AUTHOR: Jerry "Jet" Whittaker TITLE: 'Tells' make poker game interesting DATE: 3:16 AM ----- BODY: To the uninitiated, poker can appear to be a dull game. Except for the
occasional outburst of a surprised winner or the head-shaking of a
frustrated loser, there is very little display of emotion. Not revealing
one's feelings is a part of the game. Keeping an expressionless "poker face"
during the play of the cards is one of the first strategies a novice learns.
Most expert players specialize in reading their opponent's "tells," which
are inadvertent physical clues to the value of the opponent's hand. Research
on the subject of tells is vast. There are books about tells (notably Mike
Caro's "Book of Poker Tells"), and even a Web site devoted to them One of
the important scenes in the popular poker movie "Rounders" revolves around
one character discovering another's tell, which happens to be in the way he
eats a cookie. The reason that it's hard to not have any tells is because
poker is so dramatic. Every hand follows its own storyline. Sometimes it's a
short scenario, wherein everybody folds, there's no betting, no cards
revealed and we're onto the next deal. But, more often, what transpires is
an intricate series of plot twists, changes of direction, red herrings and
surprise endings. In Texas Hold 'Em, Act One occurs when the players look at
their first two cards. Acts Two, Three and Four occur as the subsequent
cards are revealed, and the betting transpires. Usually there is an Act
Five, when all of the players in the hand expose their hidden cards and the
winner is determined. The curtain always comes down on some, and there's
always one character who triumphs. Through it all, the players are expected
to appear impassive. In the end, the winner usually breaks a smile and small
expressions of joy and/or relief are tolerated, but poker etiquette doesn't
allow for gloating, taking bows or breaking out the band. Spontaneous
acceptance speeches do sometimes occur, but at that point, only the speaker
is listening. Poker players deeply feel - and crave - the emotional highs
and lows of the game, but mastery over exhibiting those feelings is
performance art. --------