We all know how important it is to create and maintain a poker face while playing this popular game. A poker face is where your face is perfectly neutral, giving nothing away – anyone looking at you could never tell whether your hand was amazing or dead. But there is another aspect to maintaining a poker face that helps you succeed – keeping your body language up to speed so it does not reveal your position or your hand. Here’s what you need to know about good body language for poker.
- Keep Your Posture Relaxed
Not only does a relaxed posture help draw attention away from you, it also helps you to focus on your game as you are calm and in control. Before you sit down, take a few minutes to loosen up. Take a few deep breaths, forcefully raise the shoulders right up around the ears and then pull them back down. Bend forward, then back, until your back comes to a natural curve. Roll your head from side to side and back and forth. Shake out your hands and arms. Then enter the room calm, relaxed, and with great posture.
- Never Fidget
If you are constantly adjusting your watch or fiddling with your collar you are making people believe you are nervous – and you probably are. Minimise these twitches and fidgets so that you do not give anything away. Stay still – while remaining relaxed. Before the poker game monitor yourself for any twitches and habits like cracking your knuckles, biting your fingernails, tapping your fingers, or rubbing your face – have someone else point them out if necessary. Then get rid of them. Unless you are going for an elaborate bluff, but you need to be pretty skilled to carry this off.
- Divert Attention From Suspicious Body Movements
If you really cannot prevent your finger tapping from betraying your emptions, use something else to divert stress – place a stress ball in your hand under the table and squeeze hard. Or make fists under the table with your hands. But make sure you are not obviously withdrawing your hands from the table to squeeze the stress ball as this will be absolutely clear to other players that you are nervous. And be careful not to hold onto your cards too tightly – white knuckles is not a good look.
Of course, when you Play Online Poker you do not have to worry about any of these body language issues. If you find that you cannot minimise your hand movements or your tense posture is giving you away, online poker is your best bet for winning at a game where luck is only a small part of the play.
