In the game of poker, some players make up for lack of skill with dirty poker tricks intended to break the concentration of other players during critical parts of the game. The pressure is on when you are face to face with other players to perform well, or lose your hard earned money and walk away from the table with nothing. When you add in the tricks used by many of these uncouth players, the pressure can often be hard to bear. By learning about these tricks now, hopefully you will be better equipped to handle them when confronted with them around the poker table. There are many legal ways to help your odds of winning, playing the correct cards, learning pot odds, and betting are all very important skills. Unfortunately, many players choose not to master these skills, instead focusing on mind manipulation of other players to win their games.

We will discuss three of these so called mind tricks that are often used in poker games. They all take quite a bit of time to perfect, but once perfected can be extremely effective. Players who are able to perfect all of these techniques can be very formidable at the poker tables, without really having a lot of skill at the actual game itself.

The pause is one of the riskiest tactics to use, but when used at the right time can bring down even the most seasoned players. Players who use this are the ones who seem to take a really long time to make any decisions. Most players use this too often or at the wrong time and it becomes obvious what they are doing. If you just sit there staring at your cards or other players, it will be a definite cue that you are just blowing time. Most players get by with this trick by counting their chips, checking hole cards, etc. It is important to appear confused, asking the dealer questions will help with this illusion. It will make you appear to be thinking, instead of just blowing time to throw other players off their games. This trick is designed to keep everyone guessing as to what you are doing. You want them to spend their energy trying to figure out what cards you are holding, etc.

Another of these tricks used quite frequently is called the stare. It is commonly known that when something captures a person