History Main / NoPokerFace

* ''Manga/ShinozakisanKiWoOtaShikaNi'': In chapter 36, Akina and friends are playing Old Maid with an anime-themed deck. At first, Akina thinks it'll be easy since Kaede has no poker face. But she draws the joker anyway because she was distracted by how cute Kaede is. Once she sees the joker is am anime character vomiting, she finds herself unable to keep a poker face either.

* ''LightNovel/InvadersOfTheRokujyouma'': The intro features all the housemates playing a game of cards. The main character figures out which card to pluck from perpetual frowner Yurika based on which one makes her cry when he reaches for it.

* In ''LightNovel/NoGameNoLife'', this is one of the reasons why Stephanie Dola is so terrible at games as her face reveals everything. Unfortunately for her, she's constantly at the mercy of Sora who specialises in reading people.

* ''Manga/YuuutsuKunToSuccubusSan'': Eru the angel is unable to maintain her expression in any way during a game of Old Maid with Sakuma. Sakuma, being a demon, is much more proficient than Eru. However, while her Poker ''Face'' is excellent, her Poker ''Wings'' leave much to be desired, as Eru's attempts to pick a card elicit either dead silence or frantic flapping.

* Hiroki, the [[TransparentCloset "probably" gay]] son in ''Manga/IThinkOurSonIsGay'', can't hide his sexuality without turning into a stuttering mess and his face turning red as a beet.

* ''Manga/MyMonsterSecret'': The EstablishingCharacterMoment for main character Asahi, the world's worst liar, is him attempting to bluff his way through a game of old maid. It doesn't work.
* ''LightNovel/InvadersOfTheRokujyouma'': The intro features all the housemates playing a game of cards. The main character figures out which card to pluck from perpetual frowner Yurika based on which one makes her cry when he reaches for it.
* ''Manga/DontBecomeAnOtakuShinozakiSan'': In chapter 36, Akina and friends are playing Old Maid with an anime-themed deck. At first, Akina thinks it'll be easy since Kaede has no poker face. But she draws the joker anyway because she was distracted by how cute Kaede is. Once she sees the joker is am anime character vomiting, she finds herself unable to keep a poker face either.

* In ''Literature/AccelWorld'', Kuroyukihime, [[EntertaininglyWrong piecing together several different clues, comes to the erroneous conclusion that Chiyu, whom she's just met, is actually Cyan Pile, the Burst Linker stalking her for the point bounty]]. In response, Haru claims that Chiyu, his long-time ChildhoodFriend, isn't capable of that, since, among other things, "Everything she's thinking shows up on her face and in her attitude." While Haru's ultimately right, [[spoiler:Chiyu is later able to trick Nomi, staying with him until she gets enough levels to unlock the ability to take back Haru's wings for him, so perhaps she's a better actor than he thought.]]

* In ''Series/BrooklynNineNine'', Terry has a tell in which he flexes his biceps whenever he has a good hand.
* ''Series/CriminalMinds'': Garcia knows how to play poker, as in which hands are better than others, but she doesn't understand the point of betting or a poker face. When she gets her cards, she scowls and demands "Seriously?" to Rossi's amusement.

* ''Series/{{Jessica Jones|2015}}'': In the sixth episode of season 1, Kilgrave is playing Texas Hold 'Em against some men implied to be gangsters, reacts to a useless hand with an "ugh" face, and visibly pulls back. One of his opponents says that he should work on the poker face. However, it turns out he's not planning to win [[MindRape fairly]].
* In ''Series/TheGeorgeLopezShow'', Ernie is pointed out to be terrible at poker specifically because any time he gets a good hand, he gets ''[[TheHyena really]]'' [[TheHyena giggly]], a signal to everyone else to fold.

