Daily WSOP Photo(shop): The Goldfish Technique

In the movie The Devil's Advocate, there's a scene early on where Al Pacino and Keanu Reeves are negotiating a contract on a roof top.

Pacino, as it's revealed, is Satan personified in the form of a successful lawyer named John Milton.

Reeves is a hotshot, undefeated defense attorney from Florida. He doesn't know it, but he's the Devil's son.

No wonder he never lost a case. Yikes.

Anyway, near the end of the scene Pacino describes pressure as something that makes some people rise to the occasion and some fold up like cheap tents.

Watch the clip here. His line:

"Pressure. Changes everything, pressure. Some people, you squeeze 'em, they focus. Others fold. Can you summon your talent at will? Can you deliver on a deadline? Can you sleep at night?"

How do you respond to pressure when you're at the poker table? What separates the players who make final tables from players who never make Day 2? Players who make final tables from players who win bracelets?

To take home a WSOP bracelet - like Greg Mueller, Daniel Alaei, Soheil Samsheddin and Matt Hawrilenko are trying to do in the $10k Limit Holdem World Championship today - you need skill, some run-good sauce and, undeniably, courage under fire.

When you're forced to make a decision that puts your tournament life on the line, does your A-game rise to the surface? When you've made a bluff that could send you packing or propel you into contention, can you hide all potential tells?

A tip for hiding tells at key moments, as passed down from generation-to-generation in the Schwartz-family poker game: practice "The Goldfish Technique" (G.T. for short).

Meaning becoming completely oblivious to your surroundings to the point of complete absence of thought. It's like changing the language of a book to gibberish. The words are still there, but they're completely unreadable.

It's not easy. After all, goldfish have been perfecting this strategy in the wild for years.

But it could make all the difference.