Headwear

[nevvawon]

Does wearing a "hoodie", a cap or sunglasses improve one's chance of winning at poker?? It really amuses me to see these characters play?
There is no way that they would ever remove the hat or hoodie, does anyone know why?
I can't stop laughing

[muzzington]

It's kind of ridiculous in NPL, but it could be an advantage at higher stakes.

[bennymacca]

if phil laak can do it, then anyone can

laak-gallery-one.jpg (14.69 KiB) Viewed 1496 times

[muzzington]

I'm hoping a monocle will help when I finally bring it out.

[Brett Kay]

All comes down to tells.

Faces are used by a lot of people to show expression. In every day situations, you can tell how a person is by the expression in the face. Now for a lot of us this is just a natural thing.

However in poker, these natural expressions can reveal information about our hand. Even if we try and minimise the smiling and nodding of the head. Our eyes can then tend to give info away as well.

So for novice players, to counteract this, they wear sunnies, so that players can't see their eyes. They also wear hoodies so that it makes it even harder to see twitches in their facial features.

And for all those players out there. Phil Laak only wears the hoodie at a final table. Main reason being, during the early stages of the tournaments no one recognizes who he is. He looks more like a geeky internet pro, than a live professional.

Cheers,
Brett

[bennymacca]

phil laak is my fav pro, i love it when he puts the hoodie fully over his whole head so you cant see him at all. its pretty funny

[Bob B]

I'm sorry but Phil Laak really lacks professionalism with his childish antics. I'm surprised an adult can act as childish as Laak does on a professional show like WSOP.

He's was a totally different player when he was in the teams events in Europe and actually came across like a normal person. Obviously he has a good poker skill but the image has a lot to be desired.

[bennymacca]

since when do poker pros act like adults?

tony g, helmuth etc etc etc

[David]

Harsh on Phil Laak there Bob!
He's not the most serious person but I would have said he's far from what you described. Each to their own though.

[rcon]

I'm considering using my iPod for some games - ones where I'm more interested in the playing poker part than the drinking part.

A repeating track in my head reminding me to think about the players previous moves, and to not just think about my hand could come in handy next time I hit my nut flush, but with a paired board

The full on sunnies and hoddies can be a little over the top, but hey, whatever flicks your switch I guess - some people even drink west end beer!