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In last month’s column I highlighted the most “honest” part of our body our feet and showed you how “happy feet” can be a significant and profitable tell at the poker table. In this final examination of the topic, I’d like to reveal some additional foot tells that can help you determine the strength of your opponent’s hand, but first I want to tell you why your feet are the most honest part of your body. In doing so, you’ll get a better appreciation for why the feet are such good candidates for poker tells and why they behave the way they do.
An Evolutionary “Foot”note:
For millions of years, our feet and legs have been our primary means of locomotion and the principal means by which we have survived. Marvels of engineering, our feet provide a platform that allow us to feel, walk, turn, run, swivel, balance, kick, climb, play, grasp, and even write. And while not as efficient at certain tasks as our hands (we lack an opposable big toe), nevertheless, as Leonardo da Vinci once commented, our feet are so exquisitely designed as to be a testament to God’s handiwork.
Our feet and legs accommodate whatever thought is in our heads. When we want to run, our feet adapt for the chore; when we want to jump, they don’t let us down. When a boat rocks, they help us balance; when we feel threatened, our feet will immediately prepare us to escape. As the writer and zoologist Desmond Morris once observed, our feet communicate exactly what we think and feel more accurately and more honestly than any other part of our bodies.
Why are the feet and legs such accurate reflectors of our sentiments? For millions of years, long before we spoke a common language, our legs and feet reacted to environmental threats (fires, snakes, lions) instantaneously, without the need for conscious thought. Our limbic brains made sure that our feet and legs reacted as needed by either freezing motion, running away, or kicking at a potential threat. This survival feature, common to all hominids, has served us well. This finely tuned system is so sensitive that when we are presented with something dangerous or even disagreeable, our feet and legs still react the same way. They freeze first, attempt to distance second, and finally, if no other alternative is available, prepare to fight and kick.
This freeze, flight, or fight mechanism, as previously noted, requires no high-order cognitive processing; it is reactive and emotive. Our feet and legs not only react to threats and stressors, they also react to our emotions, both negative and positive. The dancing and celebration we do today is an extension of the celebratory exuberance we exhibited millions of years ago upon the completion of a successful hunt. Around the world, it is the feet and legs that so often communicate happiness, from Masai warriors who are jumping high in place to couples dancing up a storm. We even stomp our feet in unison at ball games to let our team know we are rooting for them.
Over the centuries, as our species developed vocal skills and language, the necessity to observe the feet became less important because we could call out danger at greater distances. Nevertheless, our feet remain one of the most important and truthful purveyors of our feelings and sentiments.
Proof of this statement abounds in our everyday life. You can see it in action for yourself.
Note when two people are talking in a hallway and are interested in having a private conversation: Their feet will mirror each other and they will usually square off face-to-face. If someone should approach to join the dyad, they will be acknowledged in one of two ways by the feet. If the feet of the original two people remain fixed toward each other and only the upper torsos shift, then they really don’t want the third person to join them. If, however, the feet of the two people open up to welcome the third person, then we can assume the third person is truly welcome. Most people will, at a minimum, turn the upper body toward the approaching person; that is done out of social grace. It is only when the feet move, to admit the new person, that the welcome is full and genuine.
You can also watch children and their foot movements for a real education in feet honesty. They may be sitting down to eat, but if they want to go out and play, notice how the feet sway, how they stretch to reach the floor even when they are not finished with their meal. The parent may try to hold them in place at the table, yet their feet will inch toward the door. Their torso may be held by that loving parent, but the children will twist and squirm their feet ever so diligently in the direction of the door an accurate reflection of where they want to be. As adults, we are, of course, more restrained, but just barely so.
Those who dedicate their lives to decoding the world around them know that the feet, not the face, are the most accurate purveyors of sentiment. Having done thousands of FBI interviews, I learned to concentrate on the feet and the legs first, the hands and the face last. If you want to decode the world around you and interpret behavior accurately, watch the feet and the legs. They are truly remarkable and honest in the information they convey.
