Tells are a level.

In my experience, really great players understand the game, the math, and they play against their opponents range, think through hands,

and THEN

they also have superhuman poker instinct, that one time in a thousand, without even looking for a tell, they will instinctively notice something that causes them to make a +EV decision.

If everytime you have to make a tough decision,
then you start looking for tells to make that decision ... good luck bro, gonna level yourself big time.

Nobody's relying on tells to make a tough decision. But they make it easier. You see that somebody's excited about their hand, you snip the trash from their range and use that to improve your decision.

Look once, never look again

You can remember your hand right?

I agree with shuffle, people have intiuition, if you pay attention sometimes you will know if someone is strong or weak without really knowing why. Its a combination of tons of little things that you subcoinciusly pick up.

I play 1/2 nl alot and try to give off fake tells all the time, sometimes it works. I give a little weight to what people are giving off but alot of times they are fake so its a crapshoot. Some thing you can take advantage of though are people that plan on folding and people that plan on raising behind you.

Recently i was playing and a guy sitting to my left would always give a tell when he planned on betting, it was such as huge advantage for me because i could fold if i was weak and check i was strong, but if i was very strong i could check he would raise preflop a few would call then i could repop it and get all that extra money. Something as small as that gave me a huge edge.

In a game i played yesterday, had a nice level on someone. Had pocket kings raised it one caller, flop was rainbow below k, i bet he called, turn was another card below king, i bet he called, no straights no flush poss, river comes a ace im first to act, i say to him you didnt get my on the river did you? I tank for 10 seconds and raise him all in for last 45$. He calls an mucks. Sometimes telling the truth can be a big level lol.

I think whats much more important is how the rest of the table percieves you and playing off that.

I've found the same tells are universally reliable that most have (shaking hand, freezing up when bluffing, etc.)

There are some others Ive found that do require you to use context and they require more work. But once you know your opponent, they are reliable, ime.

1. Blink rate.

When someone's blinking faster they're usually under more stress. Usually a bluff, but sometimes they're holding a monster and trying to figure out how to get ur money. With a lot of people it's one or the other.

2. Pushing out slightly with the middle finger when betting.

When someone throws chips out or even places them out on the felt, I look for the middle finger slightly "jutting out", slightly pushing ahead. Only the middle finger for some reason and I've found it means a bluff or semi bluff. This one is very reliable once you start to look for it and is one of my favorite tells, as it works with men and women.

when a fish donks out on a flop and bets the exact same amount on the turn despite the bigger pot it often indicates he did not improve and raising them has worked very well for me.

That's not a physical tell; that's a betting pattern.

[ x ] in holdem
[ ] in omaha

I largely agree with this. When I am playing my best and really tuned in to the game, I go with my instinct on what someone is doing just looking at them as a whole and and I am usually correct. I'll catch bluffs or weaker hands or fold to stronger hands and I'm not sure exactly what I saw that made me just "know" what was going on. I usually play with people I know though and I think that has a lot to do with it.

When I'm not in "the zone" and I find myself trying to interpret individual actions as tells I usually end up being incorrect and basically looking for a reason to call or fold (usually talk myself into calling).


Example: I had QQ and a tough villain who can and will bluff, limped from UTG then re-raised me all in. I just KNEW he had AA based on his demeanor (the action was part of the puzzle too of course). When I was looking at him and getting him to talk, he was so relaxed and clearly had absolutely no fear at all about what I had... but then someone started to say something at the table that they shouldn't have about what they had folded and villain told them to stop talking and in doing so he acted weak, then he changed it to sound strong and I started with the whole "weak means strong but then he acted strong which means weak." and I call into his obvious AA like a moron.

Just one case where if I had just trusted my first impression instead of trying to follow the "tell rules" I would have been better off.

There are definitely tells for people but I think they are personalized and until you see a pattern with an individual, you can't trust the generic tells and should stick to the usual methods for determining your actions.

Example: His hand may be shaking but Michael J Fox doesn't have the nuts every-time he bets.

I once saw a guy open an oreo and lick it when he was really strong...folded my monster top two pair...

I can tell if someone needs a shower because I can "smell" them with my eyes when I'm looking at them from far away...

Anyone notice anything with headphones. If someone has both headphones in their ears, they will usually remove one when they are in a hand on the flop. However, in a bigger pot, when a person removes the headphones from both ears, it seems to mean they have a very strong hand. Anyone else notice this?

Yeah it is a pretty bad tell when they remove and start talking and then lead out. Why do you have headphones on if your not going to listen to your music? If you can't play the game with both earbuds in without asking the dealer questions and talking... then don't wear them.

This guy, he gets it.

Am I the only one who thinks shakey hands are just as likely to be a bluff than a monster? Some players just aren't adept at making big bluffs without the nerves getting the better of them, I know that was true for me when I first started playing live.

The most useful tells I use are the players who glance at their chip stack after looking at their hand or the flop, always suggests strength. Also a lot of players make rather obvious when they have a hand pre flop (sitting up, watching the action before it's on them), don't make the mistake of raising light with them to act behind you.