It seems no matter what you do or where you go these days, someone always wants to attack you for your hard work in one way or another. I have done a lot of free work, worked 16 hour days as part of my input to the world of poker yet still this isn’t good enough, it demands slander in some people’s eyes.

Sure, I have worked hard to get somewhere in the journalism side of poker and I had to do it for free in some cases over the years. That doesn’t mean I should be slaughtered if my work is not up to scratch – right? Nor should any of my friends or colleagues!

An example I can give of things that I have copped is when a very well known poker player attacked my writing skills on a public forum. Really it made me so sad! I couldn’t believe it; although maybe he was right and I was just up myself for thinking my writing was fabulous! Regardless the very same man not long later was saying how great the article I wrote about HIM was. hmmm it made me wonder!

Since then I have looked very closely at the personal attacks against me. Some attacks called for–> due to a mistake or two, some not. I also looked very closely at other people getting attacked. They were all females! There were signs up saying “Get back to the kitchen” (I so detest that saying) and “come serve me my drinks” in a matter of words. I then realised that I had been fighting an uphill battle all this time.

Any wonder I was so depressed and stressed throughout the years. Poker IS a man’s world still. Or is it? I have done further research to find that men actually fear women at a poker table; although there are some that don’t. I also found that those who don’t fear them see them as equals and are just as scared about getting their ass whooped by the women as the best of the men.

In regard to writing and particularly writing strategy, I avoid it as right as it may be. It seems that writing any form of poker strategy gets you in to crap if you have a rack as a chest LOL. Players over look beginners strategy who have played for years and then tell you, you’re wrong! I am NOT alone here!

Take this slaughtering for example and let me know if you agree that I cop personal attacks:

BEGGINERS STRAT: ATTTACKING MULTI-TABLE PLAYERS

I suggested; that you can easily steal blinds off those multi tabling. Some people have 10 tables or more up at once and simply miss the fact that you have just pinched a blind. Now, let’s remember – I am not telling this information to those who have 4 monitors and 10 years of poker experience who are using tracking systems (illegal anyway) and know their STUFF! I am telling beginners to attack other beginners who think they know it all but really are fish……

2,400 people + viewed the attack against me (it was also against a friend) saying I/we was in idiot for teaching new players incorrectly. There’s my point. I didn’t teach them incorrectly at all, in-fact; this is damn good PROVEN strategy. To check who is multi-tabling is one of the first things people do, especially on cash tables. Now if a newbie was playing on 10-20 online poker tables  – as if you couldn’t steal a blind from them. Go ahead and try and play 10-20 yourself!

I saw a similar strategy post by a male not so long ago. He was praised. One day I am hoping I will also be praised for my hard work! To live the life of this Hot Aussie Chick (being me) and not be in tears at times for the crap I have gone through has been tough; I will not deny that for a second. The thing is though – This young lassie is TOUGHER than most men can imagine and I get over it, on with it and continue fighting. I don’t care what the attack is – I am not going anywhere. Look forward to being a poker totty again in a year or two. Maybe by then I would have had that long awaited boob job Job

It was almost a year and a half when I took the step to be the first fulltime broad in poker broadcasting, the first broad in broadcasting in Australia and pretty much the only fulltime poker broadcaster, journo, film reporter, mother, player, manager and everything else that I have been doing that I have missed.

I have always hated my own voice, probably everyone does! Broadcasting on the radio was a hard thing for me to do. I remember the first ever broadcast, I was as nervous as hell. I jagged the position with pokerpodradio after 5 mins worth of interview and thought “WOW! My voice must be good”. Indeed it was, the American audience loved it!

I felt like such a fool afterwards listening to it. I had said the words ummm and ahhhh around 140 times in 20 mins. I was so ashamed. I felt even further embarrassed and ashamed when family and friends listened and laughed. Doing the next show was going to be a difficult task to say the least.

Regardless I was encouraged to continue, Jack McAdoo praised my efforts and the sudden huge increase of traffic to the station. I did my next show being more then careful not to ummm and ahhhh as much so I wouldn’t again be laughed at. I also thought I would try and change my voice a little, it’s not something that is easy to do – change your voice, so I left it be after about 2 minutes of talking.

Recording radio in conjunction with residents of the USA also has its difficulties. The time zone difference is a huge factor, another thing I had to work out with the recording studio and of course my life!

