We watched The Brothers Bloom(2008) today (7.4/10 on imdb), an intuitive con story, which reminded me of how important it can be to keep a pokerface in certain situations. So below are a few tips to refrain your face & body from giving away hints of what you think when you are making strategic moves.
Disclaimer: Pokerface can be vital or lethal depending on the situation, do not use if you don't know the difference in between.
1. Prerequisite: Stand in front of a mirror. Think of different possibilities that could happen and watch how your face changes depending on your emotional deviances. You can even record a video to observe more closely. Now to make a pokerface, relax all your face muscles one by one, starting with the forehead. Instead of forcing yourself to hang on to one expression, delete your expression all together. It's much more easier and stress-free. Now rehearse: think of the same possibilities again by keeping your face muscles relaxed and show no emotion at all.
2. When it's on, be extremely consistent with your mood, voice and body language. Any significant change would be a hint that "something's going on". Raising your eyebrows, holding your breath, sighing, re-adjusting your position in the chair, anything! You don't want to get that attention. Being rude or too kind would be perceived as unnatural and theatrical too, so stay somewhere in between. Don't hesitate, be calm and make smooth movements. Take invisible deep breaths to achieve that flow. Imagine a refreshing/easygoing friend is in the room with you if you have trouble with relaxing. Overcoming stress is much easier with this kind of visual aid.
3. Form straight sentences and be careful with your pronunciation. Use dots, not exclamation points or question marks. Making -surely logical- statements will help you exercise authority and hide any vulnerability. Question the questions that you don't want to answer.
4. If you need to increase your dominance, watch the other party closely and if you find something that makes them uneasy (like pushy questions), big or small, do it. This will keep their mind busy and stop them from observing you for a while.
5. If there is something that makes you uneasy, think of a way to ward it off beforehand in case someone tries to take advantage.
6. Keep the eye contact to avoid giving the impression that you're bluffing; but don't overdo it. Cut the eye contact and look away if you want the other party to believe himself/herself to be superior for a while... Try not to blink. If you want to excel further, there are also tricks to adjusting your pupil size that spread out subconscious signs.
7. Don't stick to the pokerface for too long or you may loose the advantage gained if the other party quits the whole thing earlier than expected due to your androidness.