* ''VideoGame/TomodachiLife'' has a mini-game where the the goal is each player takes a turn picking each other's cards until someone makes a pair. When it's your turn to pick, the Mii's expression will change as you hover your icon over their cards. Miis will usually have no poker face (or make the wrong expression) when you are hovering over the winning card, but a Mii can sometime throw you off by using no poker face to hide their losing card.

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[[folder:Web Comics]]

* In ''LightNovel/AccelWorld'', Kuroyukihime, [[EntertaininglyWrong piecing together several different clues, comes to the erroneous conclusion that Chiyu, whom she's just met, is actually Cyan Pile, the Burst Linker stalking her for the point bounty]]. In response, Haru claims that Chiyu, his long-time ChildhoodFriend, isn't capable of that, since, among other things, "Everything she's thinking shows up on her face and in her attitude." While Haru's ultimately right, [[spoiler:Chiyu is later able to trick Nomi, staying with him until she gets enough levels to unlock the ability to take back Haru's wings for him, so perhaps she's a better actor than he thought.]]

* ''Manga/MyMonsterSecret'': The EstablishingCharacterMoment for main character Asahi, the world's worst liar.
* ''LightNovel/InvadersOfTheRokujyouma'': Perpetual frowner Yurika, in the [=OP=].

* ''LightNovel/RebuildWorld'': ZigZagged with Sheryl. She’s a specialized GuileHero, so she must have a good poker face, and she does, to the point of DissonantSerenity… when she’s confident that her LivingEmotionalCrutch Akira has her back. When she’s worrying about losing Akira’s support, Sheryl is like this. Realizing this dependency, Katsuragi, Carol, and Viola tease her over it, though she can still impress them at times.

* In ''Manga/RanmaOneHalf'', Ranma is revealed to be this during the Gambling King Arc. When playing Old Maid, Ranma will get excited when his opposition is about to take the Joker, while looking sad when they pick another card. Ranma is later humorously put through TrainingFromHell to help him get a poker face, only to fail spectacularly. He injures his face so much that it becomes bandaged up and ''even then'', his expressions still come through. Unfortunately for the Gambling King, he also suffers from this -- it takes [[OnlySaneMan Nabiki]] to point it out, but sure enough, once Ranma sees that the Gambling King makes a face better described as "ecstatic" whenever his opponent is about to pick the Joker, the game becomes much easier.

* ''VisualNovel/PhoenixWrightAceAttorneyDualDestinies'', Fineas Filch's body language is very blatant about what he's feeling, which gives players a hint on which statement in his testimony is a lie.

Poker isn't just a game of cards. It's a game of ''wits''. This venerable past-time, played by everyone from lowlife Old West thugs to debonair millionaires, is founded on the ability to read others people's faces and to prevent your own from being read. To scrutinize the slightest nuance in words, eyes, affects. To exercise absolute control over every slight muscle twitch and eye tic. To keep your head under pressure, calculate the odds on the fly, and control your emotions with an iron fist.

These characters couldn't hold a poker face if their life depended on it.

Whenever another character reaches for a card in their hand, they vacillate between anguished cold sweat and an enormous shit-eating grin. Every emotion on their face is broadcasted for all to see, often without them realizing. Oftentimes, the other character will pull a fake-out, pretending to take the ''bad'' card and give the hapless fool a brief moment of elation, only to pluck the good card at the last moment and leave the luckless loser wailing.

* ''LightNovel/Invaders of the Rokujouma'': Perpetual frowner Yurika, in the [=OP=].

Whenever another character reaches for a card in their hand, they vacillate between anguished cold sweat and an enormous shit-eating grin. Every emotion on their face is broadcasted for all to see, often without them realizing.

These characters couldn't hold a poker face if their life depended on it. Every emotion is broadcasted for all to see. They may not even be aware of how readable they are.

* ''VideoGame/LaterAlligator'': The first minigame you play is against Pat's cousin, Slick Mickey. His minigame is a very poor attempt at a ShellGame, in which the player has to find the queen card. If the player moves the cursor towards the queen card, Mickey will shake and sweat. If the player moves the cursor towards the other two cards, Mickey will gain a smug expression.

