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The Ultimate Body Language Book

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Chapter 16 - Deception and Lie Detection<br />

Liars Freeze Up But Master Poker Players<br />

Become Dynamic?<br />

Lying is so pervasive in life that it is no doubt that poker, a game that celebrates and rewards lying, is<br />

so popular. Over the course of a poker game each player will gain access to the same good and bad<br />

hands on average, but it is what is done with these hands that bring in more or less money. Even weak<br />

hands can win by bluffing, or lying about the strength of the hand, by fooling a competing player into<br />

fold. Poker is a game that rewards those that actively lie about strong hands by betting when weak and<br />

also holding back or “slow playing” strong hands to milk as much money from opponents. As poker<br />

players develop, they work through steps or stages on their way to becoming masters. One of the first<br />

skills learned is feigned disinterest which is useful when dealt a great hand. If a player can not convince<br />

others that they hold a weaker hand and instead show confident body language and consistently raise,<br />

the remaining players will simply fold. This invariably reduces their contribution to your pot and<br />

reduces your earnings. It will have been said that you haven’t played the hand to its full potential so<br />

even if you have won, you will have still lost.<br />

Once feigned disinterest is mastered, a poker player begins what is called “acting.” That is, they will<br />

act weak when they have a strong hand, and act strong when dealt a weak hand. In poker, this becomes<br />

very tiresome (but simple) because a player must constantly show signs of strength when they aren’t<br />

and show signs of weakness when they are strong. Doing the opposite to what comes naturally<br />

consumes mental resources and distracts from other tasks such as reading other people’s body language<br />

and calculating the strength of their hands. <strong>The</strong> next level in a poker player’s development is to do what<br />

most poker players conclude their learning with, especially casual home players, and this is to clam up<br />

and show no signs at all ever. This is what we call the “poker face” and is the primary topic at hand in<br />

this discussion. While not important in general life, it might behoove you to know the final stage to<br />

becoming a master poker player which is the ability to move from just the poker face (expressionless,<br />

or nearly so!) to all levels perpetually, so you can never quite be figured out with any degree of<br />

certainty. Of course, different styles exist between players, where some are constantly chatting, while<br />

others are constantly frozen, but the gist of it that they don’t have to be stuck in a frozen pipeline. As<br />

with good liars, good poker players possess the skills to act natural and honest, even when they aren’t.<br />

Liars have been shown to freeze up in this “poker face” too. Acting naturally is difficult when under<br />

stress, or if we are particularly motivated to get away with a lie. Motivation can be due to receiving a<br />

reward, keeping our job, or avoiding severe punishment. <strong>The</strong> greater is the motivation, the greater the<br />

likelihood of freezing up. Someone that hits a monster hand in poker can suddenly stop all movement<br />

altogether, but as we see with all lying body language, a liar can also show opposite behaviour and<br />

begin to shake or vibrate uncontrollably usually with their feet, but sometimes even their hands. I’ve<br />

seen it happen and it tells me it’s time to fold! When playing poker it is usually impossible to see the<br />

feet so instead watch the person’s shirt and shoulders, as they will seem to bounce along with their legs.<br />

Surprisingly, even while the feet are practically running off, the faces of poker players often remain<br />

stoic as if frozen. Bouncing feet are called “happy feet” and is a high confidence ‘tell’, indicating that a<br />

person is about to gain something important. It is very reliable and happens as a direct result of having<br />

heard or seen something significant that is positive to the person displaying the signal. While high<br />

affect happy feet make the entire body bounce, happy feet can be display in a more subdued way by<br />

just wiggling the feet. Watching for these cues in poker can be a very important tell and save a pile of<br />

money, so be careful to watch for it.

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