I Am Woman: Watch Me Deal!

I'm a chick. I love that I'm a woman - and I love all the perks that come with being one. While there are always times when it's not to my advantage (ie: camping in the woods and needing a restroom) there are many more times when it's worth it. For instance, I love that a good majority of the time when I'm playing poker, I'm one of the only women at the table. Yes, being a woman is wonderful.

Recently, I was one of two women at a poker table. It was an APL tournament and while I love the APL, there is one aspect I loath: Dealing.

I have never been the worlds best dealer. I'm not a great shuffler: I can make the bridge, but I can't make the cards fan back down. I've been told it's because I have small hands. This can't be true - I have hands that are anything but small, and I've seen women with far smaller hands shuffle much better then me. Apparently, it's just not my gift.

When I sit down to a table, I dread the moment when they spread the deck across the table, picking for dealer. It's takes me back to the Carney days of my youth when a sinister man with no teeth and a tether hisses, "pick a card-any card". I find myself praying that I have a low card, and the highest card is to my left, leaving me with the longest period of not dealing. I would do ANYTHING to not have to deal.

So I'm at the table, and about 5 hands in a man deals. Then he did it: He flipped a card, causing a misdeal. There were a few moans, groans, and glares, but it was pretty early on, so most of us just joked about him drinking too much before the game.

About an hour later, on his third or fourth deal, he does it AGAIN. This time, there were definitely more moans, more groans, and a bit more glaring. There was even one pleasant "JC" muttered under the breath of the gentleman next to me. He quickly turned to me and said, "My apologies."

Within two hands or so, the other lady at my table was dealing. She had been a great person to play with all night. She had wonderful table etiquette and was polite and funny - but also was good with the table talk and smack. Two separate players had commented about how she "played like a man" and "if all women played" like her, they "wouldn't ever mind playing with women." And then - it happened. The card slid fast across the table - then off and over. Nobody seemed to see the card, but you'd think it was a sin: Anarchy broke out. Mom's were F-ing. Son's were B-ing. Complete chaos ensued.
"Women playing poker... Expletive."
"Women dealing poker... Expletive."
"Where's my beer?"
"Remember when this place was men only? Expletive."
"Expletive ex-wife and kids."
"Where's my beer?"
I understand that yes, it's a pain when that happens, but since nobody saw the card, it was hardly a misdeal. Mr. I-can't-deal-worth-a-frick misdealt twice and all he got was "JC". Of course, we all need a little "JC"...

I genuinely wonder how much of it was the pent up anger from Mr. ICDWAF. No pun intended, but was it really necessary to make that big of a deal?

What would your reaction have been?