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BASICS OF BLUFFING FOR WOMEN

According to the scientists, it is harder for women to conceal emotion. On the other hand, lying requires using three parts of the brain and telling the truth uses only one. And, of course, women are better at "multi-tasking" because men's thinking is compartmentalized-they have a harder time using multiple parts of their brains at once. Again, women can benefit from this!

Consider the lie detector test, or polygraph exam. They measure our physiological responses to lying. When people tell lies, something primal is triggered in our brains that says we've done wrong. The results?

Our hearts beat faster, our palms sweat more, we breathe more rapidly, and our blood pressure raises. When hooked up to a polygraph machine, the examiner will ask you a question, then wait 30 seconds after your answer before moving on to the next question. Why? So it can give your mind a chance to "panic" after possibly telling a lie. During that "panic," the polygraph will see your physiological responses that are congruent with lying.

The solution is simple-tell your brain that the question you really answered no to was, "Is my name Jeff?" Your brain will not trigger its traditional response to lying if it doesn't think it is lying. So, when you're trying to pull off a killer bluff, tell yourself over and over again in your head, "I have the nuts. I have the nuts. I have the nuts," or, better yet, think about what's on your grocery list or what you're going to do tomorrow. In an article entitled How to Cheat a Polygraph, it is recommended to do complex math in your head as a distraction. Your hands will stop shaking, your cheeks won't get red, the vein in your neck won't throb visibly.

NUT & BOLTTS OF PULLING OFF A BELIEVABLE BLUFF

If you were going to lie to your boss about why you called in sick yesterday, you'd have a well-thought out plan. You'd pick the right day. In fact, you might even plant the seeds of the story before you called in sick by telling everyone how lousy you felt the day before your "day off." The same simple concepts apply to poker bluffing.

Traditional male masters of poker say a true, fearless bluffer is measured by his/her ability to "fire the third bullet" (meaning the ability to make one last big bet after the river card). We're women! We work smarter, not harder! Most traditional poker strategy focuses on mastering "the symptoms" of bluffing, rather than mastering "the cause" (practice showing no emotion, etc).

If you follow the advice

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