Anyway, my plight continued and a year later I am still recording. I now have 2 shows. I have copped a ton of crap from people that seem full of jealousy more than anything. I don’t know they could do it, in fact I think they couldn’t if they tried! Talking nonstop, un-scripted for around 20-30mins is NOT easy and you have to know your topics.

There are a few more broads in broadcasting now. One I have helped along the track to poker radio. Some come and go; some just stay for a show or two or are special guests. Regardless I am happy to say that I am now the woman who has been the longest in poker radio broadcasting on a permanent level and happier to say that the show I do is ranked number one in Australia and the rest of the world it is kicking butt too. My name is well known in the USA and I wouldn’t be known at all if I hadn’t have overcome my broadcasting fears.

I am very glad that I again IGNORED those who attacked me and put me down. The truckloads of them!

 It is hard as a poker professional to deal with the up’s and down that poker can bring to family life. Poker is a career which can cause arguments and sadness throughout many families and mine is no different. By poker professional I don’t mean just playing poker. Many tasks in a poker player’s job do not require playing the game itself. There is press to deal with, blogs to write, events to attend and in the sake of my life interviews, stories and radio broadcasting to deal with.

My family has an issue with poker as a career as the earnings can go up and down. The more cash poker I play the more I earn. Not being a fulltime forced job and having children, sometimes i just don’t play. I don’t play a lot actually! This is most of my wage and not playing means my family does go without. I am not a millionaire; if I was there wouldn’t be an issue. This can make mothers, fathers, brothers, aunt’s, sisters EVERYONE look down on your career and attack it!

I have had issues with working for overseas companies related to poker where pay’s simply didn’t turn up, were short, late or insufficient to survive on. So working a job in the poker industry on some counts isn’t much better. Issues like this leave kids pondering, worried and fretful for even the basic needs. Depending on myself in this industry is so much better, as I can tell my immediate family (my children) straight that there will, or will not be money to pay for sport, treats and tracksuits this week.

Take away the money equation and family members can look down on you for simply playing poker. In my experience many people see poker as putting a coin in a slot machine and pushing a button. They do not realise that playing cash poker does not work like this. There is no explaining it to them either. Even when a continual wage comes in, they see it as a nonstop lucky streak.

With poker comes travel too and for me that’s hard. Going away a week or even sometimes weeks apart is very hard on children. My children miss me after a day, little kids need their mum. I admit that I love the break from the PC, the kids, the housework and even the boyfriend! It isn’t like that for them though, they are dependant. This causes all sorts of arguments! People can see poker as a no win situation on every level. At least they do in my family circle!

When my children miss me during grinding sessions I simply call them when I have a BIG hand that I take down and show them that what mummy is doing does sometimes pay off. It seems to bring a smile to a face.

 NL Texas Hold’em is without a doubt in my mind the fad! It is also the king of poker with the biggest tourneys and the biggest risk too! The words all-in are what makes the game so hard. Making the all-in call for my tournament life or $200 on a cash table is a hard thing to do. It’s even harder when you play poker for a living. The words all-in can be used as an advantage also though; don’t be mistaken about that for one second. If one sees tremendous weakness and doubt in another player all-in is usually the perfect way to push them out of a pot. In saying this, players do put on Hollywood acting stunts to get you to do just that. The situation always has to be analysed.

This all-in issue doesn’t occur in a lot of poker variants though. I love all poker variants and for me to choose MY Poker variant has been a hard thing to do. I am still trying to decide which game suits me best. I have had absolutely brilliant results in Omaha Hi, Omaha Hi/Lo 8OB, razz and the king of poker too. I have had some awesome results in H.O.R.S.E as well (a combination of games for those who don’t know). Although I started playing online poker as a Texas Hold’em player I grew up watching and knowing stud, just another variant to add to the list.

Regardless of what I know or what I am best at I am pushed to choose my favourite poker variants as my games of choice. NL Texas Hold’em and PL Omaha Hi have got to be my favourites. In particular I like the high that one gets from pushing people all in. This can also be achieved in PL Omaha, the pots can be as big as your stack in no time.