* ''VideoGame/LaterAlligator'': The first minigame you play is against Pat's cousin, Slick Mickey. His minigame is a very poor attempt at a ShellGame, in which the player has to fin the queen card. If the player moves the cursor towards the queen card, Mickey will shake and sweat. If the player moves the cursor towards the other two cards, Mickey will gain a smug expression.

* In a ''Website/{{Neopets}}'' game that has the opponents' faces as a gameplay mechanic, only ''one'' late-stage player has anything resembling subtlety -- smirking near the corner when he has a strong hand -- and even he has a comically visible reaction when it's not going his way.

comically visible reaction when it's not going his way.

[[folder:Literature]]
* In ''LightNovel/NoGameNoLife'', this is one of the reasons why Stephanie Dola is so terrible at games as her face reveals everything. Unfortunately for her, she's constantly at the mercy of Sora who specialises in reading people.
* In ''LightNovel/AccelWorld'', Kuroyukihime, [[EntertaininglyWrong piecing together several different clues, comes to the erroneous conclusion that Chiyu, whom she's just met, is actually Cyan Pile, the Burst Linker stalking her for the point bounty]]. In response, Haru claims that Chiyu, his long-time ChildhoodFriend, isn't capable of that, since, among other things, "Everything she's thinking shows up on her face and in her attitude." While Haru's ultimately right, [[spoiler:Chiyu is later able to trick Nomi, staying with him until she gets enough levels to unlock the ability to take back Haru's wings for him, so perhaps she's a better actor than he thought.]]
comically visible reaction when it's not going his way.
[[/folder]]

* In ''LightNovel/NoGameNoLife'', this is one of the reasons why Stephanie Dola is so terrible at games as her face reveals everything. Unfortunately for her, she's constantly at the mercy of Sora who specialises in reading people.

* In ''LightNovel/AccelWorld'', Kuroyukihime, [[EntertaininglyWrong piecing together several different clues, comes to the erroneous conclusion that Chiyu, whom she's just met, is actually Cyan Pile, the Burst Linker stalking her for the point bounty]]. In response, Haru claims that Chiyu, his long-time ChildhoodFriend, isn't capable of that, since, among other things, "Everything she's thinking shows up on her face and in her attitude." While Haru's ultimately right, [[spoiler:Chiyu is later able to trick Nomi, staying with him until she gets enough levels to unlock the ability to take back Haru's wings for him, so perhaps she's a better actor than he thought.]]

* In ''ComicStrip/CalvinAndHobbes'', it turns out that Hobbes actually can hold a poker face. His ''tail'', [[TheTell on the other hand]]...

* In ''Manga/RanmaOneHalf'', Ranma is revealed to be this during the Gambling King Arc. When playing Old Maid, Ranma will get excited when his opposition is about to take the Joker, while looking sad when they pick another card. Ranma is later humorously put through TrainingFromHell to help him get a poker face, only to fail spectacularly, but he injures his face so much that it becomes bandaged up and rendered impossible for anyone to tell his emotions. Unfortunately for the Gambling King, he also suffers from this -- it takes [[OnlySaneMan Nabiki]] to point it out, but sure enough, once Ranma sees that the Gambling King makes a face better described as "ecstatic" whenever his opponent is about to pick the Joker, the game becomes much easier.

* Umi Sonoda from ''Anime/LoveLive'' provides the page image during a game of Old Maid against Kotori. And she wonders why she can't win a single game. This is later referenced in ''The School Idol Movie'', and [[https://lovelive-as.bushimo.jp/special/comic/event29_03x/ a yonkoma]] for ''VideoGame/LoveLiveSchoolIdolFestivalALLSTARS'' shows that [[Anime/LoveLiveSunshine Ruby Kurosawa]] is equally as bad.