Poker faces - Day#6 - Emotions printed in 3D

Some pictures may be descriptive, some other have the power to evoke movements...Generally speaking, every photograph - or such apprentice as I am - aims to "catch the moment", that very frame which contains a story.

Today I chose to write a small caption below every picture, adding some more elements to every shot in order to help you understand the context which led players to assume that specific facial expression.

Moon contemplation

This guy is an amateur, and he just did his play. He's waiting for his opponent to act, and he's more likely having a strong hand. Most of the non-professional poker players tend to dissimulate their emotional tension looking elsewhere or faking distraction: here we have a good example of it.

Reflection

This is the last part of a hand (river) and this guy is evaluating if calling his opponent or not. Meanwhile, he stares at him trying to get some physical tells so to add an extra element to his decisional process.

Recognition

The guy went through the hand and eventually called his opponent's bet losing the pot. That's the moment in which he realizes the loss.

Doubts

This guy is not totally convinced of his decision. He's trying to understand if his middle value could be enough to beat his opponent, who probably just bet.

I did it!

The face you make after winning a pot. He probably had the best hand or maybe he was bluffing - he didn't show his hand and the opponent just passed - but that smile indicates he's genuinely happy. Even if amateurs, depending on their own experience combined with personality, players may not be able to hold feelings and that's what, in poker, is known as a "tell". In this case, it is not significant since the hand is over, but generally speaking, a good professional has the capacity to fully control his emotions and even send fake tells during the game, if needed.

Last considerations

We are at the river - the 4th and last round of bets in a hand - and this player is about to make his decision: is it call or a fold? From my personal experience, I can tell you he already decided to call, but there are a few chances that his opponent actually has the hand is trying to represent, so he's just taking a bit of time to study his body reactions and maybe squeeze out some precious information.

Frustration

This amateur just made a bad call and lost a pot. He's really disappointed because he already had the feeling to lose before putting his money in - I was there and I was observing him - then, he took the decision and made that face. Simply, he knew he was beaten but he paid anyways...

Poker face

This is a professional who just waits for his opponent's decision after having placed a bet. He's trying to stay as calm as possible, even though he could be really nervous, by fixing a random point and holding the body position he assumed.

Tiredness

Hours and hours dealing card may be exhausting, even though you like your job. I personally know this guy and he loves it, but at this moment he's just somewhere else with his mind. The hand is over and he's shuffling the cards to deal a new one: these are the only 5 seconds where dealers are silently 'licenced' to be distracted.

Aknowledging

The dealer flips the river card and his tournament comes to an end after a three days battle. In this very moment, hopes are flying away while he's watching the movie of his whole tourney in one flash.

In action

A pro player placing his bet. Will it be a bluff?

The end

I propose again this pic because I really like it. This is a young 'good but crazy' player, who dominated in the first two days and then, exceeded in exuberance and threw his tourney away due to a huge bluff. In this frame, the opponent announced the call and flipped his cards over the table...

Now it's your turn: leave a comment below and if you like it share it with your friends. Aaaaand, If you missed out the previous posts click

Here for Day#1

Here for Day#2 .

Here for Day#3

Here for Day#4

Here for Day#5

Enjoy!