How do you make a conscious effort to improve your poker face?

[mythrilfox]

I'm mostly an online player, but recently I started playing live more simply because it's more fun. My biggest problem is I have a pretty poor poker face - it's better than most people's but I still feel I am way too readable to anyone who's paying attention. It's gotten to the point where a few times I have had to actually take into account the fact that I am too readable and make fairly marginal calls against aggressive players. Not fun. It's by far my biggest leak.

Now, so far in poker, I can just find my mistakes and temper them out through focus and determination. It's a purely scientific process. With enough work, I can always make improvements in my decision-making, etc. But with my poker face, I really have no idea where to start. When I peel back two aces my eyes just flash, whereas when I peel back 84s I have this vacant stare. I feel like there's nothing I can do about it.

What can I do to work on this?

[xniNja]

Learn to keep a straight face and make your bets methodical, that's it. The best limit players show no emotion, strength, or weakness... whether or not they are bluffing or betting for value. Become comfortable with chips; stacking, cutting, and placing... think of yourself as a machine.

[Pepsquad]

With all due respect, I think "making a conscious effort" to improve your poker face would be disasterous. The biggest problem most people make at the low-limits I play is trying to appear completely disinterested with solid holdings (watching the ballgame, faking a yawn - people actually do that crap) and look like a gorilla on adderol while bluffing (pounding their chips or immediately splashing them out there before the dealer even peels the turn).
What works for me is not doing anything. Just always look like your trying to solve an algebra problem, (which, if you are really focused on the game you pretty much are).
So, I look down and find aces? I haven't won anything yet. Your mind shouldn't be thinking "moneymoneymoney..."
You should be thinking how many in the pot, who's still in. Call? Raise? How am I going to get the most in?
The key to making your face not look geeked out when you peek at aces, is NOT BEING GEEKED OUT WHEN YOU LOOK AT ACES. There's still work to be done. That's where your focus needs to be.

[lemonPeel]

[ QUOTE ]
I'm mostly an online player, but recently I started playing live more simply because it's more fun. My biggest problem is I have a pretty poor poker face - it's better than most people's but I still feel I am way too readable to anyone who's paying attention. It's gotten to the point where a few times I have had to actually take into account the fact that I am too readable and make fairly marginal calls against aggressive players. Not fun. It's by far my biggest leak.

Now, so far in poker, I can just find my mistakes and temper them out through focus and determination. It's a purely scientific process. With enough work, I can always make improvements in my decision-making, etc. But with my poker face, I really have no idea where to start. When I peel back two aces my eyes just flash, whereas when I peel back 84s I have this vacant stare. I feel like there's nothing I can do about it.

What can I do to work on this?

[/ QUOTE ]

How do you know these things about yourself? Did someone tell you that you do these things? Anyways, what I've done is to practice betting my chips in one way all the time and after I bet I cross my arms and look down at the cards on the board whether I'm bluffing or got the stone lock. Try to remember how you bet when you have a monster, and how you bet when you are bluffing. Then make your adjustment to keep everything the same. If you're like me, when you find a strong holding or make a strong hand, you find your heart beating very rapidly, I can't help you at all on that one because I have problems controlling that. Anyone out there figure out a way to keep your pulse in check when you flop the nutz?

[xniNja]

It's not hard after some time & practice. Unless you simply can't control yourself, in general, and then you probably shouldn't be playing poker at all. Just today I flopped quad aces, I checked the same way I would have if I had missed the flop altogether. Sure your heart may beat a little faster, but there's no heart rate monitor, is there?

[vexvelour]

i received really good advice once on this:

if you have excellent cards in your hand, instead of thinking "well crap, this pot is mine already..", you should sit there and worry that your good cards won't win. if you flop a boat, worry that someone might have a higher boat. (very unlikely, but this reduces a tell on your part). also, it really helps to look ONCE at your cards pre-flop, memorize them, and work the table as usual. this keeps you from reacting to cards when say the flop comes, because you know what you have and can focus on assessing others expressions/tells.

this might be a "dur" post...but good luck. [img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img]

[mythrilfox]

I know that going out of your way to give off "false tells" can be very bad and/or obvious, so I try to avoid that. Optimally I'd like to just look as nonchalant as I can, regardless of what cards I have. When I say I want to make a conscious effort ... I feel like I have control over most things in my life, how good or bad I can be at something etc., but this is one aspect that I'm really having trouble controlling.

One problem is sometimes I'll try to focus on how I'm acting at the moment so I can fix it for future reference, but then when I focus on a certain thing I'll start to get really anxious and nervous about it. It's like I'm trying too hard. I think it needs to be more of a cold, calculating mentality instead of letting the cards control your emotions.

vex, that's a pretty good idea. I'll give it a shot next time I sit down.

Thanks for the replies everyone!

[RydenStoompala]

[ QUOTE ]
Learn to keep a straight face and make your bets methodical, that's it

[/ QUOTE ]


God Almighty in heaven kill me now.

[RydenStoompala]

Have a friend, someone you consider a solid player, "sweat" a game with you. Either he/she sits to the side and watches you or they play across from you, both with the intention of delivering a brutally honest appraisal. Trust me, you don't know your tells and weaknesses as well as your opponents.