Using Sunglasses When Playing Poker

The Gambler by Kenny Rogers is actually a great primer for the novice poker player. Each lyric is true and filled with wisdom especially the chorus "You've got to know when to hold'em, know when to fold'em, know when to walk away, know when to run". If you know the rules of how to play poker games and these lines, you will be a fair player from the get go.

I played poker professionally and successfully for over 3 years and was surprised by how much insight was in this short song. There was one line in the song, which glared out at me as merely a metaphor. This is the line "knowin what their cards were by the way they held their eyes". I thought about this for a long time and came to the conclusion that for medium level or better players, this line was just not a literal truth.

In any large brick and mortar establishment (i.e. physical card room), many players wear sunglasses to cover their eyes believing that the eyes are the window to the soul. If other players can't see your eyes, they can't read the strength of your cards or see into your soul. I have tried to wear sunglasses myself when I was younger only to miss-read a club for a spade due to the lack of light filtered by the glasses themselves. I gave up using sunglasses at that point but the question lingered in my mind. Are sunglasses an effective way to block tells by the wearer?

I have to say that after moderate research by watching the World's best player live and on television, I have reached a definite conclusion that the eyes are the hardest part of a player's visible body to read accurately. There might be exceptions if someone has a nervous tick in their eyes. For the most part, the eyes do not provide consistent information and are hard to interpret. They are also small and hard to see. When a plyer puts on sunglasses, he is telling you much more about his or her hand than can be gleaned by looking into their eyes directly. Almost no professional players wear sun glasses for this reason. Put on the glasses or lower them says "I have something to hide" usually a powerful hand.

The three articles I have written on the Associated Content venue relating to reading tells, have information about physical, psychological and vocal tells. The information contained in those articles are much better than trying to analyze a player's hand by looking in their eyes. In fact, trying to read a player's eyes can be a major distraction. I highly advise players to get into the more obvious points of reading body language. I think posture is about the most consistent tell and the easiest to read. Of course a shaky pair of hand certainly indicates an adrenaline rush and a great hand. If their hands shake they have at least three of a kind on the flop or a flopped flush or straight or better. On the other hand if they stop breathing they are surely bluffing.

If you can't read a person like a book, then you should not be playing poker for money. At least you should switch to on-line poker rooms as it if very hard to read a person who you can't see. Of course if a player takes a long time to make a bet on-line and then makes a whopper of a bet, they are clearly telling you, hey I'm trying to look weak so ignore my oversized bet and call me. If you do you better have the nuts.

Please check out my other articles which deal with a more in depth treatment of the art of reading tells in poker.