Gambling/General : Who Decodes Poker Faces

Joe Navarro, who was a Special Agent with the FBI for 25 years is studying and interpreting the behavior of spies and terrorists during interrogations. His fair expertise continues to be called upon to teach members of the intelligence community. As an adjunct faculty member at the FBI's Counterintelligence Division, he is recognized as one of the leading experts in the world on the non-verbal communications that human beings reveal when they are not telling the truth.

Filming "More Than Human", a Discovery Channel special, titled with poker professional Annie Duke, Navarro discovered that his knowledge and skills could also be applied to "reading" the physical communicative behavior revealed by card players and how that knowledge could work to their opponents' advantage. These circumstances flourished into Navarro's own poker Website (navarropoker.com) and a book done in conjunction with 10-time World Series of Poker champion Phil Helmuth titled Read 'Em and Reap, with the subtitle "A Career FBI Agent's Guide to Decoding Poker Tells".

More over, Navarro became an instructor with the new World Series of Poker Academy, which makes its next stop at Caesar's Indiana in downstate Elizabeth April 7 and 8. He'll be accompanied by 2004 World Series of Poker Main Event champion Greg Raymer, two-time WSOP event winner Scott Fischman and the famous professional poker player and instructor Alex Outhred.

The two-day academy is specifically planned for poker players who want to take their game to the next level. Participants will receive the expert instruction from the professional players and also they'll get rare insight into the emotional and psychological dynamics of the game. At that ultimate part Special Agent Navarro is the trainer. He underlines that non-verbal behaviors don't change. The process seems to be the same the same even if you're playing poker or you're interviewing a terrorist. At the academy the theoretical with the practical are combined and give insight into the science of how the brain works and how that translates into non-verbal behavior.

Navarro, who recognizes that everyone discloses readable behaviors, warns that in the world of poker, pros have mastered the ability to undercover some of those behaviors. As an example, he described a technique that Phil Helmuth is using and many more pros are following: "You sit at the table in a sort of ‘balanced’ position from which you bring your hands together in front of your mouth and your thumbs hold up your chin. Your elbows are on the table and you're looking down. From this position you make all your decisions and is the position you use to view others. In this way is very tough fop someone to read your face because you're blocking most of your face, you're blocking your neck, and you're controlling your hands."

The approaching WSOP Academy at Caesars Indiana is the only Midwest stop organized this year. Another one is set for July in Las Vegas at Caesars Palace. It will offer to participants the opportunity to test their skills against some of the world's top players under tournament conditions and have a chance to win an entry into the World Series of Poker Main Event in Las Vegas, including all expenses, hotel and airfare.