How Men Play Women Differently: Kasey Lyn Mills, Ashley Frank, And Vanessa Kade Talk Strategy

The Pros: Kasey Lyn Mills, Ashley Frank, and Vanessa Kade

Question: When you sit down to play in big live events, what are the best ways to determine how you will approach each player at the table?

Kasey Lyn Mills: When I first sit down, I’m in information-gathering mode. I will start slowly and avoid getting into big pots right away. I am assessing my table and figuring out how they play.

I’ll be looking at the recreational players for a lot of bet-sizing tells. You’ll see a lot of limping by recs with their medium-ish hands. Because of that, you can remove tons of hands from their range. You will also see them making these small feeler bets all the time when they have mediocre holdings. When you know that, you can put a lot of pressure on them.

There’s so much information gathered from the recs based on how they’re betting, and it allows me to bluff them whenever I don’t have it. It also allows me to escape easily based on their betting when they do have it.

Ashley Frank: Initially, I stick to a fundamental, standard GTO strategy. You can only deviate if you know how to exploit somebody. So, at the beginning stages, l gather information that helps me determine the recreational and pro players.

You can tell a lot by just their physical mannerisms, how they shuffle their chips, look at their cards, and even speak and talk about hands at the poker table. There’s a lot of information to be gathered if you pay attention. Then, you can use that info to exploit your opponents.

I’m always paying attention to players limping or opening too many hands. I go off their bet sizes, how frequently they’ve raised, and from what positions.

Vanessa Kade: Dozens of little clues can help you assess someone’s skill level in big field events. The biggest ones are bet sizing and betting patterns, but you can also look at things like comfort level in general, how they handle their chips, how they sit at the table, etc.

But other than paying attention, there is an even simpler way. With a short conversation, most people will openly tell you where they’re from and whether they’re at the tournament for a few days having fun or play for a living.

Question: What kind of live tells are you looking for?

KLM: The eyes give away so much information, whether it be the elite pros or the recreational players. I pay close attention to a player’s eyes. Players who are not wearing sunglasses and unaware of certain things give away so much information with their eyes. These tells have been a huge moneymaker for me. I recommend you watch the flinching of their eyes when it happens on certain cards. It helps you to figure out if they hit the card they wanted to see. It allows me to adjust my continuation betting frequency. It also allows me to know when I can attack.

I’m a massive proponent of live reads, such as when players start to act out of turn and grab their chips, which is often a sign that they don’t want you to bet. You should be attacking in those spots because they have a weak-to-middling holding. Players glancing at their chips after looking at their cards probably have a strong holding.

Sometimes, I check for an opponent’s neck pulse; it’s more likely to go crazy with a bluff. However, you also have to get a baseline for each opponent because many opponents will react similarly when they have a massive hand.

Another tell with recreational players is when they’ve got aces or a really strong holding, all of a sudden, they want to take their time. They want to savor the moment that they have aces. I’ll notice them take longer with their bets and be very particular in how they put their chips into the pot. Everything changes with their body language. They’re trying to be calmer, but they’re giving away so much information.

AF: There are so many things to look for. The guys that show up with sunglasses or backpacks – they’re grinders. They’ve got their snacks in there and are there to grind. The recreational player might drink a Corona or just be there to have a good time.

You can get a lot of tells by talking with people. How long are you here for? Where are you staying? Some people will share they are just there for the weekend. That person probably wants to avoid busting that tournament if they flew in to play this one event.

You can use that info to your advantage. There are a few more I watch out for, such as how they shuffle their chips, look at their cards, and talk about their hands.

VK: For live tells, I try to look at which way the player’s disposition has changed during a hand compared to their baseline. For example, someone who is introverted might have a somewhat closed-off physical stance. In that case, reading too much into a player crossing their arms might not be helpful, but we want to look for information on any noticeable change compared to their natural resting state.

There is much information from someone’s hands, eyes, and mouth. What this information means is subjective and up to you to determine individually. Is it the nervousness of a bluff, excitement of the nuts, or good acting? In the long run, I think the only thing that helps you determine the difference is playing a lot and paying attention to the clues and outcomes.

I watch how someone looks at or handles chips, their cards, and how quickly someone bets or calls, which can all be beneficial. Less-experienced players will consistently try to project strength when they are weak and weakness when they are strong. The most obvious spots are when their action doesn’t align with the story; they are trying to show you their emotions (like the old shake their head and sigh, followed by declaring “all in.”)

I try giving false tells or micro-expressions, but generally with less experienced players. If I can’t do this successfully on a particular day, I’ll focus on making my movements and expressions consistent regardless of my hand.

How do men play differently towards you? And now that you’re well-known in the industry, how do you determine the players who want to stay away from you and those who want to battle?

KLM: I feel like many men want to play pots with me because they want to play with the female at the table. I can quickly gather who those players are, which helps you win a lot more money from them. Why? Because you can change your ranges based on realizing they want to mix it up with you, which is huge.

And being a more known player, I often see people want to call me lighter because they think I’m more capable of bluffing. So, as a female, they usually think women are tighter. But as a professional female who’s won some titles, they expect me to show up with a lot of bluffs.

What happens then is my value holdings get paid a lot more often. But I also have to be more careful and thoughtful about where I put my bluffs. People want to call me down because they think I’m more capable than your average female player.

AF: As far as being female, men, in general, think that they can bluff us more and be more aggressive. They mostly perceive us as being weak players and probably being pretty nitty. They try to take advantage of that perception by asserting aggression.

Being a well-known player, it depends. Each person is different. But I get told a lot, ‘I only raised because I wanted to play a pot against you.’ They’ll also try to pull off a crazy bluff to say they bluffed me. They would hero call me when I have it and lose because they wanted to be a hero and catch me bluffing.

It’s worked out mostly, but it gets a bit tough to play against people when you don’t know if they’re trying to play back at you because they know who you are. In most instances, players will overcompensate against me. They will show up with a wider range or have hands they shouldn’t have in a particular spot. You can take advantage of it, but you must figure out who those players are.

VK: Playing as a woman is generally very polarizing, and figuring out where people stand is usually straightforward. A large portion of the population is neutral, but there are always people who think they can ramp up the aggression to 12 and push you out of pots.

Then there is the opposite – the guys who want to be friendly and will ‘go easy’ and are openly cheering for you to win. It’s essential to figure out who fits into which category as quickly as possible because the play against each will look very different.

Becoming more well-known has thrown a wrench into this and makes it much harder. My reputation is to be a bit aggressive/spewy, which directly contradicts how I look. I need to figure out if someone knows who I am because it will affect whether they massively overfold or overcall against me.

And then there are the people who will play wildly out of character to say they got a bluff through on you or beat you in a big hand. I struggle with this sometimes because it’s unclear which is which until you get in a big hand with them, as they often play differently against you than the rest of the table. Making conversation with the players does help, though. ♠

Kasey Lyn Mills has put together a solid year on the tournament circuit, earning two WSOP Circuit rings while also final tabling the WPT Voyage main event. You can follow the Poker Now ambassador on IG and Twitter/X @pokermommaa.

Ashley Frank is a popular poker vlogger who chronicles her play in both cash games and tournaments on her YouTube channel PokerFaceAsh. Frank is a sponsored pro for PokerBros and can be found on IG @pokerface_ash and Twitter/X @pokerface_ash_.

Vanessa Kade has made final tables all over the circuit, from smaller regional events to high rollers at the PokerGO studio in Las Vegas, cashing for more than $1.3 million. In 2021, she won a record-setting PokerStars Sunday Million for a $1.5 million payday. Follow Kade on IG and Twitter/X @vanessakade.