Let's talk about sunglasses at the table (1 Viewer)

Taghkanic said:
It goes without saying that anytime you’re trying to profile a player at your table, it has to be weighed against how they actually play.

Sometimes the 80-year-old lady with an air tank turns out to be a really sharp bluffer. Sometimes the guy in business casual wearing a Rolex playing 1/2 isn’t there for a bachelor party. Sometimes the Eastern European kid with a hoodie isn’t an online grinder, and turns out to be a money scared nit.

But you start with base assumptions, refine them by how they look and what they say, and then watch how they actually play.

Sunglasses guys: Usually bad recs, until proven otherwise.
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This is a lesson.

Sure, first impressions (age, clothes, alcohol, etc) are solid, but not always 100% accurate. If it's the first orbit and you find yourself in a tight spot, I may defer to these first impressions - because that is all I have at this point. But this isn't where your read stops, it's just where it starts.

I'm not a razor-sharp poker player. It takes me time to read my opponents. In order to do so, I will pick out one or two that stand out. Players that play a lot of hands, or wears something that draws my attention (sunglasses for example). I focus on them, their reactions to how hands play out, how much attention they are paying to the table vs their phone. I get to know my opponents, as best I can, frequently without talking to them.

So in a way, I can say (opponents) playing with sunglasses on is helpful because I am amassing more information from you than any other player at the table.

Unless a busty young woman sits... then I'm focusing on them. :watching:;)
 
So... If wearing sunglasses is a surefire way of showing someone you're weak, why aren't more people wearing them for misdirection?
 
Ok, I'll admit it. I wear sunglasses occasionally when I play with my regular group (we've been playing together for 20+ years). That is only because we are a bunch of goofs and I've already got a pretty good read on all the players.
 
My grandfather in his 80s and 90s often wore these wraparound anti-glare sunglasses, which fit over normal prescription frames. When I get (even) older I might have to wear some of these at the tables:

https://www.lowvisionglasses.org/3000g-over-glasses-uv-protection-in-green/


big pa glasses.jpg
 
Tha
Taghkanic said:
My grandfather in his 80s and 90s often wore these wraparound anti-glare sunglasses, which fit over normal prescription frames....
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Fwiw, those are routinely given out to eyeglass-wearing patients immediately following eye surgery.
 
I will wear sunglasses at the table:
  • to mock someone else wearing sunglasses at the table.
  • to shield my eyes from bright lights if I have a bad headache.
  • as a gag, usually combined with a hood over my head and a bandanna tied around my face.
That's pretty much it. I'd be lying if I said I never tried to wear them at the table as a sort of "tell deflector," but that was a million years ago (and I took them off as soon as I realized I looked like a jackass and I was having a hard time seeing the cards).
 
I played in an 8 handed 1/2 game last night and I was the only one without sunglasses. I was also the biggest winner.
 
Jimulacrum said:
I will wear sunglasses at the table:
  • to mock someone else wearing sunglasses at the table.
  • to shield my eyes from bright lights if I have a bad headache.
  • as a gag, usually combined with a hood over my head and a bandanna tied around my face.
That's pretty much it. I'd be lying if I said I never tried to wear them at the table as a sort of "tell deflector," but that was a million years ago (and I took them off as soon as I realized I looked like a jackass and I was having a hard time seeing the cards).
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Lol, we had a "cool" :cool: player who insisted on wearing sunglasses at our games, and would actually lift them up each and every time the flop, turn, and river cards were dealt.

Not only did the glasses NOT disguise his eyes (or his reaction to the cards dealt), but they actually caused him to give off MORE tells, while also spotlighting them with his methodical process of looking at what he otherwise could not see.

Poor guy got crushed, but provided the table with much entertainment. :)
 
Poker Zombie said:
If you go straight from eye-surgery to a smokey casino... you may be a degen.
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I was once in a poker room when someone had a heart attack. As the guy was being wheeled out on the stretcher, he could be heard loudly arguing that he was “fine” and should be allowed to go back to his table.

This, too, may be a sign of a gambling problem.
 
When I was about 18-19 years old I went to a WWF show and bought the Bret “the Hitman” Hart sunglasses. Later that week, as I was driving down the road these girls started hootin’ and hollering at me and told me they liked my Bret the hitman Hart glasses. I was instantly embarrassed and stopped wearing them after that. I think someone should wear a pair of these in the next WSOP.
D284676F-662E-4228-A2FE-75B7E3B8AEC8.jpeg
 
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ranger764 said:
When I was about 18-19 years old I went to a WWF show and bought the Bret “the Hitman” Hart sunglasses. Later that week, as I was driving down the road these girls started hootin’ and hollering at me and told me they liked my Bret the hitman Hart glasses. I was instantly embarrassed and stopped wearing them after that.
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Anything that gets girls hootin' and hollering at you at age 18-19 is probably worth sticking with.
 
I’m not really for any kind of rules that would tell players what they can and can’t wear. A guy could show up in a chicken suit for all I care.

As far as saying it’s “allowable” only at high stakes doesn’t hold water for me either. YMMV as to what “high stakes” actually means. There was times in my early years where the $20 buy in was the only $20 I had.
 
BeesKnees said:
I’m not really for any kind of rules that would tell players what they can and can’t wear. A guy could show up in a chicken suit for all I care.
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100% agreed - I don't give a damn what you wear to my home game as long as it covers the parts of your body that I really don't want to be looking at. The problem I have with sunglasses, hoodies, earbuds, etc. at the poker table is that this type of apparel is used to "hide tells," which for some people means "be as anti-social as possible."

Do this all you want in the casino, I couldn't care less if I'm just there to take your money. But my home games are social events, and if you're not interacting with the group and trying to have fun, you're probably not going to get invited back.
 
Schmendr1ck said:
100% agreed - I don't give a damn what you wear to my home game as long as it covers the parts of your body that I really don't want to be looking at. The problem I have with sunglasses, hoodies, earbuds, etc. at the poker table is that this type of apparel is used to "hide tells," which for some people means "be as anti-social as possible."

Do this all you want in the casino, I couldn't care less if I'm just there to take your money. But my home games are social events, and if you're not interacting with the group and trying to have fun, you're probably not going to get invited back.
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Agreed. Rules that dictate style choices are a bad idea, but at the end of the day, it's the host's job to curate the game via invitee choices. Players who take the game too seriously, only care about the money, don't socialize, and obsess about concealing every tell (real or perceived) just aren't good for a friendly, active home game. That seat would be put to better use with someone who wants to be there to enjoy the game and the people in it.

They're honestly shitty for a casino game too, but of course no one's curating that player base. I'll totally ask for a table change if I find myself at a table with too many of these miserable characters. Their bad vibe can quickly spread and leave everyone feeling a little grim.
 
Schmendr1ck said:
The problem I have with sunglasses, hoodies, earbuds, etc. at the poker table is that this type of apparel is used to "hide tells," which for some people means "be as anti-social as possible."
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Jimulacrum said:
Players who take the game too seriously, only care about the money, don't socialize, and obsess about concealing every tell (real or perceived) just aren't good for a friendly, active home game.
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So it’s fair to say that the real problem is the anti social behaviour and not the sunglasses and hoodies. The only two players we have that regularly wear sunglasses are definitely on the friendly and social side of the group.

From the posts I’ve read here it seems nobody really has a problem with sunglasses but more the people behind them.
 

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