Jennie "InkedOne" Allison, 40, recently spent seven years living in Oregon but moved back to Michigan back in October, which was just in time to participate in this MICOOP.

"I’ve been playing poker for just over two years," she told PokerNews. "I taught myself on an app that had poker on it. I got fed up with imaginary money and people shoving all in every hand. One day I went to a poker house in Oregon and played a tournament. In my first tournament, I took 11th place out of 40 or so people."

In her second tournament, she improved to seventh place and followed that up by taking second in her third-ever tournament.

"Over these two years, I have played both cash and tournaments but my favorite is tournament play. I play NLH, Omaha, and other variations such as Crazy Pineapple and Courchevel. I moved back to Michigan in October and it was hard not playing tournaments every week."

She added: "I have noticed that men play women differently. I learned early on I had to play fearlessly. I was not letting people bully me out of hands. While playing poker online, I even did an experiment where I changed my avatar and name to a man, played identical to my play and the men played me differently. I ended up first within 24 hours of changing that."

While that experiment didn't take place on PokerStars, she is enjoying grinding the virtual felt of Michigan's first regulated online site.

"On PokerStars, I have an ambiguous screen name and do not reveal my gender when playing. However, oddly enough, many people refer to me as 'bro' and 'buddy.' So, not sure if that’s a compliment that they can’t imagine I’m a woman, or if it means they just assume fewer women play."

She continued: "My experience with online poker is so-so. I pride myself on my reads. When dealing with online, sure I can figure out how people play, but I can’t see tells, eye contact, etc. I’ve been first in two tournaments on PokerStars and have cashed out at least a dozen times."

Allison tends to play tournaments with buy-ins $15 or lower and can be found battling at the micro stakes where she attempts to enhance her skill and learn from her hands.

"My favorite tournaments on PokerStars are the bounty hunters and the knockout ones," she said. "One of my first-place wins had more cash won in knockouts than the actual top prize."

Allison concluded: "I really love poker. I may have only been playing two years but I learn and grow every time I play."

Tags: Jennie Allison