My "poker face" is a smile. 🙂 It is on my face pretty much 95%+ of the time I'm at the table. I enjoy playing so it comes naturally to me, though it might not for others. When I'm head to head and just made a bet, sometimes my opponent will be looking at me like Clark Griswold playing the "Pick a number from 1 to 10" game (See below). Worried or not, I'll just shrug my shoulders and give them a look like "Hey...I don't know." In the end I just try to be consistent with my expressions and movements.
I would say, a healthy mix of both. You need to assert yourself through eye contact, only there can you see the core of your opponent. When you make a bluff or semi-bluff, let him stare at you, just look like in a 30 degree away from him in front of you and remain calmness. Try not to move a single muscle, breath freely but tense at the same time. If you have, 3 chips, smile, go All-in and then home.
Once I had the shortest chip stack on the main tournament table with composure and a bit of luck I won the tournament. Sometimes you win some and sometimes you loose some. Trick is not going into tilt I suppose and keeping emotions in check is crucial in poker I believe.Shadow6969 said:
I’d say go with whichever option scares your opponent more… Honestly, awkward eye contact gives them the feeling that you know something they don’t. But if you shrink into your hoodie and stare at your 3 chips, they’ll instantly know you’re in goodbye, friends mode. So go for the staring… at least it gives the impression you’re still in the game!
