| on 21-08-2007 09:23
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Published in : , Misc |
by Calvin Keogh  Women and gambling: it's not all about raffles and scratch cards or joining the blue rinse brigade for a bingo night. Nor hanging on the arms of secret agents and blowing on their dice for good luck. In cyberspace at least, where 40% of wagers are female, it’s not such a man’s world after all.
One of these women is ‘Fruit Bat’. German-born and raised in South Africa, she returned to Europe to became a mother at 20 and later moved to Berlin. Daytime or night you’ll find her trying her hand at poker, not in the glitz of the city’s downtown casinos but in the comfort of her bedroom.
She enjoys the convenience of online gaming: “You have to dress up for a real casino, I prefer slopping out of bed”. With 4,500 virtual tables to chose from, it’s paradise for insomniacs. Pick a place and let your avatar sit in for the deal. “I can do what I want”, she beams, “no poker face required”.
Anonymity is certainly an attraction for unaccompanied ladies. They can be taken seriously and not have to fend off unwanted advances. In the chat rooms Fruit Bat has seen recipes and knitting patterns exchanged and feels a sense of sorority when taking the taunts of certain testosterone-packers.
Online she doesn’t have to be “a typical woman, taking care of other people”, she can be “nasty and tricky, lie and get away with it. I’m not allowed to do that in normal life”. She doesn’t buy the theory that women gamblers, like compulsive shoppers, aren’t in it for the action but are out for escape.
“It’s always a challenge”, she says, of strategy and luck. She goes against the stereotype of women being less inclined to risk and drawn to random games which involve no skill. There is “no human element” to a slot machine. Poker requires “psychology, getting to know weaknesses so you can abuse them”.
Fruit Bat is placing her bets on knowing exactly what she’s doing. Introduced to the game four months ago by her boyfriend, she quickly outpaced her “guru”, coming 27th in a tournie of 10,000 contenders. Conceding he beats her at bluffing, she trumps him in calculation and being a “steady plotter”.
There are striking similarities to her role model, ‘Miss Slick’. Hamburg horse breeder Katja Thater’s career began when she stepped into a high-stakes game while her husband went to the bathroom. She had never played before but effortlessly took her first pot, going on to become an international poker superstar.
Fruit Bat is aiming high but determines to keep her head. She’s seen her boyfriend tilt out of control and known a neighbor who lived on bread and water while blowing her weekly pension. Although she started playing for cash as soon as she got her pay check, she’s confident it’s just a pastime.
She believes in “working your way up”, staying online to hone her game before cutting the deck in real life. Her dream is to take on the highfliers of Vegas, when she can enter the gaming dens on her own terms, a female in a very male domain, making ‘Fruit Bat’ a name to be reckoned with.
Top Berlin casinos:Casino Berlin /www.westspiel.de /Alexanderplatz 8.Spielbank Berlin / www.spielbank-berlin.de / Los-Angeles-Platz 1 & Marlene-Dietrich-Platz 1. Poker online: www.pokerstars.com
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