‘I’m a feminine poker participant and I take advantage of easy trick to get my arms on males’s money’
A woman has opened up about what it’s like to be a female poker player. Reyna, known as Rocket Reyna, said she often leaves men taken aback due to her impressive skills
Reyna is a female poker player(Image: Rocket Reyna)
A woman has opened up about exactly what it’s like to be a female poker player, and win big. Reyna, known as Rocket Reyna to her over two million Instagram followers, never set out to become one of the world’s top-ranked female poker players, but that’s exactly what happened.
When she first started learning the game, she was 20, unable to legally play in casinos in America, and she only picked it up because she and her boyfriend at the time “had absolutely nothing in common.” Now aged 58, she has opened up about how it changed her life, and how she continues to surprise men in different ways.
She isn’t the first poker player to have talked about her journey either. Previously, one of the most feared women at the poker table explained how she’s wildly different to most other players.
Reyna, who was born in Seattle, Washington, explained she spent the first year studying the game when she initially took interest in it. She would spend time reading books and running through simulations in her head before sitting down at a table.
She admitted the game is male-dominated(Image: Rocket Reyna)
“Once I turned 21, I wandered into the Excalibur in Vegas and doubled up my money in about 15 minutes while he [her boyfriend at the time] lost all of his,” she added. “It’s been a passion ever since.
“I was enamoured with the game almost immediately, even before I really started playing well. It taught me so much, on and off the felt, about reading people and staying calm under pressure.
“But I don’t think I actually got good until about three years in. That’s when I started taking tournaments seriously.
“I honestly prefer them these days! People are slightly more predictable because of the structure and I’ll take any edge.”
According to Reyna, her biggest tournament cash came in at over $96,000 (over £70,000), and she’s also earned over half a million dollars in total between cash games and tournaments.
While some may think poker is a male-dominated game, Reyna is showing that women can be just as good. When asked if she thinks men ever feel threatened by her talents, she claimed they’re “more dismissive than threatened”, at least in her experience.
Reyna has made thousands due to her skills(Image: Rocket Reyna)
“When I had my biggest win, the guys would assume I got lucky or that it was a soft, easy tournament,” she said. “You’re usually the only woman at the table, sometimes the only woman in the whole tournament.
“People get confused playing against me, though. Being a woman, they assume I don’t really understand the game, that I’m waiting around for my pro-poker-player boyfriend, and that I’m easy money.
“Being Asian on top of that, people assume I’m either super conservative and not profitable, or a total loose cannon bluffing every single hand. I use both assumptions to my advantage.
“I’ll bluff the players who think I’m tight, and I’ll play dumb and bet an absurd amount against the guys who don’t think I know what I’m doing. I’m watching how the boys play, not sticking to some script in their head of who I’m supposed to be.”
Reyna said poker has always been a bit of a “boys club” that’s almost been built on “decades of exclusion”. It’s a place where men can be themselves, without their partners judging them.
She thinks this is slowly changing one seat at a time, however. Nowadays, she’s happy to see more women playing.
These days, poker is more of a hobby for Reyna though. Now, her main focus is her OnlyFans platform, as she claimed this is her priority at the moment.
Poker is considered a game of luck by many but, when money is involved, you can lose big. If gambling is causing you or someone else distress, visit GambleAware for assistance and support.
