15 replies to this topic

[Private]

What are some tells that u look for to see if your opponent is bluffing or if he has a strong hand?

[NYIsles]

I like Dan Harrington's method of determining the angle of his opponent's gaze by analyzing the relection of light off of his glasses... think i'm gonna try that one... 8)

[dna4ever]

I just watched a DVD of Howard Lederer's called "Howard Lederer Tells All" and it is basically just 60 minutes of how to pick up tells in live games. There is a tiny bit of hold-em instructional, but mainly a how to read tells DVD. I picked it up in the Wal-Mart 2 for $11 DVD bin, but have seen it on ebay pretty cheap too.

[The Sheriff JBJ]

I was playing poker with my Girl Friend, her brother and his Girl Friend the other night. It was the first time I had played with them other than on-line over a network.Steven (GF's Brother) had massive tell's.If his hand was strong he would look frustrated if his hand was weak he'd look please. Over compensating at both ends of the scale. He also just didnt know hoe to throw cards away. Once he was in a pot that was it. Death or Glory. He got picked off all night.Joy (GF's Brothers GF!!!! if that makes sense)Is a beginner and was hard to read. Sometimes confused looks were just her trying to work out of her flush realy did beat three of a kind and stuff like that. Her biggest tell was that if she had a good hand she hovered her hand over large value chips.Angela (My GF)This is hard because we know each other games quite well. Angela has a habbitt of calling my bluffs. So have to try and trap her. Her biggest tell is slightly bitting her bottom lip if she puts in a large ammount of chips and is unsure of her hand.So those are a few of the tells I picked up on in my last game!

[fluxer]

I don't know but unlike some people, I have found that it's best to show a lot of emotion at the poker table (when I say "show emotion" I don't mean to allow everyone to know when you're frustrated or very happy but just to be vocal and communicate with your peers).In addition, I usually try to emulate bluff tells mostly for I guess you could say "suckers" that rely solely on such "tells". This espcially applies to no limit -- I'll make a suspicious all in or such bet and then actively and anxiously look at someones chip stack as they are deciding whether to call or not in addition to looking meak and spending half the time staring at the wall. Even though I try to emulate both tells, I do both subtely as it does not take much to get your opponent to notice your actions when all his/her money is on the line.I do find that my breathing sometimes changes depending on if I'm bluffing or if I have a hand, though. I can usually control my breathing but perhaps if someone observed carefully enough they would notice the difference and use that to his/her advantage.

[JaysonWeber]

This topic has been moved to poker strategy, Thanks guys.

[JimmyWellington]

I was on the button in a live tournament the other day late and it got folded around to me and I was watching the blinds and they had their hands ready to throw away. So I raised with my 46 off and before my chips were in, their cards were in the muck. That's the most blatant thing I've ever seen.EDIT: Yes I've read Caro's book of Poker Tells, actually several times. I know that people try to fool you like that, but it was obvious that they weren't trying to trick me.

[Smasharoo]

Tells are extremely overrated.They're about .001% of live play.

[Pearl]

if tells are overrated, i dont know how to play poker.tells such as how they look nervous, stiff, or how they look very relaxed, or how their hands shake when they hit a monster etc etc have saved me thousands of $ in poker. some are obvious and some are not and everyone is different when they hit their 'out'. tells more obvious in rookies like me than pro's i am sure. if there is any legit pro reading this, i'd like to know their view.my two cents - poker is no fun if u believe tells are overrated, because i can write a program to beat pros otherwise.

[Eskimo]

if tells are overrated, i dont know how to play poker. Well, then you don't know how to play poker. Smasharoo is 100% correct on this.

[Pearl]

thanks for the reply eskimo. very helpful.if you are ever in new york city area, would love to invite you to our home game - about 5k-10k behind, cash game. would be nice to befriend someone who knows how to play poker and learn from you.thanks again.

[DwayneWayne]

Pearl....do you play in Union Square?

[Pearl]

once in a while. 5/5 game there is the easiest - people will give you a lot of clues (and action) to let you know what they have. i just dont feel that safe playing there. i sometimes feel like i need a bodyguard going back home if i win a lot on a particular day.

[jayboogie]

tells are important to a degree, but not what you should be concentrating on. Good players throw fake tells out there, using reverse psychology, especially if they notice you concentrating really hard trying to get a tell off them. The more important thing is reading hand strength from watching better patterns and how players play their cards. A physical tell such as a player twitching when they catch a monster is sometimes helpful, but not really. It is definitely not as important as when you get into those marginal call situations to make decisions. Those marginal calls are the difference between a winning player and a losing player and you make those calls based on reading the strength of your opponent, not whether he has a hand over his mouth when he has great cards or whatever.

[EgyptianMagician]

Eh.. tells are a big part of poker moreso if you're not playing with pros. Pros can easily send you reverse-reverse-reverse tells and in general mess with your head.On the other hand, playing with amateurs as many of us do, it's very easy to read hand strength through comfort and what people say. Example.. there were 4 left in a life SNG and this player comes in for a decent size raise preflop. I'm directly to his left and I see KT offsuit. Hmmm.. I was fairly shortstacked and couldn't really play this hand if it wasn't all-in, I began to think. After a little bit he said stuff like "Oh come on, hurry up." Aha! At that point I knew he had a marginal hand because he would only say that if he was weak. Well, I moved in on him and he made a.. questionable call with A9 for about 2/3 his stack... he won the hand but long story short, if he wasn't a brick I would have taken down a nice pot on a strong tell.

[Pearl]

JBoogie, i agree with you. by tells, i meant 'clues' -- going through the database of how they betted last 15 hands they opened the pot in various positions, how comfortable they are to reraising a raiser (stiffness vs comfort, and in beginners like my case, you might even see the visible pain in the opponent's face if you are fake-counting chips to reraise them). i dont know how to describe that instinct (and that instinct really may be overrated, but i know that instincts are right more than 60% of the time and u just have to pick your spot as to when to trust them). i've laid down correctly my pocket aces, K's and set of 3's after flop as i put my opponent on hitting sets or bigger sets (may be it was just dumb luck), and also have called down someone for a huge pot with pair of A's with weak kicker on straight and flush board. i have been awfully wrong on 2 embarassing occasions as well which i wont talk about here . i am just curious how pros see this part of the game as opposed to beginners like me.