There are many advantages to playing online poker rather than the land based version. Convenience is perhaps the most obvious one but another has been highlighted this week after some ground breaking research.

Canadian professors and researchers claim that they can spot even the hardest of Poker faces using a technique which monitors even the slightest movement in your face which they call ‘micro expressions’.

While we may not readily spot the signs, it seems that each of us show ‘micro expressions’ in a split second, reflecting what we have just seen, though about or experienced.

A nervous twitch, flushed cheeks or even something as small as an itchy earlobe, can give away your inner thoughts.

In online poker this is obviously not detected making it easier to bluff and your chances of success greater.

So can you control your micro expressions?

The research shows that even the hardest of Poker faces are not able to control these flash expressions which are automatically instigated by the brain as soon as something happens.

It seems as though something as subtle as the blink of an eye, an itchy thumb or a twitchy foot can give away you thoughts and more importantly your Poker hand. So can you hide your micro expressions?

This research may go some way to explain why so many of the professional Poker stars of today often use glasses to hide their eyes and keep their inner feelings from those at the table.

Online poker and gambling in general has grown in popularity in the UK over the last year with the introduction of the smoking ban driving people away from casinos in large numbers.

From the comfort of their own homes, players can now have a game of poker, smoke their cigarettes if they so choose and not be afraid that ‘micro expressions’ will give them away.

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