MarcO
ENG 050, Section 122
21 March 2013

Know When to Fold Them Do you think you have what it takes to be a World Champion Poker player? To have your picture hanging on the wall alongside previous champions, and to have your name etched in the record books for eternity, for all the world to see. In the exciting, adrenaline pumping arena of poker, reading people and meeting challenges is a way of life. Here are some examples of poker players that have fought tooth and nail, sitting for many hours looking down the barrel of thousands of poker hands, gazing over the green felt into the sea of chips with intense anticipation of winning them all. Every hand that is dealt in the game of poker has a mathematical probability of being a winning or losing hand. Champion poker players have mastered a few traits such as calculating, using props and being manipulative in order to increase their odds of winning. The first part of the process is calculating the odds of each hand that is dealt. Phil “The Unabomber” Laak does the majority of his playing under a disguise of a hoodie pulled over his head and dark sunglasses to hide his eyes. This disguise prevents other players from seeing any tells that he may have, making it harder for his opponents to read him. While Phil is observing the other players, he is learning their tells, from the way they breathe, the way they hold their cards and how they look and touch their chips. Tells are the biggest form of calculating and by Phil knowing his opponents tells gives him an edge on winning the hand. Phil must observe the personality of the player and also by knowing an opponent’s occupation he will gain insight to many of their unspoken tells. Behind his disguise, Phil’s face structure is of chiseled marble concentrating on hiding his own tells while calculating on other players, which increases his probability of winning. Using props and dress attire is also another way to increase the odds of winning a poker hand, and Jennifer Tilly is an excellent example of this. The way Jennifer portrays herself by her attire, attitude and mannerism demands a certain effect on her opponents. With the majority of the poker players being male, Jennifer uses her props to her advantage. With her sensual smile and sexual intoxicating eyes, her risqué tops revealing ample yardage of cleavage for the male opponents to gaze upon causes them to become distracted and to lose concentration on their own poker hands. With Jennifer’s girl-next-door appearance, a lot of the males will not be aggressive and will fold rather than force her out of the game. Some of the male players like keeping eye candy at the table longer and they will concentrate on busting the male opponents. With Jennifer’s vast knowledge and skill of the game and her use of props, she can sit back and wait for the