How To Build The Perfect ‘Poker Face’

Get a Free Training Package at PokerHeadRush.com

In poker, your facial expressions and mannerisms can reveal more than you intend, giving your opponents an advantage. This guide will show you how to develop a solid poker face, explaining why mastering this skill is essential for keeping your strategy hidden and maintaining control at the table.

Take 5-10 Seconds On Each Decision

It’s amazing how many players have timing tells. The next time you’re playing at your local cardroom, watch the hands you’re not involved in. You will be stunned by what you see. If you write down what you saw in some note taking app on your phone, it will look like you’re texting someone, but instead you’re building a scouting report on your competition. If you can confirm some of these reads multiple times, it will be like your opponent’s hands are face-up the next time you play with them.

This timing tell is common. Many people will call quickly when they want you to stop betting versus them. They will also call quickly when they don’t have to consider a raise.

This is not good for them. Let’s say the board comes with straight draws and flush draws. If they flopped a set, they’d have a lot to think about on that board. If they smooth call with their set, they’re giving you a chance to back into a flush or straight that beats them. If they raise, they might shut down the action right now and not get more value from their hand.

Because of these factors, most of your opponents will need to think with their better hands. They’re not quite sure what raise size to use. They’re also doing a Hollywood time bank to imply they’re weaker than they are.

If that’s what they do with a set or two pair, but they call quickly with one pair because they don’t want you to bet the turn, they have a huge problem. It will be obvious what they have when they play against you, because you’re the only one paying attention.

If you want to make sure you don’t exhibit this tell yourself, take five to ten seconds on most decisions. Don’t take too much time and slow down the game. That’s rude. But protect yourself by taking a few seconds before each decision. Don’t Hollywood for 30 seconds when you have the hand or call automatically when you don’t have much of a decision with a mediocre pair. That will be too obvious.

Always Put Your Chips In The Same Way

To continue this line of discussion, let’s also discuss your hands. Not your poker hands, but your actual hands.

There’s many people who cut the chips in politely when they’re trying to not scare you. When they get dealt a good hand preflop, they raise with less oomph. When they’re trapping with a monster, they call quietly. They’re like the sabertoothed tiger in the bushes ready to spring the trap.

However, when they want you to stop betting or to not three-bet them, they might open with more aggression. They throw the chips in more forcefully. This goes back to the classic, “strong means weak, weak means strong.”

Way back in the old days, otherwise known as six years ago, when you could get me away from my sound system, anonymous poker sites, and standing desk to play live poker, I was in Atlantic City playing a poker tournament. I got moved to a new table. There was a player to my left who I knew was a good live pro. I knew he knew about all the live tells we’re discussing today.

On the first hand at this new table, I got dealt pocket aces. When it was folded to me, I opened like an absolute asshole. I flung the chips in like I thought I was the king of everything. Sure enough, this player to my left assumed I wouldn’t be doing that with a premium, so he three-bet me light. I ended up winning a decent sized pot off of him.

To be fair to him, in most instances he would have been right. People tend to not want to give anything away with a big hand. They’re waiting to spring the trap.

If you want to make sure you don’t have this leak yourself, then open roughly the same way every time. You don’t have to be perfect. Most of your opponents are not paying great attention. But try to be in the same general range each time. Put your chips in with force or put your chips in gently, but do it the same way every single time.

Look In The Same Place

There are so many players who keep staring at the board when they want you to think they’ve hit something.

There are so many players who look around when you stare at them, and they have nothing.

However, when they actually hit something, they look down or at their chips. It goes back to that sabertoothed tiger waiting in the bushes. They’re trying to not give anything off before they spring the trap. (They also subconsciously want to know how much they can win.)

If you want to make sure you do not have this tell, look at the same place in every hand. Look down at your chips. Keep your head low with a baseball cap on. Look at the first card on the flop. Whatever you pick doesn’t matter much. It just matters that you consistently look at it.

Cover Up Everything If You’re Unsure

I had a senior citizen lady write me one time from across the pond. She had won a satellite to a live tournament. There was only one problem. She’d never played live before!

She was scared that the experienced live veterans would exploit her obvious newbie live tells. She asked me how she could protect herself. I told her essentially everything from this article, but I added this:

If you want to remove as many live tells as you can from yourself, wear a baseball cap, shades, and facemask. If it’s allowed within the rules and you’re nervous about your poker face, cover up as much as possible. Do the same timing and hand motions every time and pretend that you’re playing online poker.

Think about the table like you were looking at it with a bird’s-eye view. What would you do if this was online?

I personally just wear a baseball cap most days when I play, but I wouldn’t be doing my job if I didn’t tell this lady that those options were allowed within the rules and available to her.

About a week later, I got an email from her. She’d run deep in the tournament and cashed! She told me all the live pros were making fun of how covered up she was, but eventually she realized they were complaining about it because they couldn’t see anything in her. She was able to play her normal game and go deep thanks to the fundamentals we discussed about maintaining a poker face.

Conclusion

Mastering the perfect poker face requires consistency in your actions, such as taking 5-10 seconds on each decision, using the same hand motions, and placing your chips in the pot the same way every time. If you’re ever unsure, cover up as much as possible, maintain focus by looking in the same place, and keep your behavior steady to avoid giving away any tells. ♠

Learn how to play A-K when it misses the flop!

Alexander Fitzgerald is a professional poker player and bestselling author who currently lives in Denver, Colorado. He is a WPT and EPT final tablist, and has WCOOP and SCOOP wins online. His most recent win was the $250,000 Guaranteed on ACR Poker. He currently enjoys blasting bums away in Ignition tournaments while he listens to death metal. Free training packages of his are provided to new newsletter subscribers who sign up at PokerHeadRush.com