the best female poker players in the world.” That pisses me off every time I hear it. She’s one of the best poker players in the world. Period. No qualifier needed.

She just woke up to pocket sevens and called the blind. Eli Elezra called the blind right next to her with pocket 10’s. Next is Sam Farha. He has A-K. (The most over-rated and overplayed hand in poker, but still very strong.). He raised to $25,500. She pretended to be reluctant calling, but did, as did Eli.

We now have a pot that’s well over $40,000. (Keep in mind this is real money - not tournament chips.) The flop is 7-K-4. Beautiful for Jennifer! Sammy’s first to act and bets. Jennifer raises all-in for $94,000 more. Eli folds. Sammy debates and folds.

The “expert analyst” is Gabe Kaplan. (Yes. THAT Gabe Kaplan. Mr. Kottttteeeeeerrrrr! He’s actually a pretty good amateur poker player and knows a lot about the game.) His response:

“That was really a bad play by Jennifer. She was too aggressive there. If she had waited for one more card, she could have doubled up through Sam. She pulled the trigger too early.”

Armchair quarterbacking at it’s finest. I would be quite intimidated sitting at a table with Jennifer. I’m pretty sure Gabe probably has sat at a table with her and was pretty intimidated. I would love to sit at a table with him.

What’s worse, when I listened to his commentary after the hand, all I could think was that if Ted Forrest, Daniel Negreanu, Doyle Brunson, etc. had made the same play as Jennifer, Gabe would have praised it as genius. Doyle literally wrote the book on poker and in it he says, “Most of the play is done on the flop. That’s generally when all the chips go to the middle if they’re going to.”

Jennifer absolutely made the right play and got no credit for it because she’s a “girl.” With a King on the board she couldn’t afford to let him draw against her set of sevens. Sammy had two shots to catch one more K and beat her unless she shut him out. By doing what she did, she won over $42,000 on one hand of poker.

In addition, no credit was given to Sam for making the proper read and laying down top pair with top kicker in that situation. That’s some pretty amazing acumen too.

But Gabe’s on the mic. Now we know why.