Poker News

John Carlisle

Take a moment to think about your best poker face. We hear people throw around this term quite often, like when someone was using their poker face in the courtroom, the boardroom, and in the living room with a suspicious wife. We are conditioned to think of a poker face as one that intentionally displays no emotions. It isempty, cold, and almost stonelike.

Similarly, body language is expected to follow suit with no emotional motivations. Movements and facial expressions are to be nothing short of robotic. In reality, our faces are not built to be emotionless. Most of us can easily decipher the difference between a smile produced by pride versus a grin produced by egotistical overconfidence. We, as human beings and social creatures, are simply not built to be emotionless. Even when actively trying to display little emotionality and to remain flat, we often still show obvious signs of feelings such as boredom, worry, suspicion, or veiled excitement.

To attempt to force an absolute emotionless state upon yourself will only increase the likelihood of giving off information to your opponents. The players who attempt to remain completely still while playing are speaking volumes within that attempt. Likewise, it is often within those awkward moments that the player is most likely to crack, as the pressure at that time is more concentrated than ever.

The poker face, with our current common definition and expectation, is an undeniable fallacy. Those players who devote hours and days of effort, energy, and concentration on trying to master a truly placid poker faceare wasting their valuable resources and time. Over the course of several hours of play, you will inevitably display numerous conscious and unconscious cues that indicate feelings and emotions. In actuality, in only a few moments of play will you give away such cues. Instinctually and intuitively we see these cues in others, and we can instantly profile them as confident or insecure, comfortable or distressed, etc.

At its essence, a good “poker face” isn’t about withholding all of your emotions. Instead, it is simply not revealing the cards that you hold in your hand. Evaluating yourself and your play to identify common patterns and tells is a part of this. Mostly, though, it is about mentally preparing yourself for battle before you peek at your hole cards each and every hand.

The best players find a way to reach an unflappable comfort level within them. With that, they are able to be competent and profitable players on a consistent basis. When they have the nuts, they do indeed show characteristics of comfort and confidence. Don’t hastily expect that to be a tell, though, as when they have nothing and bluff all-in, they still truly exude comfort and confidence! When you believe in yourself and your skills at this same level, you’ll never find yourself needlessly spending time or exerting energy working on a poker face. The only poker face that you will then display is the one with a wide smile as you exit the poker room with cash-filled pockets.

Now go make it happen.

Filed under: Poker News