Among the “Hints” he provides as general strategy advice, Jones lists how “the possession of a good poker face is an advantage.”Ĭavendish goes on to explain what he means by the phrase, namely, that “No one who has any pretensions to good play will betray the value of his hand by gesture, change of countenance, or any other symptom.” Looking to succeed at poker? Don’t let the look on your face give anything away, since if you do “an experienced player will judge from the expression” the value of your hand. In his 1875 book Round Games at Cards, British author Henry Jones, writing as “Cavendish,” introduces various poker games and associated terms. Let’s dig beneath the surface a bit and see what we find. Is that what having a “poker face” refers to? Being a liar? Or does it just refer to hiding something? Or keeping a secret? It certainly does help set an appropriately urgent mood.īut wait a minute.

“The song itself is perfect for a series about keeping secrets that literally has liars in the title,” observes Tannenbaum.

Sign up for Them’s weekly newsletter here.You recognize the tune, of course, the international chart-topper “Poker Face” by Lady Gaga, here being played on a cello. Calling on all pop stars to sneak a low-key raunchy bisexual anthem to the top of the charts again, please! As early as a Palm Springs performance in 2009, she explained that it was an ode to fantasizing about women. “I suppose it is whatever you hear that it is,” she said of the lyrics in a 2009 radio interview, adding that she was “quite pleased” that “none of the other stations anywhere else in the world ever edited the record.”Īs for the meaning of the song overall, Gaga has been open about that since the beginning of her career. “When you bought the tickets and you saw ‘Lady Gaga in Las Vegas’ and you thought, ‘I should bring my children,’ that’s not my fault.”Ī few years ago, “Poker Face” experienced a resurgence when TikTokers realized that in the studio version of the song Gaga actually sounds like she’s singing “fuck her face” between chants of “poker face.” This interpretation of the chorus is, in fact, as old as the song itself. “It’s not my fault if you brought your kids to my show,” she joked.

What does poker face mean