/ Matthew Pitt / 01 February 2012 / Leave a Comment 
Poker players instinctively freeze when bluffing.
The bluffer freezes in a vain attempt to go unnoticed by his opponents, just as you would do if a ferocious dog escaped from its garden and decided you were its lunch.
Most people have heard of the term "fight-or-flight" at least once in their lives. It is used to describe how animals and humans react when faced with immediate danger or threats, we either run away (flight) or stand toe-to-toe with our adversary (fight), or at least that is what most people think.
What these people fail to realise is there is actually another "F-word" thrown into the equation and that is Freeze. Since the very first human to present day man the very first reaction to danger is to completely freeze, not move, and hope that whatever the danger is does not see you. If a snarling dog jumps out of a garden whilst you are walking past your first reaction, the one you've not even had to think about, your instinct it to freeze. Admittedly within seconds you are probably thinking about running off or at the very least praying you are not about to be savaged by the angry beast stood there in front of you. But even for a split second your instinct is to freeze.
"I'm Not Here. You Can't See Me!"
You see this all of the time at the poker tables across the world, players suddenly freezing, becoming statuesque in an attempt not to give off any tells about the strength of their hand, but what they fail to realise when they lock up is they are often giving off a quite reliable tell that they are not in possession of a hand nearly as strong as they are trying to make you believe they have, they will be bluffing a large percentage of the time.
This is because the person running the bluff knows they have a weak hand and that they have chips invested in the pot and they find this threatening. After all, if their opponent calls they are almost always going to be beaten and they stand to lose the chips already in the pot and if it is a significant percentage of their stack they could even jeopardise their chances of winning the tournament or even make it through to the money places. The bluffer freezes in a vain attempt to go unnoticed by his opponents, just as you would do if a ferocious dog escaped from its garden and decided you were its lunch.
Out Of Character
The tell becomes more accurate if the player suddenly freezes, even for just a few moments, after making a bet and that player is usually one for looking around the table, tapping his leg, riffling his chips or any other sort of movement when he is playing. Some players become all too aware that they are no longer acting how they usually do and will go back to riffling chips, drumming their fingers etc but for two or three seconds they may have sat completely stoic, completely out of character.
The next time you are playing some poker in your local card room or casino and see an opponent freeze up, even if you are not in the hand with them, watch carefully as to what hand they eventually show down. Use this natural response to danger to aid your decision making because when it is combined with other observations you have made it can become a stone-cold and damning tell that the vast majority of people have little or no control over.
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