4 replies to this topic

[CasinoJoe]

I've read some articles and books on tells and it seems like they mostly have to do with deception (i.e. Sighing and acting like your not interested in a hand means that your hand is actually strong). I find these to be very misleading. The only tells that work for me are these: trembling hands when a person bets means they have a monster and when a person bets without counting how much he betted means he is bluffing. These seem to be somewhat subconscious. Anyone know of any other subconscious tells?

[Smasharoo]

Looking down at your hand before betting is ussually a sign of an overpair or a monster.Playing live NL at the Bellagio once with a kid who raised 6x the blinds heads up, I called with JJ. Flop was 398 rainbow. He looks down at his hand like five times, bet's 2 times the pot and I say "You know, they're still aces no matter how many times you look down at them"He smiles and turns over aces after I fiol.Tells are really ussually pretty meaningless unless they're nutty reaching tells like the trembling hand thing. The other problem with them is that they just mean the person THINKS they have the best or worst hand. Trembling hands when I have a set of 4's on a board with 2 4 J could mean he has 22, JJ, or AA. Doesn't help me make a decision much.

[JaysonWeber]

CasinoJoe said:

I've read some articles and books on tells and it seems like they mostly have to do with deception (i.e. Sighing and acting like your not interested in a hand means that your hand is actually strong). I find these to be very misleading. The only tells that work for me are these: trembling hands when a person bets means they have a monster and when a person bets without counting how much he betted means he is bluffing. These seem to be somewhat subconscious. Anyone know of any other subconscious tells?

Wow man, it seems we play in some opposite games! The only tells that work for you i.e. the trembling hands and betting and not counting. It seems to me when someone just grabs a random amount that they have a good hand, this seems to be a lot higher percentage of a good hand in my games with beginners. My thinking is this, when they bluff, they think "how much do I NEED to bluff to keep this guy from calling" and when they HAVE the nut hand, they seem to think a bit less. One of the true signs of becoming a better player is learning how to capitialize on your nut hands, and to me beginners fail to think as much when they have the nuts. Just my experiences at the table, I guess its different with everyone. The shaking hands is person to person on the tables I play.

[jayboogie]

the trembling hands and can't wait to get in the pot is usually a sign of rockets. If you see somebody that can't wait to get there chips in there, you know they have a monster. Like I said before you use physical tells, watch the player first and if he's a good or bad player. If he's bad, then you can apply these tells. If he's a good player, you need to be wary, because some players will put out false tells and use reverse psychology to make you think theyre strong when theyre weak and weak when theyre strong. I will use this sometimes when I notice a bad player that tries to read me, I know it's showtime and I'll put on an acting job like I'm giving away a tell. This will work more often than you think. Again, use this with caution, don't do this on somebody that's so bad that they wouldn't even be able to pick up on it. Use it on the players that think they know what they're doing. It'll usually work on those weak tight players that try to read you and stare at you for a minute trying to get a tell. I always get a kick outta it.

[CasinoJoe]

Thanks for the input, i appreciate it It seems to me when someone just grabs a random amount that they have a good hand, this seems to be a lot higher percentage of a good hand in my games with beginners. My thinking is this, when they bluff, they think "how much do I NEED to bluff to keep this guy from calling" and when they HAVE the nut hand, they seem to think a bit less. -JaysonWeberBetting without counting chips isn't one of your "normal" tells. I've never seen it written in a book, article, or website except on Super System. Doyle Brunson said that it was the only tell he ever had. The reason I use it is because I played heads-up with my friend for 40$ a long time ago. My friend had been playing for about 3 months and had never read anything on poker, he was very bad and i figured it was easy money. We had about the same amount of chips and using SB, BB. I was the dealer and my friend called the BB (1$/2$ blinds). I raised it to 4$ with J10 and he called. Flop came something like 9 9 6. He then took a chunk of chips from his stack and betted. I asked him how much he bet and he sayd he didn't know. He counted 10$. I remembered Doyle Brunson's tell, so I figured I'd see if it works. I reraised all-in and he immediately folded his 23o. Ever since, I have used that tell and it has NEVER failed for me against beginners. For more advanced players it might not work, but for beginners it has always worked for me.