Why Covering Your Face Is Easier Than Keeping a Poker Face

Feelings and Emotions Are Ancient, Intelligence is Young

Emotional reactions, as manifestation of inner feelings, are the oldest instruments of communication not only for humans but for some animals as well.

Before our species even learnt how to use sounds for a meaningful exchange of information, faces, hands, and other body parts were the most actively used tools to “communicate” with each other for survival.

To this day, the superiority of facial expression over rational dialogue remains unshakable in some areas. For example, it is still the main way to understand each other for parents and newborns.

At the beginning of their life, babies not only can’t talk — they can’t even use simple sounds or deliberate body movements for good communication. But from the moment they open their eyes for the first time, they can already understand and replicate facial expressions related to some universal feelings (according to Dr. Paul Ekman):

• Anger
• Disgust
• Fear
• Enjoyment
• Sadness
  Surprise 
• And even contempt

These feelings and mechanisms of their manifestation are so old and honed that babies react to irritants with these exact facial expressions before they develop an ability to rationally analyze them and intentionally produce them.

Emotional Reaction to Triggers Is Faster Than Conscious Response

According to the study “The amygdalo-motor pathways and the control of facial expressions”, our emotional responses happen in the amygdala, the part of the brain responsible for emotional learning, emotional recognition and memory consolidation based on connections between events and the emotions they evoke.

The source of emotional response and muscular manifestation of it is the reason why emotions are so hard to manage and mask without a special training.

The algorithm of this reaction is complex yet simple: when something reminds you about a specific situation — for example, your draw missed and you have difficulty deciding what to do next — your amygdala connects triggers with related emotions very fast, initiating the accurate facial and/or other body parts motor reaction. You may not even register the moment you start reacting when emotions are already all over your face.

And while you can train yourself to sit still or relax and mask your emotions, it isn’t a walk in a park for your brain that is forced to work harder to simultaneously manage your decision-making process and emotional stillness at least on the surface.

And don’t forget micro-expressions which appear too fleetingly for conscious control under stress, unless you are a pro.

Controlling Facial Expressions Increases Cognitive Load

When you try to mask your emotional response, your brain adds another task to its list that can be already quite large and cognitively taxing especially if you’re playing live poker at the same time.

Just imagine how much work your mind does during each hand that wasn’t folded preflop:

• Keeping attention on opponents: remembering their tendencies, analysing recent actions, noticing behavioral changes
• Decision-making for your hand: analyzing your hand, your range in this spot, the best course of actions to gain maximum value
• Managing focus: shielding yourself from distractors, intrusive thoughts and tilt triggers

Your brain is already busy trying to perform well on each front, so when you push it to increase control of your facial expressions it’s energy declines and thus reduces the amount of time you can be on your A-game.

And if you push yourself to multitask for a long time, the cognitive overload will overtake you sooner or later, forcing your brain to abandon some of the tasks. And which task is discarded will not be a conscious decision.

Poker as a game is already stressful enough to tire a person out quickly but when you try hard to control your face it can become exhausting.

How to Achieve a Poker Face (or at Least Get Close to It)

What makes a decent actor a good one? An ability to get used to their roles so well that their real self becomes completely unattached from each character they play.

As a poker player in the live game, you can arm yourself with this approach and become the best actor at your table.

The easiest way is to create for yourself a character “professional poker player”, endow them with all features you want to have when you sit at the table and practice playing this role to the moment when it becomes a second skin.

If this path is brand new for you and you do not quite understand what to do — hire an acting coach, consult with an actor of your local theater troupe or join a local amateur theater to train for this purpose.

You can also read books about acting but specifically about facial expressions and body language to get a more complete understanding of what different emotions look like and to practice not hiding them, but replacing them with others.