pretty self explanatory

getting the party started

strength tells:

1) waiting a few seconds and then betting big
2) exponentially increasing bet size

weakness tells:

1) instaraise or instabet when checked to
2) betting the same amount or less than double the previous bet on the turn or river

Strength: Counting out the call first, then adding the raise amount after.

Strength: Acting confused and unhappy with situation, then raising.

Weakness: Snap calling, but instead of counting just matching the stack side by side of the amount bet.

What seems to be the case is when they're out of position, insta donking is a sign of strength. Almost as if they know the weakness tell and are trying to use it to rep a bluff.

I consciously always pause before I take any action other than folding.

Another thing i look for before i act is looking to my left because players often telegraph if they are folding and often will be counting out chips to call or raise.

Players just grabbing a random large stack of chips and throwing them in are usually strong.

Weak:
Grabbing chips in your stack to act like you will bet
Fast calls or bets
Check in the dark

Strength:
Raising. Live poker is so passive.
The min raise.
Fast Checks.

This one is so random IMO. A bunch of people have heard of this and will do the "count out some chips and then decide to check" move intentionally. Also seen enough randoms who just do it sometimes for no reason, almost like shuffling chips.
I feel like I'd have done better to mostly ignore this.

haha +1.

Also sometimes just betting. Like the last time I played I raise UTG and it went like 5 or six ways to QJ5r and then the BB donk bet around half his short stack and IMO he might as well have passed a note to everyone that said "fold all one pair hands".

Weakness

When talking about rec players and fish they never remember their cards so when a monotone board flops you can watch half the table all subtly check for their suits. Usually indicative of unsuited cards. Ignore when talking about good regs

Quick calls are usually good indicators of draws

Cold calling a 3 bet is very very often JJ or QQ from the middle age crowd and up



Strength


The old I guess it's time to go home often means a ton of strength


Min raises on the river is very often the nuts. In fact when was the last time you were raised on the river at low stakes and you were good. Almost never

Limp reraise in EP from anything more than a short stack especially if they are older is almost always AA or KK. Sometimes but rarely AK. It's almost never wrong

A cold 4 bet at low stakes is always AA or KK

If a MAWG has been raising normal and all of a sudden open like $25 in a 1/3 games it's very reliable that it is JJ because they hate JJ

If an old guy raises large preflop and pots it it is guaranteed AA or KK. These are great guys to set mine against with only 10-1 stack sizes because they will always pay off


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People busy eating tend to play strong hands and are rarely bluffing

Impatience or exasperation is often strength

Speech particularly stuff like "I gotta do what I gotta do" is strength

The most important tell in low stakes poker isnt here. When the flop comes out, if they hit it, they subconsciously either look at their chips or touch them. Its never faked and never wrong. Vs certain villians you can basically cbet bluff with 100% success rate.


Also as best i can tell, unless the guy never shuts up, literally all talking is strength (someone tell me if theres a counter example?)

my hands shake whenever i'm in a big moment

there are times it's difficult to take a clear photo or thread a needle or whatever




this often kicks in during when i'm playing a big pot regardless of whether or not i have the nuts or am bluffing

since people often notice and call it out (especially people not even in the hand like seriously wtf is wrong with you declaring "oh look his hand is shaking" when you're not even in the pot?) it tends to be a big factor in whether people decide to call when i go all in


I've seen it happen both ways where they fold because to them the shake means the nuts, or they call because the shake told them i was nervous about getting called - but it's just a shaky hand that shakes at key moments and is indifferent to the value of my holdings

"How much are you playing / can I see your chips please"

They are beyond nutted.

Adrenaline shakes, I get that too

Good players ask this question whenever they dont know. I literally ask this question on the flop any time im not folding and dont know their stack size. Stack size affects bet sizes and decisions regardless of my holdings.

FWIW - I've caught myself reaching for chips when I did in fact intend to bet or call. I've also caught myself making fast calls or bets when I was strong. I've made min-raises with medium strength hands, sort of a variation on the "find out where I'm at" donk bet, and checked fast when I was weak.

Not suggesting these aren't somewhat reliable tells for the population, but I would be careful about automatically assuming they're reliable before we see what opponents have when they exhibit these behaviors.

hard disagree on this, is often used to determine if it's profitable to chase or set mine

this as well, even if I'm folding here anyway, I'm still asking the guy who just 3b! to $55 what he has behind behind if i can't see his stack because it matters deeply if he has $60 behind or $600

Guy up big on the night opens from UTG == strength

Speech play:

STRONG

Anything which sounds like it would weaken our opponent's hand and / or sounds like a challenge for us to call is ALWAYS a strong hand. It sounds obvious, but very often the structure of what they say is more subtle, making the tell less obvious.

Two real-world examples from hands I played:

1 - I checked river after turning a straight on a card that also put a three-flush on board, when the river paired the turn card. My opponent looks surprised I checked, and says, "Oh, you check? You never do that when you have a hand, so I'll bet" as he bets 1/2 pot.

I had checked to induce him to bluff, and was planning to call, but this speech made me tank for a while. I was convinced he didn't have a flush, and couldn't see what 2P or sets he'd slow-play on the flop when I checked to him, which now made a boat. I convinced myself he rivered trips after turning 1P + a straight draw, and was trying to get me to call with 2P or worse.

