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- Jun 30, 1998
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- Bierland
Interesting article about tells...
Former FBI spycatcher eyes poker players
NEW YORK (AP) -- As an FBI spy catcher, Joseph Navarro could identify traitors through their subtle behavioral tics -- even something as simple as a squint could be a giveaway.
Former FBI agent Joe Navarro speaks to reporters during a simulated poker game with them in New York.
These days, Navarro brings his investigator's eye to the poker table, where a bite of the lip or tilt of the head can signal a straight flush or a stone bluff. Navarro shares his decoding techniques with players eager for an edge in the world of professional poker.
"Poker players lie all the time," Navarro says. "They pretend they are strong when they are weak or weak when they are strong. The truth is they can all be read. You can have a poker face, but I've yet to see someone with a poker body."
In the poker world, the giveaways are called "tells" -- gestures that signal a player's confidence or discomfort. Navarro's first career made him uniquely qualified for his current job as an instructor at the World Series of Poker Academy.
While working espionage cases with the FBI for more than a quarter-century, he became a world-renowned expert in non-verbal behavior. He participated in virtually every U.S. spy investigation between 1993 and 2003, including those of notorious moles Aldrich Ames and Robert Hansen.
The 58-year-old was eight when he fled Cuba with his family following the 1961 Bay of Pigs invasion. They settled in Florida, and he became an American citizen at 18.
Navarro retired from the FBI in 2003, although he continues to train FBI and CIA agents on interrogation and on habits of spies and terrorists.
Navarro says his skill at deciphering body language in spies is easily applied to poker. Both are games of subterfuge and raw, primitive passion. A poker player, like a spy, telegraphs self-assurance or self-doubt through subconscious body language, he notes.
"When you are feeling good -- or have a monster hand -- your body will manifest what it feels," he says. "You get happy feet. Your feet begin to bounce up and down like a kid going to Disney World."
And the opposite: negativity comes out through pursed lips, a crinkled nose, squinty eyes. "We squint at things we don't like," Navarro says, referencing Clint Eastwood's taciturn gunslinger from his spaghetti Western phase.
More here:
Former FBI spycatcher eyes poker players
NEW YORK (AP) -- As an FBI spy catcher, Joseph Navarro could identify traitors through their subtle behavioral tics -- even something as simple as a squint could be a giveaway.
Former FBI agent Joe Navarro speaks to reporters during a simulated poker game with them in New York.
These days, Navarro brings his investigator's eye to the poker table, where a bite of the lip or tilt of the head can signal a straight flush or a stone bluff. Navarro shares his decoding techniques with players eager for an edge in the world of professional poker.
"Poker players lie all the time," Navarro says. "They pretend they are strong when they are weak or weak when they are strong. The truth is they can all be read. You can have a poker face, but I've yet to see someone with a poker body."
In the poker world, the giveaways are called "tells" -- gestures that signal a player's confidence or discomfort. Navarro's first career made him uniquely qualified for his current job as an instructor at the World Series of Poker Academy.
While working espionage cases with the FBI for more than a quarter-century, he became a world-renowned expert in non-verbal behavior. He participated in virtually every U.S. spy investigation between 1993 and 2003, including those of notorious moles Aldrich Ames and Robert Hansen.
The 58-year-old was eight when he fled Cuba with his family following the 1961 Bay of Pigs invasion. They settled in Florida, and he became an American citizen at 18.
Navarro retired from the FBI in 2003, although he continues to train FBI and CIA agents on interrogation and on habits of spies and terrorists.
Navarro says his skill at deciphering body language in spies is easily applied to poker. Both are games of subterfuge and raw, primitive passion. A poker player, like a spy, telegraphs self-assurance or self-doubt through subconscious body language, he notes.
"When you are feeling good -- or have a monster hand -- your body will manifest what it feels," he says. "You get happy feet. Your feet begin to bounce up and down like a kid going to Disney World."
And the opposite: negativity comes out through pursed lips, a crinkled nose, squinty eyes. "We squint at things we don't like," Navarro says, referencing Clint Eastwood's taciturn gunslinger from his spaghetti Western phase.
More here:
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