Some poker players make up for their lack of skill with dirty tricks, intending to break the concentration of other players during critical points in the game. The pressure is on when you are face to face with other players to play well, or lose your hard earned money and walk away from the table empty-handed. When you add the tricks used by these uncouth players, the pressure can often be hard to bear. By learning about these tricks now, you will be equipped to handle them when confronted with them around the table. There are many legal ways to help your odds of winning, playing the correct cards, learning pot odds, and betting are all crucial skills. Unfortunately, many players choose not to master these skills, instead focusing on mind manipulation to win their games.
Let’s discuss three of these so called mind tricks that are often used in poker games. They all take quite a bit of practice but once perfected can be extremely effective. Players who are able to perfect all of these techniques can be very formidable at the tables, without really having a lot of skill at the actual game itself.
The pause is one of the riskiest tactics, but when used at the right time, it can bring down even the most seasoned players. Players who use this are the ones who seem to take a really long time to make any decisions. Most players use this too often or at the wrong time and it becomes totally obvious. If you just sit there staring at your cards or other players, it will be a definite cue that you are just blowing time. Most players get by with this trick by counting their chips, checking hole cards, yadayada. It is important to appear to other plays like you are confused; asking the dealer questions will help with this illusion. It will make you appear to be thinking, instead of just blowing time to throw other players off their games. This trick is designed to keep everyone guessing as to what you are doing. You want them to spend their energy trying to figure out what cards you have.
Another trick is the stare. It is commonly known that when something captures a person’s interest, their pupils dilate. So many players will stare at other players to look for this effect, thus enabling them to know if they are bluffing or what sort of cards they have in their hand. You will see experienced players wearing shades when they play to prevent this from being used on them. The only bad side is that it would be very hard to use this on more than one player at once. For this trick to work, it has to be used from the moment the cards are dealt until the player either folds or the game ends.
Many players are masters at distraction. The point of this is to make other players uncomfortable, which in turn will affect their concentration and ultimately their performance. You try to distract them during key points in the game, when the need for concentration is at its most crucial. This is done by asking questions or making noises at crucial times to take a players mind off what they are doing or planning to do. But don’t be too obvious. Some players will ask what time it is, burp, laugh, cough, or just use chatting in general. Talking to other players will often be the best source of distraction, because even if it is directed at another player, most people cannot help but listen to what is being said. This is the least obvious way to perform this trick as it is human nature to listen to conversations that go on around us. If the other players seem to get angry at this trick, it means it is working. The angrier they become, the more off their game will be, therefore increasing your odds at winning that much more. A mad player is a bad player.

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