Look Good, Play Good -- borne out by science?

[M.B.E.]

In a recent thread on the news-views-gossip forum, there was a mini-debate about whether dressing well causes you to play better.

I'm wondering if there have been studies published in the psychological literature about dress codes and the effect they have on worker productivity. In the last few years businesses have gone back and forth from "casual Fridays" to "casual Friday every day of the week" back to strictly business attire.

I assume that some people do work more efficiently when dressed in a business suit, while others are more efficient when they dress for work the same way they would dress for a casual social event. For others, it makes no difference either way. I'm curious whether anyone's quantified this. Also are there any subtler effects.

Finally, would any results obtained for a workplace environment also apply to the poker table?

Of course there could be lots of other reasons to dress well while playing poker; for example as a courtesy to the players. I know I like it when others at the table wear nice clothes, even though my own priorities for attire are speed and comfort.

[CrisBrown]

Hiya M.B.E.,

There are some general tells associated to different modes of dress, and while they're not 100% accurate, you can pick up some useful clues. So, to that extent, it might worth considering whether the way you dress is projecting a tell, and whether that's a tell you want to project.

For example, people who dress extremely neat -- collar buttoned, tie up, everything pin-perfect -- are projecting an image of tight control. That will usually be reflected in their play. The guy who shows up in the blinding Hawaiian shirt and Day-Glo orange shorts is will often play as flashy as he dresses. And so on.

Knowing those kinds of things, you can change your dress to either project a deceptive image. Yes, these are tells of first impression, but as Al Schoonmaker says, many people won't budge from a first impression.

Cris

[M.B.E.]

What I'm wondering is whether there's a scientific basis for asserting that I will make better playing decisions when I'm wearing nice clothes than I would otherwise. I'm not asking about how it affects table image.

[mosch]

I have nothing but anecdotal evidence, but I know that I play a stable tight and aggressive game when I show up to the casino in my work clothes (usually a suit) I stay in my business mentality, and just try to work efficiently and effectively to play my best game.

That being said, I'm extremely comfortable wearing suits, so I have another variable in there that many people don't seem to share.

As for whether or not this would be true for you, there's only one sure way to find out, keep your dress clothes on and head to the casino.

[Al_Capone_Junior]

My own propensity is to generally dress nice, but not super-fancym although I have dressed in everything from fancy club clothes to just sweats or shorts and a tank top. I feel my opponents generally think me to be fishier tho when I am dressed very nicely. Being a young man, those players, especially the fancily dressed ones, generally are thought of as fish, especially by older players. Of course this is not the case with myself, but let them think what they want. Maybe I'll even toss in a straddle to reinforce their beliefs.

Now a woman being dressed very nice does not have any obvious stereotypical application that I can figure.
When you see pokerbabe at the table, you should be thinking "shark" or at least "barracuda."

al

[Al_Capone_Junior]

I see no relevance to how your own look affects your own play, unless the perceived image of you in the minds of your opponents somehow affects your play. I play the same regardless of what I wear, unless the situation calls for some specific change in tactic due to my apparell having some noticable effect on my opponents. When dressed real nice tho, I often talk more, to reinforce the image that I'm so slick I don't need to pay attention. But I always am from behind those glasses, trust me.

al

[David Steele]

Al,
Is it because you play no-limit that you want to be percieved as fishier or do you disagree that with the idea that a tight-rarely-bluffing image is best for holdem?

I am not sure for no-limit but for limit I would not want to be seen as a fish.


D.

[ChipWrecked]

I tend to put more stock into Caro's chip-handling tells than dress. Neat stacks/tight play, sloppy stacks/loose play.

[Al_Capone_Junior]

Actually David I play no limit online, and have only played live in tournaments and in a ring game a few times. I was speaking of limit hold'em ring games.

There is a difference tho when I am in a tournament, either way, no matter how I am dressed, I try to quickly get the "stone killer" image thing going. I don't want to get called a lot in tourneys because people are seeing me as a fish. Makes stealing blinds hard. So I often don't dress so snazzy when I'm going to a tournament.

al

[scrub]

With the caveat that I haven't actually read the paper, and am deeply suspicious of most psychology research...

A poker playing friend of mine is a psychology major. Last spring she told me about a paper she read which seems to apply to this question. If I remember the set up properly, a group of subjects were offered an obviously even money wager for even money against two different opponents. One was an attractive, masculine looking man, and the other was a dumpy, less masculine looking guy. Apparently, people were more willing to take the bet against the ugly guy.

I guess the obligatory discussion of the whole Poker Essays optimal image/game thing should follow here, so dress well for limit HE, poorly for big bet?... [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

I for one, am much less likely to call the ratty looking guy with the dirty t-shirt purchased with marlboro miles than the I-banking putz in the Thomas Pink shirt sipping on his gimlet...