Sure enough, when I called, he turned over a flopped bottom set that was slow-played.

2 - I raised pre, c-bet flop of T64dcc with 87ss, and turned a sneaky 10-high straight with with the 9s. When I barreled, before my opponent called, he says, "I'm only calling the river if it's another club." Sure enough, the river is the Tc, bringing in the flush but also pairing the board. I check, and he bets big. It seemed odd to me that he would call for a club, spike one, and then bet big when I check, if I'm supposed to think he rivered a flush.

I say, "I guess you liked the club," to which he responds, "I just don't think you have anything." Like, if I don't have anything, why would he bet big? And if he's bluffing, why would he say something to make me think he's weak, if he wants me to fold? I could have some flushes and straights here, but I'm folding anything worse to this bet.

I fold, and he shows the Th when he folds, making it pretty obvious he rivered a boat with T9hh, but was hoping I'd check anything better than 2P on a club river.

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"Why so much?" - and then they call. Usually pretty strong.

"That's a big bet/raise." - and then they call. Usually pretty strong.

If they bet, got raised, and said that, then called, it's even stronger. If they raised, got 3B, said that, and then call, or 4B, it's insanely nutted.

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WEAK

Someone telling us not to bet too big. Someone telling us if we bet, they'll call, or that they might raise.

Players who are very talkative and flamboyant suddenly getting very quiet and reserved as they're betting. This is usually a sign of weakness.

A classic example is Dwight Pilgrim's final table performance at the Borgata open in 2010. Every time he had a strong hand, he'd be making boastful comments and carelessly tossing chips into the pot. Whenever he was bluffing, he'd clam up and timidly slide his bet in.

Anything that is the opposite of the strong speech play above, typically structured in a friendly or appeasing way, suggesting it's okay to fold. Classic example is William Kassouf's speech to Stacy Matuson during the 2016 WSOP main event, telling her he'd show her his hand once she folded her QQ's on this board:



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Card tells:

Showing one card - strong. The one not shown is almost always the ONE card that will make V the best hand.

Holding cards in hand, above the felt - generally weak. This is usually a sign the player is preparing to fold.

Shuffling cards on the felt, with one hand, while waiting for their turn to act - usually weak, a sign of boredom. Can also be a hand that is just barely strong enough to over-call, but not strong enough to raise, often some sort of draw.

Removing their card protector from their cards, before action gets to them - usually weak, a sign they're preparing to fold.

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Chip tells:

WEAK - making big bets with smaller denomination chips, rather than larger denominations. Ex - betting $125 by gathering up 25 red $5 chips, rather than using the black or green chips in their stack.

Weaker players will tend not to bet weak hands with bigger denomination chips, instead preferring to use smaller denominations. The psychology is two-fold: bigger denomination chips seem harder to come by, and thus seem more valuable; putting out a larger stack of lower-denomination chips is meant to look like a bigger bet than simply tossing out a small number of higher-value chips.

WEAK - mix-and-match denomination bets. Ex - betting $125 by gathering up four green $25 chips, pausing, then adding five red $5 chips.

Players who do this are typically trying to figure out the optimal size to bet with a bluff. They put together a bet using big chips, think better of it, decide to bet more, but instead of adding more big chips, they use smaller chips. The psychology is basically the same as the above - the lower-denomination chips seem less valuable, and they want their bet to appear larger. Additionally, there's the possibility the use of different denominations will make their bet appear more deliberate.

WEAK - slamming a multi-chip bet down on the table, like 10 red $5 chips stacked up in the hand. Also aggressively tossing chips across the betting line. Pretty much anything that seems meant to convey confidence/strength. This is often done with smaller bets, to make them look stronger.

STRONG - a weaker player using two hands to push out a big bet. Unlike the tells above, this one is rarely a sign of a weak hand feigning strength.

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Behaviors:

Someone chewing gum stops chewing after they bet - weak. The opposite (keeps chewing) is strong.

Someone bets, then stares you dead in the eye, especially with a mean look, especially if it's an old guy - usually weak.

Eye movement (right-handed person) - looking up and to the left or down and to the left before betting is typically going to be stronger than looking up/right or down/right, which is usually more indicative of a bluff. This is generally going to be reversed in left-handed people, so pay attention to which hand they favored when they bet, if you spot this eye movement prior.

This eye movement tell is not extremely reliable. The right-handed person looking left is typical of accessing memory, so could be an opponent thinking back to past hands, trying to figure out if you're an over-folder before he puts out a bluff. The looking right is typical of accessing creativity, so could be an opponent trying to think what bluffs we have, rather than what they could rep with a bluff of their own.

Laughter / chuckling / smirking - almost always a sincere sign of relaxation, usually someone holding an extremely strong hand, or an extremely weak hand and planning to insta-fold.

Fair enough, it does align with my experience *at low limits* where even considering whether it is profitable to chase, never mind calculating it, is akin to rocket science.

It should be noted that this is only reliable if they are the aggressor preflop and carry the lead post flop


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happened today, usually passive guy b/c flop with bottom pair, then insta shoved 3x pot on turn brick, got snapped and lost

From today: drawishy flop of QdJd3s where V called RFI IP. I have 88. x x. Turn brick. x x. River total brick like 2s. x he bets 3/4 pot leaning in and looking at me. I call. He has KTo.

so if they lean they are bluffing, got it

seems more about the stare