Three tips to mastering the art of b.s.
By Jennifer Newell
Photograph courtesy of Rob Gracie
We’ll be honest: Gambling isn’t our strongest skill. In fact, if we last more than seven minutes at the blackjack table without blowing our entire budget for the night, we’re doing really well. So when Riverfront Times sales rep Dan Nassif turned out to be a poker phenom and took ninth place at the World Series of Poker earlier this summer, we thought, “Here’s our chance to learn when to hold ’em and when to fold ’em.”
Despite banking $1.5 million, Nassif is adamant that he doesn’t want his life to change—but he can’t keep us from filing him in our list of sources under the heading “card sharking and such.” As he was counting his stacks, we called him and asked for a little advice on the art of bluffing. This is what he told us:
You don’t need an ace in the hole, but you better at least have a decent pair every once in a while. “Show that you have good cards sometimes,” Nassif suggests. “You can’t just be betting and betting with nothing all the time—people aren’t going to believe your bluff.”
No pouting, no sighing and, for the love of one-eyed jacks, no dancing in your seat. “Don’t change your body language when you have good cards or bad cards,” he warns. “Stay on an even keel.”
Money talks—and it also psychs out the tough guys who want to make you look like a chump. “Bet the correct amount,” Nassif suggests. “Bet enough so that people won’t call you with their mediocre hands.”
