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| Never mind your poker face; it’s your poker arm that
matters |
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Whether you play poker or not,
you’ll have heard of the expression ‘poker face’. It’s the
ability to keep a neutral expression on your face when playing poker so that
no-one can easily tell if you have a good or bad hand.
However,
according to a
recent
study at Tufts University in the USA, it’s not just your poker face
that counts. The way your arm and hand moves as you place down your chips could
also indicate to other players the quality of the hand you are holding, and
it’s harder to move your arm convincingly if you have a poor
hand.
To work this out, the researchers had groups of non-experts in the
game of poker sit and watch 20 two second video clips of people placing their
chips down during a game. The viewers did not know the quality of the
players’ hands, but had to judge whether they thought they were holding a
good or bad hand, when watching either their faces or their arms and hands in
the clips.
The viewers were most accurate when judging the quality of
the players’ hands when they watched the video that showed the
players’ arms and hand movements only. This suggests that players are
capable of covering a bad hand by altering their facial expressions, but
aren’t so capable of doing so when it comes to how they move their arms
and hands. According to the study, when a player has a good hand, their
movements are smooth, but the stress that comes with a poor hand shows through
in the way that they move.
Of course,
when you’re playing
poker online, you can do what you want with your facial expressions and
body movements. No-one can take advantage of reading your body language when
playing at a virtual poker table.
That’s just one of the many
advantages of playing online for recreational players who aren’t taking
the game of poker too seriously. If you’re just starting out playing
poker, it’s good to get some practice in at the freeroll tournaments,
where players don’t have to pay to play, but the casino provides the cash
pot, so there’s everything to play for. If you win, great, but if you
lose, you’ll have gained some playing experience along the way; which
means you’ll be better prepared for playing at games where there’s a
buy-in and you have some of your own money at stake.
Playing online,
you’ll be able to get lots of practice in and develop your own poker
strategy before you start joining higher stakes games. The trick with poker is
to keep your bets at a really conservative level until you are sure you know
how to play. Even then, there’s always the likelihood of being beaten as
there are lots of players out there who spend almost all their time playing
poker, treating it as a way to make a living, so never bet with money you
can’t comfortably manage without.
Have a look at this poker
tutorial video for some tips:
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