In reality I should probably play the poker variants that I am best at which really only leaves stud and razz out of the equation for me. I think I am ok at both NL Texas Hold’em and PL Omaha, unfortunately not a WSOP champ at either though. My biggest win ever was in PL Omaha placing 32^{nd (by memory – could have been 38th)} / over 8000 players on Pokerstars, unfortunately I didn’t win as much as I would have loved to! I did however get a shark’s tale on sharkscope which was much better being a fish out of water. Choosing my poker variant regardless of how I perform is always going to come down to enjoyment for me, even if poker is my career. Poker is the same as any job, there is no point living and doing a job you don’t like! In saying that, you will not see me playing Manilla in a hurry!

In regards to playing, I admit I am an online geek! I still firmly believe in my heart that I will kick some serious arse when it comes to a nice big live play tourney though! One day I will build up the guts to pay a nice big buy-in for a live tourney. If the fact be known, no-one really knows how I play and expectations are that I can’t! I would hate to live up to that expectation in front of a big crowd at the casino. Sure I can play cash but tourneys are different. I guess for now I will stick with online and hide away from the gawking eyes.

 I have always been honest with everyone around me in regards to my poker, my results and my skill level. The honesty doesn’t end here. My first live tournament was a pub poker tournament and I was terrified! I had a friend from the group I had been playing online play money with come to visit for a weekend; we couldn’t resist and went off for a game of live poker. She felt the same as me, at least I wasn’t alone.

Entering the room was terrifying to say the least. I expected maybe 30 people and 3 tables, not a packed house with all 12 tables full. On entering we asked if we could be seated at the same table and the wonderful tournament director obliged. I seriously think back and I may have chickened out if he hadn’t, my friend gave me some comfort. What didn’t give me comfort was who i sat next to. On entry my best friend’s son who is a poker shark and plays live cash games all the time was in the cue to register behind me. Over and over in my head was the thought, “Please don’t sit next to me” sure enough he was placed right by my side.

I was going really well in the game, playing what I thought was tight solid poker. I was wrong about how I played and look back and giggle at myself now. As they say, practice makes perfect! I was far from a tight solid player. My nerves were made worse when I got myself entangled in a hand with the dreaded one, my friend’s son. I had A9 off suit and had crazily called from 1^st position at the table to see everyone fold around to him, he was big blind.

An ace came down on the flop and amidst my shaking hands I somehow overcame my nerves and managed to make a bet. Shamefully I didn’t bet the correct amount as I was used to pushing buttons - regardless he folded. He asked me “What did you have?” I showed him my A9 off suit and he came straight out and said “What the hell are you doing playing rubbish like that at the start of a deep stack tournament in first position?” I had little clue what deepstack, first position and obviously also little clue what rubbish hands were as well. I then played premium hands only and ended up around 16^th which wasn’t bad I guess. Needless to say I went looking up poker lingo for those words deepstack and first position and worked positioning into my game.

Regardless of who you are and what limits you play, you are going to get nervous playing tourneys, at least one stage through the game. For the record, my friend beat me, she came about 13^th.

We followed up with a live Sit N Go, by then I was more than drunk and my nerves had calmed. Although one should play as smashed as I was on this occasion it paid off, with me taking it down. Thank you to Jimmy Beam for my first live win! Did I say that? Yep – indeed I did.   Also thanks to god for making me hot, it really helped.

HOT AUSSIE CHICK AT THE AUSSIE MILLIONS VIP WELCOME PARTY

Many people only see the brilliant aspects of a poker lifestyle. They see the trophies, the events, and the travel. People see parties and gatherings, pin-ups and articles. Players new to the game also see money, money, money. Let me tell you though that the poker business is a serious one. It took me a long time to realise that poker is indeed a lifestyle, not just a game and that lifestyle can give you more bad beats then the game of poker its self. Again; the poker industry is a serious business and there are very few people that walk into this business with little clue and walk out of it a million buck richer!

I am not trying to scare anyone away from the poker industry, the deeper one gets into a poker lifestyle and the more skilled they become in their given areas, the easier life can be for them. I encourage everyone to try it out, but do it wisely.

I gave up my day job far too early. Alike with the saying that applies to singers I realise it also applies to poker players. I shouldn’t have given up my day job until I could afford to support myself 100% playing as a poker professional. Before taking on other roles in the poker industry I was making around $300USD a week which is far from enough to feed, clothe and pay expenses with for my young family. BIG MISTAKE! If you are ever in a position where you are cashing out time and time again, ensure that it is enough, don’t be a fool like I was.

