The Biggest Bluff – On and off the field…

If you thought that the best actors in the world are restricted to Hollywood and Bollywood, then think again. They actually reside on the other side of the fence, where the grass is really greener. With a soccer field as a stage and free reins to improvise on the script, their acting career seems to be perfect…

These so called actors are professional soccer players who fake injuries to get a free penalty kick for their team. It usually happens when a player loses the ball to an opponent. Their natural instinct is then to flop on the pitch, as if the victim of a horrible foul that appears to have caused a career-ending injury. The player will grab his ankle or head in a state of theatrical paralysis until the referee stops play, and orders that the player be carried off the field on a stretcher. The injury lasts precisely as long as it takes the stretcher to reach the touchline. Once off the field, the player bounds out of the stretcher, fully recovered, and ready to rejoin the game at the next opportunity.

At the World Cup 2006, the Italian soccer team coined the phrase ‘give him an Oscar’ with all the flopping that they had going on. There’s even a video depicting how the Italian player’s practiced their famous swan dive.

So why do soccer players fake injury?

Well for the same reason poker player’s bluff – they don’t have the goods and they somehow have to trick their opponents or the referee into thinking they have. While soccer players fake injury because their acting could be rewarded by a penalty from the referee, with poker, it’s a completely different ball game.

When poker players bluff, it means that they bet or raise with an inferior hand, or with a hand believed to be inferior. While it might seem like a good idea to bluff your opponents with a poker face, most players will find out that bluffing isn’t really the way professional poker players make a living. Just think back to what happens to James Bond in Casino Royale...

While you might argue that you’ve seen poker pros make huge bluffs and get away with it like seen on this WSOP footage; poker pros have a different bluffing strategy. A pro will loose the minimum on a bad hand because they are disciplined to stick to solid fundamentals and not get caught in dangerous situations. Their aim is to steadily increase their chip stack with minimal risk and to not lose their entire stack on one hand.

If you’re caught in the act of faking an injury on a soccer field, you risk getting a yellow card or even being sent off the field. On the other hand poker players who get caught bluffing risk getting a certain reputation and loosing a lot of money.

On-the-field bluffer or off-field scammer – let’s leave the acting to Hollywood, they are after all the real drama queens!