We've heard a million times that some players win in Poker only because they have a good poker face, but in reality what do you need to make a poker face?



    To be honest, nothing is what you actually need. In reality, a poker face is a "blank" face - a face with no expressions, no sign of enthusiasm or disappointment and no reactions to any action that happens on the table. This is actually what makes a poker face difficult to achieve. Its in the human nature to react to things that happen around us, we laugh when someone cracks a joke, we look angry when something bad (not in our favour) happens and we smile when we're confident - all these elements make your poker face a failure! 

    Imagine being dealt pocket aces - wow thats fantastic! Your natural reaction would be to grin and smile - but this would indicate the other players that you have a good hand and then good luck at getting them to call your raises or bets. A poker face needs to be straight and without any emotional indication otherwise the slimmest glimpse of reaction could give your opponents an idea of your situation and you definately don't want this! 
    
    During a game however, especially playing with amateurs, you get one "bonus hand" to play the old vice-versa game. For one single hand, you get the option to do the opposite of what you would have naturally done. If you're dealt pocket aces, your natural reaction would be to smile, but you should be strong and react the opposite way - this will give the wrong impression to your opponents and might get them to fall into your trap and hand you their chips effortlessly. 

    Why did I say one bonus hand? Because once you give off a "false tell" your reactions won't be trusted anymore - which however could mean that you're natural reactions could be misinterpretted by your opponents and you get your way again - if you reach this point, you got the game in hand because every reaction you'll make it will confuse them since they don't know if its the natural reaction or not! I will follow this up with another article on "false tells" in a week or so.

    It's nice to have a poker face, however most tells are established by recognizing betting patterns and I will touch on this later as well. Its better to establish a pattern on each and every hand. Keep a blank expression, take the same exact amount of time with each decision. Concentrate on your breathing, it helps to take short deep breaths and focus on them. Find something to do with your hands, if you play with chips, play with them the same way everytime. All these things help. Its like a baseball player waiting on a pitch, he breaths consistantly, jerks around his bat the same way everytime he gets to the plate. Some grind their feet in the dirt the same way every time or open and close their fingers on the bat. You should establish a similar routine when you are in a hand. They are watching your every move. Give them nothing!