Do you think poker players are cool or nerds? It’s not always easy to tell.

Back in the day they most definitely had a reputation for being cool, and this was also part of the essential bluff. Remember the scene in Cool Hand Luke, where the eponymous character keeps repeating “Kick a buck”? Paul Newman was undeniably cool as a cucumber because he simply didn’t care whether he won or lost. But he won anyway, this was after all an American movie where the cool, good-looking guy wins. He would undoubtedly have “got the gal” too, but it was a prison movie.

Since poker has become more popular over the last ten years or so, with the advent of major online tournaments, you can’t help but think that many players are trying a bit too hard to be cool, and failing very badly.

It seems essential to wear any combination of the following at a poker table: a hoodie, sunglasses, a Stetson hat, a baseball cap (preferably styled back to front), a beanie hat, and something a bit wacky to make you stand out from the rest. It’s also essential to try and look mean and cool, carefully weighing the possibilities of everything about the game.
Now some of these players are real, but others are most definitely nerds who are trying way too hard. Many also look distinctly unhealthy and, consequently, wear very baggy tops. It’s almost as if they’ve spent too long sitting in chairs in darkened smoke-filled rooms…

In the coolness stakes though you quickly get to sort the wheat from the chaff if you watch any of these poker tournaments online, but this isn’t always about who wins. You can be a genuine nerd and still be successful. In fact, it probably helps. In real life, the game of poker isn’t always won by the “Cool Hand Luke” character, but by the nerd who calls his bluff on a mathematical formulaic basis and who is blissfully unaware of whether he or she is cool or not.

Some of the best players today seem to combine these two types of personality, and refreshingly there are an increasing number of female players. UK player Sinem Melin (interestingly named ‘Sin’ for short) was recently featured in The Independent having been successful in getting Full Tilt Poker sponsorship.

Melin is certainly no nerd, but nor does she try too hard to be cool either. She reached the final tables of both the UKIPT Brighton Main Event in 2011 and the GUKPT London Main Event last year. She signed on with Full Tilt as an ambassador in the summer of 2013 along with Ben Jenkins, Martins Adeniya and Ireland’s Dermot Blain.

Melin has explained how her down-to-earth personality actually helps her game as it gains the opponents’ trust, which means she can get away with more bluffs. This in itself is sort of cool by not trying to be cool, which is doubly confusing!