A Poker Face: What it Is and Why Its Important

In poker, bluffing and fooling your opponent is a major part of winning hands. It requires you to think and act so that you opponent does not know what you are doing. In poker, many people will continue to bet and raise even if they have nothing. Why? They are bluffing (We will go further into the art of bluffing and how you can do it successfully in our bluffing article). However, many expert players can pick up on your facial expression and figure out what you are planning on doing before you act.

This can put you at a major disadvantage as your opponent can counteract your move and easily manipulate you taking many of your chips. That is why when you watch Poker on TV or a game with skilled and experienced participants; players have flat faces and often do not change their facial expression so that they give no clues and do not tip off any of their opponents on what they are planning to do.

Poker face refers to keeping a flat face throughout the course of the game and especially when you are in the heat of the betting. I strongly suggest you keep a poker face most of the time when the match is in play. Many people wear glasses and hats or grow extra long facial hair to help disguise their face.

When playing poker online this feature disappears entirely, almost. Today’s online poker rooms have the advantage for novice poker players that it's not possible to see the other player’s poker faces. Generally expert players tend to use this "tell" more than a novice player since a poker beginner often forgets to hide his/her emotions and therefore reveals the value of the hand.

There are "tells" to use when playing online poker like, how fast the bet comes, using auto raise button, delayed check, delayed bet or raise etc.

This is just a quick guide to what a poker face and bluffing is. For more information on how you can use this information in a tournament to win the hand, refer to our bluffing article for more information, as well as tips and tricks.

Here you can read more about the games: Omaha - Texas Holdem - Seven Card Stud

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