Body language is considered a vital part of live poker playing, but it’s not mentioned nearly enough in bridge. Opponents can tell when you’re overly confident, holding back or nervous about your hand – and being able to read body language effectively gives any player an advantage over anyone who can’t.
Here are a few signs that your nerves are showing during the game. Watch your opponents and bridge partner, and always guard against these when it comes to your own play.
Being Overly Talkative
Anyone who talks too much while saying too little is usually nervous and trying to downplay it; where they aren’t, they are trying to distract from what they’re really doing and trying to keep you talking. While friendly conversation around the card table is great, when someone starts rambling about nothing, think what it could mean for the cards they’re holding.
Averting Your Eyes
Avoiding eye contact can mean that someone is feeling either nervous or self-conscious. Looking someone in the eyes implies a type of social contract or connection that the eye-averter is consciously trying not to make. Where you aren’t sure, consider the context that it happens in and any other body language signs you see.
…Or the Dead Stare
Some players opt for the dead stare instead of being unable to make eye contact. Sometimes it implies self-consciousness – but usually it means an attempt to fixate or intimidate the person being stared at. Sometimes it’s more bark than bite. Consider the context where you aren’t sure.
Fidgeting with Cards
If you see someone fidgeting with their cards, it can mean that they aren’t sure of their play, or feeling the heat at the height of competition. Fidgeting can also mean that they are simply trying to think about the next move to make.
Foot-Tapping
Assuming that we’re not talking about Italian cheating scandals, foot-tapping can be a sign of impatience when it gets displayed during another player’s move. Sometimes this means anticipation – a really good move that someone is itching to make.
Neck Touching
Sometimes neck touching can be a display of attraction, but a certain type of neck touching is related to the expression “pain in the neck.” The expression is used so much that people have been conditioned to touch their necks when they’re feeling frustration, anger or defeat.
Huffing, Puffing and Sighing
Do you pay attention to the way you breathe? Other people at the table might be. There’s a definite difference between a snort and a sigh, and it means distinctly different things when someone switches over to relaxed breathing versus breathing faster due to the adrenaline rush of believing they can win.
Rubbing the Hands
When people rub their hands together, it can imply that they’re feeling confident about their potential success – or that they’ve recently achieved something to their benefit. In poker, it’s something to watch for before you go all-in – and in bridge, it can mean someone is confident about their contract.
Gritting or Grinding
When you see someone clench their jaw or grind their teeth together – even just for a split second – it implies frustration, anger or metaphorically “holding something back” by briefly closing the mouth shut.
Aggressive Playing
Aggression during play can sometimes be related to confidence, but it can also sometimes mean that a player is too focused on the winning part of the game. This can imply a sort of “tunnel vision” that means they are thinking more about their own next move than yours – and for any opponent, this is opportunity in play.
Small Habits
Other than the general body language signs that many people over the world tend to share regardless of their language, individuals also tend to develop small body language habits that mean specific things.
These small body language habits are usually unique, usually patterned and usually harder to hide because they form part of our natural, everyday behavior. (This can mean that any signs of hiding or masking these small habits are signs in themselves!)