Poker- How Your Body Language Gives You Away

 

When he worked in counter-espionage, the FBI agent, Joseph Navarro could spot a traitor by a series of minutiae movements that a person gives off, their idiosyncratic micro-tics. He has provided modern professional poker players with his knowledge of body-language, in order to help them read their opponents motives and help them win, he has taught players how to spot if an opponent bluffing or not. Poker players are always lying/bluffing, explains the retired FBI agent, they try to convey an image of strength when they have a weak hand and weak when they have a strong hand. In truth, it is possible decipher all the fronts that players present.

Today, Joseph Navarro is an instructor for players in the "World Series Academy of Poker", so he is well placed for detecting the small signals that players give off that betray their underlying emotions, the anxieties they are trying to hide. He was a specialist FBI agent in counter-espionage (spying) for 25 years and he has forged a worldwide reputation for his abilities to understand non-verbal body-language.

Navarro, an American of Cuban origin, has participated in nearly all the enquiries that have taken place in America regarding counter-espionage, between 1993 and 2003. Particularly notable amongst these enquiries is the famous ones of the celebrated "moles" Aldrich Ames and Robert Hansen ( Click here to find out more about Ames & Hansen ). He retired from the FBI in 2003, but continues to teach new agents at the FBI and the CI, in techniques of interrogation and the habits of spies and terrorists.

Navarro, who is 58 years old, thinks that his know-how is easily transposable to the world of poker. Following the example of the spy, the poker player will convey, through very subtle and minute non-verbal cues, how confident or anxious they are about their game. He says that when you feel good or when you have a sensational hand, your body will show how it feels; you may begin tapping your feet in excitement, like the child anticipating a trip to a theme park.

On the other hand, a negative emotion may be translated into a pout of the lips, a crinkled/frowning nose, and a narrowing of the eyes, as happens when we are presented with things we find unpleasant, it the classic look portrayed by the actor Clint Eastwood in various films.

Navarro asserts that he can judge anybodies body-language, even a hardened, professional poker player, simply by observing them for a few minutes. Players are often in the habit of hiding their emotions with sunglasses, hoods, by staying silent, or by a whole host of other techniques. But for Navarro, the ex-FBI agent, these techniques are insufficient guards against conveying deeper emotions, he says that non-verbal communication is involuntary and dictated by the brain and will always show the strength or weakness of the players emotions, if they convey weakness, they probably have a weak hand and vice-versa if they convey strength.

The manner in which players "treat" their cards, with more or less respect depending on whether they have a good hand or not, is revealing. Posture, as well, is important. A player who lowers his head into his shoulders is betraying a sense of low confidence. In contrast, a player whose fingers meet so as to draw a bell tower of a church, the thumb pointed upwards, is the sign of a winner.     

Navarro advises players to observe the behaviour of their opponents from the beginning of the game. When the players are confident they have a tendency to use their hands more, with more flourish, and to occupy a larger personal space at the table, they have expansive behaviour reflecting openness and a positive attitude, they have no reason to feel defensive and they do not act as such. When they are having a good game they have a tendency to look more often in the direction of their chips.

Women tend to have different gestures, but they are not generally more difficult to decipher, says Navarro. For example, a woman can reveal a lack of confidence by passing their hands through their hair or touching their throat. On the other hand, men touch their necks in a much brusquer manner or put their hands to their face.

The techniques that Navarro teaches can also be used to trick other players into believing a sentiment you are pretending to convey. For example, you can use negative body language when you actually have a good hand and deliberately confuse your opponent. Phil Helmuth, considered to be one of the best players of Texas Hold'EM has said, in the past, that Navarro's advice has served him well in poker tournaments.

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