During a card game, the smallest gesture can tip off an opponent in a big way. Widening eyes, squinting, fidgeting with chips or even a fake smile will give away even the best poker face. For this reason, facial obstructions have become more prevalent over the last few decades.
Sunglasses, baseball hats and even hoodies are now commonplace at the poker table, even during high stakes affairs like the annual World Series of Poker. But do sunglasses, glasses, hats, hoodies, and beards really give players an advantage – or are they more for show than anything else?
To get a better idea, the people at Pokersites.com took a long, hard look at the use of “facial obstructions” among World Series of Poker winners over the past 45 years. They wanted to know which obstructions are the most popular ways for players to disguise their reactions and how many sunglassed or hoodied pros actually ended up winning it all.
Here’s what they found out. First, these are the most common obstructions among winners of the WSOP.
They even did a year-by-year breakdown of the WSOP to show exactly what the winner was wearing on the road to winning a bracelet.
Their findings: More than 91% of WSOP winners have beards or wear hats, eyewear, or hoodies (or a combination of two or more types) at the table. When they take away facial hair, the percentage only drops to 85%, so while the cards and the decision-making ability of each player is important, wearing some type of facial obstruction doesn’t hurt at all.
[via Pokersites.com]