Since making this fatal mistake I have had to write, talk, report and at times rely on government benefits to get me through. There have been many times when I have lay in bed at night worry free after catching up on bills too but these times far outweigh the times I have lay in bed worrying about my next due telephone bill. That’s the money side of thing explained; my poker lifestyle has been a hard one to live financially and at some times emotionally; very emotionally!

Poker lifestyle and the enjoyment that comes with it as a whole I will never complain about. My poker lifestyle is fabulous overall. I get V.I.P. treatment quite a lot, have attended some wonderful functions, I enjoy my roles as a radio broadcaster and columnist for various publications and have met a massive amount of wonderful people who are likely to be lifelong friends. It really is a tight knitted little world of poker which has brought many smiles to my face.

 I had played on play money tables a long time before I took the next step into real money online poker. I can’t quite remember what made me take the step into real money play. I know I was getting bored though with people calling every hand. Prior to depositing I can remember taking down my first tourney. I came 1^st out of over 800 entrants, all I could think was “Imagine if I had wagered even $1” this wasn’t the case unfortunately; if it had have been I would have been sitting with a nice starting bankroll. Instead like a fool I had played a freeroll for hours on end for nothing. There wasn’t even any prize money. Talk about stupidity!

What I do realise looking back now is that I was still inexperienced at poker and was far from a master player. I was far from good at bankroll management too! In actual fact I knew nothing of bankroll management which is likely the reason I kept going busto. I played on Fulltilt Poker on cash tables at a much higher level then I should have and was the queen of donating at the time. I was calling crap and getting no-where but sad and frustrated. Things started to turn around for me when I joined a forum and had discussions with knowledgeable players; one named player on the forum was Gus Hansen. I really studied his game and listened to advice he gave out.

Things didn’t completely turn around for me though as I was trying to play like Gus Hansen on cash tables and in tourneys when in reality I still had very little clue. I called it driving my mouse like a Ferrari; I was not doing as well as I had hoped but was at least not bust again.

Learning correct bankroll management procedures was the thing that helped me most in addition to easing off in my over aggressive and maniac style plays when required. I must say that I am one happy little chick to have done that. Going busto over and over is bad news; it takes a long time to catch up. It would be correct in saying that I was a big huge fish and an ATM machine for some time. I sucked!

I have some serious advice for those players who are currently playing on play money tables or even on very low limit cash tables, micro sit n go’s and tourneys. Watch your wager! Do not spend all your bankroll at once, build on it! It seems to be the biggest mistake I see in new players both live and online. Don’t make the same mistake as I did, be patient, be willing to play low limits and stick to a % of bankroll. Also don’t do what I did and play with real money for fun as you skull some bourbon or champagne it is bad news! I personally never spend more than 10% of what I have at any given time; unless I have been drinking and are playing like a fool – I am not perfect, it happens still from time to time!

 When people play poker day in, day out with each other they learn a lot about each other. They learn about each other’s backgrounds, families and living situations. Even playing at the same cash tables online you learn a lot about people. Some people choose not to chat even when you are having a friendly game. You learn what you should about these people; you learn to read their play. I am not here to talk poker strategy though; I wish to write about real life poker situations that I have been faced with.

Playing with friend’s day in day out for a long, long time I got very close to a few. One male friend in particular that wanted more than just friendship from me. I was lonely and bored and thought he was a really nice guy. His looks were not very desirable, in fact he was far from good looking, but looks don’t always count. Still I was far from interested in a relationship beyond good friends, regardless of my lonely situation. I was trying to revive a long term relationship at the time.

This man tracked his way from New Zealand to the United States; he was on a holiday with a mate of his. One would think that being on such a holiday that he would forget about all of his online poker friends; but he didn’t. He visited one whilst in the United States that he had met from our group of friends and he didn’t forget about me either, even though I was further away then what I would normally be. Australia is just a skip and a jump from New Zealand.

He rang me or text messaged me every single day while he was in the U.S, it got to the stage that it would have been odd if he didn’t. He also posted me a box of gifts, things from Vegas such as poker chips and a limited edition ashtray and even toys for my kids.

When he arrived home nothing really changed except the contact was again on Party Poker and chat and he r4eceived a lot less one on one talk. I tried to wean him away, he was getting far too much to handle. I receieved the biggest bunch of flowers I could imagine for my birthday and started getting emails about his love for me.

