Stare downs

Just curious what you guys do when you put a player all in and he/she is thinking of calling. Do you stare that player down? Do you shoot looks while perhaps looking straight down? Do you never look them in the eyes?

It is probably most important to do the same thing everytime. I like to grab about 10 chips and shuffle, or other simple tricks while occasionally shooting a look at the player. But mostly looking at the chips I am shuffling or right infront of me at the table. I try to do this everytime. I try my best to make no sudden movements (especially eye movement) when they are either grabbing chips to call or about to muck their cards.

Also, I find myself staring a player down when they put me all in but rarely do I see anything that makes my mind up... I just try to do the usual thinking of whether I am ahead or behind and the odds, etc...

this situation really depends on the player. I would say most of the time I try to show as little emotion as possible. But there are times when I do certain things, both subtile and exagerated, to provoke the action I want (usually based on the expierience and skill of the player I'm up against). For example, if I have a made hand, I may look at the players chip stack before pushing in (especially if they have fewer chips than me). This may entice the shorter stack to believe that I'm simply bullying them around, and they may call me with a weaker hand than they would normally.
In general, though, your better players will not give in to this type of action. So if you are playing at a table that has a lot of skill around it, it would serve you well to show as little as possible (whether you want a call or not).

I usually do have a stack of chips in my hand and am shuffling them, but I do it all the time naturally, but when I'm all in first, I pick a spot away from the table to stare at, be it a wall or chair or whatever. And I always know exactly how many chips I have so I can fire that information off without blinking if the question comes. If I'm the caller, I always ask for a chip count, I want to hear their voice, I want to see if their hands are shaky, I want to check out their body language as much as possible and hopefully be able to use that information to call or fold. Unless I have the nuts, then I just make them sweat a little and windmill my hand onto the table.

A lot of my friends say that when I look at them it shows them the weakness in my eyes, so now I basically just shuffle a set amount of chips. You always want to shuffle a set amount, because some will pick up on the amount of chips. ALways remember reverse and double reverse psychology, even though double reverse is the same thing as what you would normally do. If you mix it up on a guy, he'll be unsure of himself and will be likely to muck em

The key with stare downs, like any other tell is not to give away you hand whether being called or making the call. I find most people will stare down with they are bluffing or when they are solid, but not both. So once you build a stradegy around your opponent you recognize the tells that they give you.

I remember watching the WPT on tv, one guy went all in, and the other was staring him down. I have no idea what there names were, but one of the guys put his jacket over his head, zipped it up, and waited for the player to make his decision. I thought it was funny, but it actually probably was the best thing he could do. The oponent couldnt see his eyes, face, or hand movements.

if you have a good hand, I say, either dont look at them or stare them down and challenge them. If you dont look at them, they might think you are bluffing. If you challenge them, they will probably think you are trying to act like you have the hand and call you. but if you are bluffing, I donno.

I try to be consistent. Being inconsistent can provide a tell for my opponent. For instance, I stare them down when I am on a semi-bluff flush draw and want them to fold. Also, I think it is a good idea to always watch your opponent, so I look at him just to see how he is acting, for future reference.

It depends if you are online or live. If I am online, then I don't do anyhting. some poer sites don't even let you type anything in anyways if someone is allin. If I am live though, I try to make a face that tells the player nothing about what I have.