Tells of the Mouth

For the next two months, I have purposely focused on one specifi c area of the body. The mouth and the tells that are revealed there are probably the most accurate of all the body tells, especially the face. I know what you are thinking after months of reading this column: “Joe, you’ve said the feet are the most reliable place to pick up tells.” That is true, but when looking at the face, the mouth wins the tells contest hands down. It is probably the best place to decipher the feelings, thoughts, and intentions of another player. When it comes to poker, the mouth is one place we should scrutinize carefully.

While the face is capable of thousands of different expressions, it is helped along by the numerous facial muscles and parts that constitute the mouth. Mouth behaviors are the fi rst behaviors that a baby learns to mimic from its mother. When the mother smiles, so does the baby. When she pouts, so does the baby. This early mimicry helps us to develop skills in communicating verbally (like the cooing noises we make), but more important nonverbally. This development occurs throughout our entire lives.

As humans, we pay close attention to the mouth. Our brain’s sensory tract for observing and feeling is not proportional to our bodies. In fact, we disproportionately place greater focus on the mouth and tongue, as well as the hands and thumbs, in comparison to any other part of the body. Go to Google Images and type in “homunculus” (it means little person) and you’ll see distorted little fi gures of a man with large lips and large hands. That funny looking fi gure is how your brain sees others: a giant mouth with giant hands attached to a little body.

The fi rst thing to remember is that it means that people at the table are going to be looking at your hands and your mouth out of proportion to the rest of your body. We are naturally driven to keep an eye on these areas of the body, and it makes sense. We reveal happiness and anger through our mouth and, over millions of years, we developed a need to keep this well in focus, as well as the hands which are tool-bearing appendages that can hurt us.

As I have stated repeatedly, all of our sentiments are re- fl ected in our bodies and the mouth is no exception. When we are strong, confi dent, and relaxed, that shows in our lips. The same display applies when we are weak, anxious, nervous, cautious, or worried. I see so many players wearing sunglasses. They’re worried about their eyes giving information away although the mouth reveals so much more. In fact, at the World Series of Poker Academy, I teach that covering your mouth is more important than covering your eyes. This is something I have been teaching the pros privately and it has been paying off for them. The more they cover their mouth, the more diffi cult they are to read.

Determining a baseline behavior will be critical for those who wish to get a good read on mouth behaviors. Our mouths are our primary source for pacifying. When we are stressed, we touch our lips, rub them, pull on them, massage them, or lick them. We do these things in real time to calm ourselves. As adults we can’t really suck our thumbs, especially at the table, so we do other things with our lips and mouth that can pacify us. Remember that the majority of actions we undertake with our mouths are meant to pacify ourselves. From biting pen caps, chewing our nails, smoking, biting straws or sipping on drinks, exhaling through pursed lips or eating a lot, our brain is soothed by these oral activities. By doing these things, we comfort and pacify the brain. This is why people have diffi culty with weight — eating pacifi es us. And at the poker table, most players don’t recognize that they are acting in this fashion. After all, we’re just chewing our third piece of gum in an hour… right?

When we are confi dent and content, our lips are full. They are puffy, normal, and in full view; not concealed, tight, or compressed one against the other. When we are lacking confi dence or are anxious, however, our lips tend to disappear. When stressed, such as viewing a rag hand and diminishing chip stack, we show discomfort through our lips as they tighten, get smaller, or become compressed. To pacify ourselves, we may touch or lick our lips. Again, this is why at the poker table, when a player looks at his hole cards his lips may be full upon seeing a pair of sixes, but then his lips disappear when three overcards come on the fl op. This player has gone from comfort to discomfort and his lips are sharing his entire story. In a real world example, watch people when they receive bad news. You’ll see an immediate reduction from full lips to disappearing lips, to compressed lips when things are really bad.

Lip compression is an extreme form of communicating stress. In a severe case, you’ll notice when the corners of the mouth come down the side so they look like an upside down U. When we press our lips together, it is as if our limbic brain is telling us to shut down and not allow anything into our body because at this moment we are consumed with serious issues. Lip compression is very indicative of true negative sentiment that manifests quite vividly in real time. It is a clear sign that a person is troubled and that something is wrong. It rarely, if ever, has a positive connotation.

At the table you may ask another player if she has the nuts and she may just answer with a smile. Well, not all smiles are the same. What I see at the tables are a lot of false smiles indicating that they are bluffing. When we are truly happy and content, our smile is genuine and it rises up towards the eyes. This is caused by the orbicularis oculi muscles, which surrounds the eye and cause us to have “crow’s feet” around the eyes. When our smiles are false, the corners of the mouth are drawn toward the ears by the zygomaticus major, which stretches from the corner of the mouth to the cheekbone. There is a big difference, and you can train yourself to spot the true one from a false one, which might reveal when someone is bluffi ng. One thing that can help you learn in this situation is to test it yourself. Step in front of a mirror and fake a smile. By determining the appearance of your fake smile, you’ll be able to use those same characteristics in analyzing the honesty of your opponent’s happiness or sharpening your own bluffi ng skills.

Look for individuals who purse their lips at the poker table. In the real world, this behavior usually means they disagree with what is being said or they are considering an alternative thought or idea. At the poker table, these same actions allow you to infer that they don’t like what they are holding or that the community cards missed them by a mile. Pursing of the lips is perhaps one of the most accurate tells and shows up in real time. For this reason, when the community cards come out, pay more attention to your opponent than to the cards. Gauge his immediate reaction. Remember that the cards will be there, but the most honest reaction will disappear quickly. You will be surprised how often you see lip pursing and how accurate it is in letting others know that you don’t like what just happened.

Next month I’ll go into depth about how excessive yawning, tongue displays, the tongue jut and more can reveal everything at the poker table. For now, trust your eyes. They’ll explain your opponent’s entire story if you’re willing to listen to them.