You can't deny it, but acting is one of the skills of playing live poker -- in cash or ring games and in tournaments. When your opponents see you acting they can be reading your "tells." If you are a good actor they can't see your tells. But good actors give off tells even when you don't think you are giving off tells.
One of the masters at reading tells and players is Daniel Negreanu. One of the reasons why Dan strikes up a conversation with players before a game starts and during a game is to find out who you are, what your profession is, and from that he is likely to get a "read" on your acting ability or your "tells."
I played with Dan once in a World Poker Tour event -- this was about six years ago. "What do you do?" he asked. "I'm in TV news." That told him everything he needed to know.
What he didn't know at the time is that WPT tournament was the very first poker tournament I had ever played in. I was invited because it was a WPT Celebrity Fundraiser tournament and I was one of the "celebrities" invited. The regular list of pros were there and they sat me at a table with five of the big name pros -- I guess I was the sacrificial lamb. In fact, it was the first time in my life I had ever sat at a real live poker table. I had played online a few times in "free tournaments" but never in a real tournament and never for real money. (I outlasted Daniel Negreanu in that tourney, by the way. And that amazed me.)
Negreanu also talked with the other players he didn't know already. He is friendly and charming -- an all around "nice guy" -- but he is getting information from every conversation. He's a very, very smart player.
Over the years I've picked up how people act or perform, and I've read a few books about tells and acting at poker.
Are you a good actor or performer? I'm pretty bad at it. I'm too honest. When someone asks me if I have AK I say "yes." What they don't know is that sometimes I say yes when the answer is really "no."
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