An “Under the Table” Play That’s Perfectly Legal:
Looking for tells that occur in the area between the top of the poker table and the floor can provide you with some interesting kickbacks in your game. Besides the all-important “happy feet syndrome” discussed last month, here are some additional foot behaviors that can help you read your opponent(s) at the tables.
Watch for feet that turn away from the table. We tend to turn away from things that we don’t like or are disagreeable to us. Studies of courtroom behavior reveal that when jurors don’t like a witness, they turn their feet toward the door from which they came. The same holds true for people who want to terminate a conversation. From the hips up, they will face the person they are talking with, but their feet will shift away, toward the nearest exit. If a player has kept her feet pointed forward during the early part of a hand and then, after seeing a later card (in Hold’em usually the flop, fourth or fifth street), turns her feet away, it is normally a sign of disengagement a signal that she no longer wants to be involved in the hand.
If a person is constantly wiggling or bouncing his or her leg(s) and suddenly stops, pay attention. This might be a sign that he or she is bluffing (a freeze response). Be attentive if the movement stops right after the player has placed a large bet, particularly if other freeze behaviors are in evidence (e.g., breath holding, over control of other bodily movements).
If a player’s feet go from a resting position (flat) to a ready or “starters” position heel elevated, weight is on the balls of the feel it is an indication the person plans to act. This is called an intention cue and suggests the person is going to get involved in the hand by calling, raising, or reraising. At the last Read ‘em and Reap seminar, one player, suspecting that his neighbor had the nuts, literally pushed his chair back and looked under the table; at which point, seeing his neighbor’s feet in the “starter’s position,” he folded his hand. His opponent had a flush.
When a player suddenly turns his toes inward or interlocks his feet, it is a sign that he is nervous and/or feels threatened. Usually, this is an indication he has a marginal or weak hand. If, after making a bet, he wraps his feet around the legs of his chair, it’s often a sign he’s bluffing. He is likely unsure and is restraining himself as part of the “freeze” response we have previously covered.
If you see a player push away from the table and cross her legs, one over the other, this is a high-confidence tell and suggests that she has a good hand. In this case the pushing away is to allow for the crossing of the leg and not a sign of distancing.
When players make a big bet and then they interlock their ankles around the legs of their chair, this is a restraining (freeze) behavior and suggests they may be bluffing. They are constraining themselves because they fear they are going to be detected by their opponent as they bluff.
Watch for the player who locks his feet around the chair and then moves his hand along his pants leg (like he is drying his hand on his trousers). The feet lock is a freeze response and the hand rubbing is a pacifying behavior. The two, taken together, make it more likely that the player is bluffing. His body language is figuratively saying, “I’m really nervous here; please don’t catch my bluff.”
Players sometimes can be seen suddenly moving their feet from in front of their chairs to under their chairs. This is normally a sign of weakness and/or bluffing behavior, especially when it follows action on the table, such as a flop. Remember that changes in foot behavior or placement often are reflected in body posture, inclination, or in the clothing which will either vibrate (happy feet) or hang oddly (distancing).
A Final Note:
Because they are the most honest part of the body, the feet are most likely to provide the most accurate, uncensored information to the alert poker player. Used effectively, this information can help you use your opponent’s feet to defeat them. It takes effort and conscientious observation to spot these tells, but I think you’ll find it’s a worthwhile way to get a leg up on your opponent.
Joe Navarro served as a Special Agent with the FBI for 25 years. You can read his book Phil Hellmuth Presents Read ‘em and Reap (HarperCollins) available at all major online and brick and mortar booksellers. Joe welcomes readers’ questions at his navarropoker.com website. Dr. Marvin Karlins holds a PhD in Psychology from Princeton University and is currently Professor of Management at the University of South Florida’s School of Business Administration. An avid poker player, Professor
Karlins enjoys answering inquiries at mkarlins@aol.com.
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