Study: Win More at Poker With a Smile?

A recently published scientific study from Harvard University has revealed that neutral or stern poker faces don't work. However, they found that opponents played less optimally against players who smiled.

Phil Ivey holding 7-2o

The research paper published by Erik J. Schlicht describes an experiment where novice poker players were tasked to play a simplified game of Texas Hold'em. All the test subjects were screened before the experiment, and had scored at least 70 out of 100 in a poker test.

In the experiment, players had to made decisions to call or fold based just on the cards and the face of an opponent that was shown to them. Calling resulted in a win or loss of 5,000 chips, while folding results in a 100 chip loss.

Schlicht and his colleagues found that threatening or inexpressive faces had no impact on the decision making process of the subject. However, when faced with a trustworthy face, which is usually conveyed through a smile, the test subjects took longer to decide and also made less optimal decisions.

Trustworthy faces signal better hands

"Mistakes against trustworthy opponents resulted from increased loss aversion, suggesting that participants believed trustworthy opponents were betting with hands of greater value than neutral and untrustworthy opponents," wrote Schlicht in a summary of the results.

The experiment was conducted while Schlicht was a post-doctoral student in Harvard University and is published in the paper titled "Human wagering behavior depends on opponents' faces." Shinsuke Shimojo, Colin F. Camerer, Peter Battaglia, and Ken Nakayama were also all involved in the study.

If these researchers' claims hold up in the real world, Phil Ivey might win even more than now, by just looking less menacing at the tables. Now, that is a scary thought.