fundoopoker.com

02/03/2012

Today we will continue acquainting you with the works of Nicolas Fradet, who is ready to present his next masterpiece - an article devoted to one of the seven basic emotions - surprise. Have a nice reading!

  

In this article I will write about a poker tell that, at first glance, may seem rather trivial, but in fact, can be extremely effective when used properly. Most importantly, it is very reliable and hard to fake genuinely. Today I will tell you about surprise.

Just like disgust and contempt, surprise is one of the seven basic emotions. Surprise is a so-called micro-emotion, which in a split second lights up our faces like a flash of lightning.

In the case of surprise, there are two major muscle movements. First, our jaw is dropping, and our mouth is starting to form an "o" shape.  Drop your jaw right now in front of the mirror. Apparently, in the reflection you will see a stunned person with disbelief read in the eyes. Also pay attention to your forehead, as many people simultaneously raise their eyebrows - this is the second sign of emotion.


 

And now let's try to analyze two hands, which may give us great food for thought in relation to surprise expression. You will see that in one video the player will be very weak, and in the other, by contrast, very strong. I chose these hands on purpose in order to save you from delusion that surprise is always a sign of weakness. Not at all, surprise is a tell similar to pacifying gestures, meaning that they are not associated to weakness by default, even though most of the time this is the case.


John Kabbaj on the European Poker Tour:

So, let’s have a look at the video:

John Kabbaj makes the pre-flop raise with Ah-6h, receiving a call from Alexander Stevic with Qc-8c. On the 5c-5s-9c flop John makes a continuation bet of 35,000, after which the opponent pushes all-in. Pay attention to Kabbaj’s left eyebrow at 1:24. We only see him from the side but you can clearly see his eyebrow raised in surprise. This is a micro-expression of emotions. Although we do not see the other side of John’s face, is not difficult to guess that its expression is symmetrical.

In addition, I would like to draw your attention to the fact that Kabbaj is very uncomfortable in this situation. Early on in the hand when Stevic just called a raise, John started stroking his chin, squinting and there was a lot of tension in his face. Add to that list the surprise he showed after the all-in raise, and if you are sitting in Stevic’s seat, you can be pretty sure Kabbaj is weak here. It is Kabbaj’s turn to act on the river, but if at this moment Stevic would sense that Kabbaj is genuinely thinking about calling, he could try to talk him into a fold given his surprise and the other tells. But in this particular case, Kabbaj is really surprised and can hardly call with such a hand.

Justin Bonomo on the Big Game

Watch the video first:

In this hand Justin Bonomo with Kd-9d flops a flush against Jason Mercier, having As-Jd. On the turn Mercier check-calls Bonomo’s bet of 11.000. River is a complete blank - 2h, and Mercier suddenly check-raises-all-in in response to Justin’s bet of 30,000. It is Bonomo’s turn to act. Watch carefully his reaction at 2:34. Notice his facial expression. His reaction is classic. That's how most of us react to unexpected and uncomfortable situations.

But let’s get back to Justin's facial expression and pause at 2:57. Here we see two classic manifestations of surprise. Eyebrows raised, and, in this case we are talking about macro-emotion as it is displayed for a longer period of time. Also notice the "o" shape of his mouth, the second classic way to show surprise. According to all above mentioned we may conclude that Justin did not expect such course of events, moreover, he was in shock.


 

I chose the hand just because Justin demonstrates a classic reaction to Jason’s re-raise-all-in. Of course, it is highly unlikely that he will ever fold his second nuts here. But very often, in other situations you can take advantage of this tell when there are more cards to come or when there is more money behind.

Even despite the fact that the manifestation of this emotion does not guarantee the weakness or strength of the opponent, it may tell a lot about a player, especially if the player is good. Just think for a second. Usually professionals plan their actions in advance.  If a competent player suddenly shows surprise then something went wrong, not according to his pre-thought-out scenario. He either fooled or at the very least is left facing a situation for which he is not prepared for. Often, this also means that the opponent does not have nuts, as in this case, he would have been more relaxed and calm.

Remember, this kind of emotion is very difficult to imitate. Some may try, but you can easily distinguish the genuine surprise from the forgery.

So keep on watching your opponents, and sooner or later you will notice some surprise at their faces. Good luck at the tables!