Poker tells (live)

[beanfacekilla]

Hello all. I was replying to a different post and went off on a tangent about poker tells. I just decided to start a new thread (a friend of mine suggested this). This is some of what I posted in the other thread. I want to hear other people's contributions to this as well.

Here is from the other thread...


I would recommend searching "poker tells" on youtube. There is some very good info on some of the videos for poker tells. I played a MTT at the casino a few weeks ago, and people actually do alot of the things that you should be looking for. But, some people know about the tells, and may try to fool you with them. Live poker is the best... You can't see someone's hand trembling uncontrollably when they bet, online. It is so much easier to read people live. But there are sneaky people out there who know about tells. I can tell you one thing though: this is the one tell I see hold true more than any other...

People will sometimes look visibly disappointed at a flop, or a turn card, but they bet anyways, and look as if they are unhappy doing so (like at a flop of three diamonds or something, act like they made TPTK, but they are worried about the diamonds). Don't fall for that crap, get out unless you have a monster. That is probably the number one tell that I have tried and proven myself. Also, inexperienced players will generally seem weak when they are strong, and will seem confident and strong when they are full of crap and they missed the flop. But keep in mind, people that have studied about poker may use these common tells against people.

When playing live, you should be watching everything you can. Even when you are not in a hand, you should be trying to observe everyone. Look at how people sit. Look at their body-language. If you see a guy showdown a monster, try and recall how he looked, acted, sat in his chair, anything you can recall about how he behaves when he is strong. Many times, people will get really tense and stiffen up when they have a monster. There are so many different things to look for.

Also, wait to check your hole cards, until the action is on you. Watch everyone check their cards. People will sometimes stare at their cards longer when they get aces or something, just to make sure. When you do check your hole cards, try to be consistent. Look at them long enough and repeat it a few times in your mind. "jack of clubs, king of diamonds", repeat three or four times. You need to remember, so you don't give anything away having to recheck them. You will see people check their hole cards on a suited board, frequently... This is usually because they are checking the suit of their cards, to see if they have a flush or draw (usually checking cards here indicates just a draw, who doesn't remember what suit their suited cards are?). Most people remember the card ranks, but not the suit. You don't want to give anything away by having to re-check your hole cards.

Always look at people reacting to the cards coming out. NEVER look at the flop come down. Look at your opponents. Even if you aren't in the hand, watch them reacting to the cards coming out. This is the most valuable info you will ever get. And, amazingly, I hardly ever see anyone else doing this live. They are always watching the cards come out. Most people are unaware you are even watching their face when they see the flop for the first time. But, if you pay enough attention, you can spot unique tells people have. When they hit the flop hard, they may look away quickly and act uninterested. That is a pretty common tell. People will often glance at their chips right after the flop comes, when they hit it hard. They don't know they're doing it, they just do it.

If anyone else reads this and has something good to add about tells, I would love to hear it... I am always looking for ways to improve my game. Peace

[pirates831]

this is one of my glaring weaknesses at live poker ... i generally don't look for physical tells. i see betting patterns; flop textures; villain's history. but if someone is shaking or looks too excited, i'm not seeing it.

i was told this week that i tend to shake when i have a big hand when i'm betting. i don't know if i can control this, other than to try to shake all the time ... it's cold sometimes in the poker room. i tell people, 'i'm just a little cold.'

part of my problem is i don't have the greatest vision in the world. so i guess that could be a reason why i have trouble picking up on some of these tells.

[Dan Abnormal]

I have tried some of these tells to throw people off but nobody believes me it seems and Im having a hell of a time figuring out tells on other people

I make sure to keep messy stacks to make it look like Im real loose

I act like its hurting to me throw chips in a pot WHEN I DONT HAVE IT instead of having it but then I dont put the chips in anyway so Im probably fucking this one up

IM not sure if the fact that I dont know how to do chip tricks like shuffling my chips with one hand shows in experience on my part or the way i put chips in the pot, rather uncool like instead of sliding them into the pot, is also telling people stuff.

I HAVE LEARNED THE HARD WAY (SHUT UP TALKING TO OLD WOMAN ROB) the last MTT, I think I made 2 comments to the lady on my left and everytime she got a chance to isolate me, she made me pay like

I get AKs and raise the pot 3x everyone folds except the lady who wants me isolated

FLOP comes 245 I call and she bets like a few thousand chips and Im like thinking to myself what A3 or low set or what the hell would she pushing that hard with. so she folded me again

I was tempted to push all in but would of really felt stupid is she caught the 2 on the flop and I lose $65 buy in for that but I FEEL LIKE A WALKING TELL The second I walk in the card room,

LIKE EVERYONE SAYS IN 30 SECONDS< OH HEY THERE IS THE SUCKER

[rayleb]

So I don't get the nervous shakes I just get drunk.
Doesn't seem to work to well though, lol

[Ravensfan929]

So I don't get the nervous shakes I just get drunk.
Doesn't seem to work to well though, lol

LOL that might work for ur nerves but definately isnt gonna help ur game lol.

[fndrbndr79]

As far as concealing your own tells, there are two schools of thought. For simplicity's sake, I like to think of them in terms of two well-known pros, Chris Ferguson and Daniel Negreanu.

Chris Ferguson's approach seems to be the reveal as little information through physical action as possible. He sits with his hands clasped in front of his mouth wearing a hat, sunglasses, and a collared shirt. He always bets the same way (physically, at least), checks the same way, looks at his cards the same way, etc.

Daniel Negreanu seems to take a different tack. He knows he'll give off some tells, so he attempts to be as animated as possible at the table. There's so much information that it's hard to figure out which part of it is the tell.

Personally, I tend toward the Ferguson approach. It's easier for me, since I'm not a terribly social person.

[beanfacekilla]

I have been away for some time from the forum. I am back, at least for now. It is interesting to see what you all had to say about tells. I have since thought about it a little more, and this is what I have come up with:

People at the casino playing the $1/$2 blinds generally speaking are terrible players (most of them, but not all). Most of them wouldn't even know a tell if they saw one. Everybody is looking right at the cards when they come out, never at anything else. These people will routinely play garbage hands like 4-7s ("it was suited" is the common excuse here, to excuse their terribly lucky play), or even offsuit. Everyone plays A-rag it seems, suited or offsuit. Position means nothing to these people. They will raise OOP with nothing but a 6-8 suited. When they miss their long shot draw with said 6-8s, they look so disappointed, and sometimes they are angry. I just think to myself, "that's what you get for playing 6-8s OOP."

This is why it is so important to know absolutely everything there is to know about poker. Tells, strategy, odds, bankroll management, etc. But this new style of poker, I am naming it: Running-with-scissors. That's what it is. It is just straight gambling the way the majority of people I encounter playing live poker. I don't know if a guy like me can even profit in the long run playing smart, controlled poker (all the material I have read and absorbed says that I can though). So many suck-outs. Online, players are much more skilled. But online players are usually oblivious to many things on a real table. But online players are usually better than live players anyways... Peace.