Keeping up appearances with poker apparel
Apart from unique behavioral patterns, distinctive lingo and etiquette, the poker fraternity seem to now also have a dress code of its own. So remember to put on your poker face and dress up in your poker apparel, to keep up your poker appearance.
Lately, there are even specific manufacturers who produce clothing, which they claim “are designed to create class at the table”, or “to meet the special needs of poker players”. Which kind of makes us wonder, do poker players have special needs pertaining to their clothing, when playing poker, and if so, what are they exactly?
What we do know, is that there is definitely a certain way of dressing, which many poker players seem to adhere to, just watch them on the All Africa Poker channel on DSTV, and you will see for yourself.
Of course, every seasoned poker player has a cupboard full of logo’d wear already. Poker Chip T-Shirts or T-shirts with poker inspired phrases are at the order of the day, and let’s not forget the hoodies, hats, caps, visors and especially sunglasses … I mean, who can imagine the formidable Chris “Jesus” Ferguson staring down his opponents without his intimidating dark glasses under his black stetson? But there’s more than meets the eye with these sunglasses. “See all, but reveal nothing”, is how they are advertised by the suppliers. And indeed, many poker players purposefully wear glasses to prevent their competitors from reading them, although most swear that it actually makes no difference at all, as the rest of the body language normally gives them away anyway. Greg “Fossilman” Raymer has his legendary reptile eye sunglasses, which you can purchase from his website.
Some say that many poker players can be recognized from a distance, simply because of their signature wear. So what are the thoughts of you poker junkies out there? Do you have any special needs, any preferences or signature style with regards to your poker clothing? Do you have a poker fashion style and what moves you to wear what you wear when you are playing poker?
