Can Aspies win at poker?

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To win a poker, you have to remember cards and calculate odds, but you also do much better if you can read subtle body language called "tells" to help guess what other players have. Has anyone here tried it?

I won my first ever, game of poker.

I just smiled when I wanted to win and had bad cards or frowned when I had good cards and wanted other people to place high bets.

I've never played poker, but I think the "tells" wouldn't be hard for me but calculating the odds would be.

I believe some Aspies may have an advantage at poker while some a disadvantage - pretty much like NT's.

I've only played poker online and never for real money - I'm an average player , it's easy to go 'all in' when the money is not real. I've played blackjack at a casino and found the house always wins

I always gave my hand away at cards because I smile when I get a Good one....more rummy than poker though

Win occasionally? Of course.

Excel at it?

Hard to say.

A group of MIT math nerds formed a team to count cards in blackjack, and for a while made tons of money at Vegas and Atlantic city before the Casinos got wise their nerdy real life Ocean's Eleven scheme. John Cusack starred in the straight to vid move "21" based on it.

Stereotypically aspies should be good at counting cards in blackjack, but suck at poker. Suck at poker because we aspies suck at "reading peoples faces" .

And we probably also suck at "knowing when to walk away...and knowing when to run" Sorry. Cant help myself.



I do okay when I play with my gf and her aging mom. But its a kinda simplified form of poker. Its not balls-to-the-wall professional poker for money. Likewise online poker isnt real poker. Real poker is in real life and is face to face. It combines the abstract intellectual ability of chess with reading people, and picking up on bluff, and so forth. The latter being what aspies are supposed to be bad at.

But even then thats a stereotype. Aspies can learn to read expressions. The above poster said he simply learned to smile when he has a bad hand and scowl when he has good hands. Thats enough to win against most amateurs. And aspies might be able to capitalize on their very guilessness. I fool some NTs in conversation by simply ...telling the truth. And they never believe me. You might be able to get folks to think you're bluffing by just not bluffing.

I win at poker; not all the time, but often enough to get re-invited to play by the same people.  I think it is because of my immobility, flat affect, and monotone voice; no one can tell whether or not I am bluffing because they do not see any "tells".  I just it there, stare at my cards, and either call, check, or fold -- seemingly at random.

I've never played poker. I don't think I've got a poker face to be honest.

Never tried it, but I bet I'd suck. My face is like another being, completely uninfluenced by me, and instead changing automatically and very quickly depending on the outside environment. Of course, I can change it if I think about it, mainly just to communicate without speaking, or to seem funny.
Me and my sister used to play cards a lot, however I lost 10 dollars and a pack of sour punch straws while gambling against her (she always wins), and haven't done it since.

isn't it a bit like acting? it is not the same of course but it is not a normal social situation.
why would a poker be anything like a normal social situation? but even then we have different normal social situations and some are easier than others.
With acting I think the body language is less subtle (at least older acting). I guess the body language in poker would be a bit different than that but still not as subtle as in other situations.
I really like your question. It is a very good one. I would also like to know how body language in poker can be easier than body language in other situations.


"i play hold'em, my aspergers bodylanguage helps to improve my pokerface, and my training in reading NTs helps to pierce that of my opponents; i typically walk away with a profit (though i rarely win, the 1-on-1 'heads-up' still is too hard for me, oh well, 2nd place also wins)"
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I have been reasonably successful at acting. When we were young, my sister was trying to guess what present I had bought her. She knew I was honest, and after I'd said no to a half-dozen queries, I realized that just by the process of elimination, she was very likely to guess right before long. So, I just looked stricken, hesitated and said "Maybe" for the next guess, and she stopped asking. However, I very often miss other people's cues.

I know very little about poker, and card playing, and card gambling in general.

But number one, some of us, actually can read body language, social cues, comprehend, "black and white responses". Just fine. Problem is for some of us, myself included at times, we over indulge in that. For example, in a strange paradox, we might catch it faster, or stronger. Another player might ask, why I'm being quiet and soft-spoken, whenever I play a hand, and he's doing that, because he knows I'm not gonna give him hell back, and make him sorry for saying that etc., and I can respond by saying, "Why do you look like a Happy Days reject?" etc. Which is why I think a lot of atypical, and autistic people make great comedians, or jokers etc. So yeah.

So, I just wanted to dispel, and debunk the, "we can't gather social cues" category. As yes, sometimes we cannot. Although no, at times we surely can, and not only that, we can probably

But half of poker, and I argue that majority of being good at poker is bluffing. Basically acting like you have a Royal Flush, when actually you have a 3 of clubs, and 2 of hearts. Basically a worthless hand. But the other guys at the table, are unaware of this, so you have to bet, and push accordingly, and bluff, and go all in, accordingly, so the other players get scared, because the hand the dealer completes, may go in your favor anyways, etc. lol. So yeah.

That's my thing on Poker. Don't ask me anything else, because as I said, I don't know much about Poker, but I do know some stuff, and yeah. That's all you're getting. lol. Thank you.

I can win at online poker (if I haven't played it for a while). But if I continue to play it over and over again, impatience and frustration eventually begins to creep in and I start losing, a lot.

Face to face poker, you can forget that.

I’m not an Aspie, just autistic. One of my current special interests is card games, and I’ve been getting very good at poker (and blackjack) strategically. I am too nervous to approach a table of strangers to play for money but I’d like to try it among friends first. I think I would succeed.

I have before. a few times. I seem to "automatically" calculate the odds and just seem to "get the answer" in my mind. Thats if it is a nice calm game and environment. if its not, all of that goes out the window, and i get irritated, cannot think, cannot process the game, i don't even know when it is my turn, and i simply get up and leave, or make excuses to go to the bathroom for extended periods of time.

Can Aspies win at poker?

I wouldn't bet on it.