Now this would all be well and good if I cared for him as much back, but I was in a complicated relationship and had just moved back in with my partner and father of my young daughter. I had to try and stop this somehow; but he didn’t care about my relationship status and believed we were meant to be. Valentine’s Day put an end to the madness when the florist baring chocolates, a rose and an “I love you” balloon set my partners fiery temper off.

He was told once and for all and I have never heard from him since. I always think that if this man put as much effort into his poker game he would be the next WSOP winner. Really; in an odd kind of way, I hope he is one day!

 I had met a wonderful group of people playing online on Party Poker otherwise I would never have played the game of poker as much as I did; also I never would have deposited and played for real money. I think it was fate that I met such wonderful people over a long period and made such special friendships. The meeting of people and friendships that one can make playing poker both online and live is just unreal!

People think that playing with the same people day in day out on an online poker site that you couldn’t possibly develop close friendships and meet lovers. I am here to tell them they are wrong! I learnt this through the friendships I made when I first started out in the poker industry and friendships I have made along the way. I have witnessed global love affairs and meet ups and even marriages. People I know have met each other playing poker online and have taken their relationships to the next level in many varied situations. Let me tell you about some of the best friends I have ever made. These people have now been friends for years and we met all on the same night. We were just playing for play money!

One of the best friends I could ever have is a man from Texas. I won’t tell you his name but merely what a wonderful friendship we have developed. He knows all of my family and close friends and if you know me well enough you definitely know him. We talk almost daily, share all our ups and downs and whine about our relationships or lack of! I am there for him if he needs a cheer up or some advice and he is there for me at my time of need. He has never missed a birthday and has loaned me money across the net when I have been as down and out as one can get. He is a true and golden friend.

Another one of the greatest friends I could have ever met lives not so far away, I was terribly nervous to meet her in real life. I had in the back of my mind that she could be anyone and do anything to me. Horrible thoughts! We have held each other’s hands through the worst of tragedies over the past years.

A close friend can’t be measured in distance. Another very close friend I would like to mention that I met playing online poker has travelled all the way to Australia and met up with me at Crown Casino in Melbourne as well as our other friends alike the lady I speak about above. She travelled merely for the purposes of meeting her poker friends – us!

Without a doubt in my mind if I am in desperate need these friends are going to be there for me, alike me for them. I love these friends alike family and we have had our little disputes but nothing can break a true friendship bond – regardless of where the friendship started.

Playing; poker online you can develop friendships. There is no doubt about that. Again; you can even find yourself getting married alike 2 friends from our party poker group earlier this year

 Making the decision to start playing poker was an easy one. Online poker is a game that anyone can play and it can take away a lot of boredom from a person’s life. Poker is also a game where you can make a lot of friends. It doesn’t matter if you are playing at an elite level or the lowest level there is; poker = friends. The game first came to my attention late one night when I was yet again stuck at home whilst everyone else was socialising. I wasn’t in the position to socialise; my life wasn’t going in a very good direction to say the least.

I went into my home office and sat at my PC and googled online poker games. This is when the words “play online poker” were first viewed by my eyes. I clicked the link and was taken to Party Poker. I downloaded, chose a name and started playing. This very night I found myself on play money tables with some other bored and lonely Aussie’s. They chatted, flirted and talked to each other like they had known each other for a long, long time. My evaluation on the length of their friendships was wrong; they had played online together for mere months.

These people explained to me that almost each and every night they met on Party Poker for a friendly game. They all sat back after they had eaten their dinner; sometimes before hand and played poker just like this! I was mesmerised to say the least. It was a very intriguing situation. It was like they lived in the same neighbourhood. They asked about each other’s working days, families and hardships. They were not all Australian; there was also what they called their resident Texan, twin girls from Oregan U.S. and a lady who was a French Canadian. On this same night a Danish lady had also joined this group of people alike I.

I asked them how many there were altogether, one man said that they usually took up 2 whole tables and had people on the waiting list. My next question of course was in relation to how they found each other. I was directed to the buddy list in the lobby to enter all of their names so I could find them and join their table easily the next time I played. I went to bed after a lot of fun playing my first ever online poker game pondering the thought “Is this reality or were they all just bullshitting me for a lot of fun?” Regardless, playing online poker for the first time on play money tables gave me the poker bug, it was a great feeling and I loved it!