Tellbox
Years before I started playing live, I skimmed through
Caro's Book of Poker Tells, as well as Joe Navarro's
Read em and Weep. It's likely that I'll pick them up again at some point, as I remember next to nothing from them.
Aside from Caro and Navarro, the other experts and coaches I've read and watched have maintained that live tells are fairly rare and fairly unreliable, and that they should be used as a sort of tiebreaker only after the action, the board, the cards, the ranges and player frequencies have all been given their due consideration. From what I've seen so far, I tend to agree with that assessment. On Wednesday and Thursday however, I ran into an exception to that rule.
We all know this guy in general: middle aged, slightly balding, likely of Italian descent, wearing a bowling shirt and nice loafers, and brimming with a self-assured confidence, which may not actually be warranted. This guy from the hand specifically, if he has played in a home poker game for any length of time, has been a major factor in his buddies getting new snowmobiles, or four wheelers, or vacation packages.
In fact I'm pretty sure that he is in a regular home game, and that the players there have done nothing less than to lovingly encourage and cultivate all of his idiosyncrasies, his holding forth, and his table talk. And for a brief time, the object of all their diligent work presented itself to us Las Vegas players as a gift from the poker gods.
He and I played 6 hours at the same table across two days. He played half of his hands, mostly for a limp, limp/call or a cold call. He loved the connectors and the one-gappers, suited or not, and he almost always showed his hand, whether or not it went to showdown. He had verbal and physical tics that were very specific to his hand type and strength. All of this together gave me the most reliable read that I've had on any poker player.
I picked up A
A
UTG. opened for $10 and got 4 calls, including the Tellbox in the BB. He had $215 behind after calling, and I covered.
(Pot $51) Five Players
Flop J
3
9
Tellbox donked $30 from the BB, I called and everyone else went away.
After I called, he started drumming on the rail with both hands. I'd seen him do this with good but not nutted hands. With his weaker hands or bluffs, he would freeze and go quiet if he was chatting. With nutted or near nutted hands he would hang his hand-propped head sideways, very low and mournfully, overcome with false ennui.
From the drumming, I was thinking he
had was weighted toward QQ, KK, and J9. One combo of AA was in there as well, as I'd never seen him 3-bet in 6 hours. I wasn't sure if 33 would be a drumming or a hangdog hand, so I put one combo in with the drumming and left the other two combos for the hangdog.
(Pot $111) Two Players
Turn T
"i'm going to see what you're going to do," said Tellbox, checking to me.
In 6 hours, he had never once tried to deceive with his table talk. What he'd said had always meshed with what he'd had. I took it to mean he didn't like the scare card on the turn. In any case, his drumming on the flop had already ruled out the KQ and 87 gutshots that got there on the turn.
I bet $45. Too small by half. I was distracted from keeping an eye on Tellbox and had lost track of the pot size.
He called quietly and sat still.
(Pot $201) Two Players
River 3
Tellbox donked all in for $140.
"There. I'll just...I don't know where you're at." he said.
(Pot $341) Two Players, one player all-in.
I stopped and took my sweet, sweet time looking at him. He didn't hangdog once. I apologized to the table for taking so much time. After 45 seconds or so, he drummed.
It's J9 and only J9, said the Call Devil on my right shoulder.
All day, all night and into next Tuesday.
I have to agree with the station here, said the Nit Devil on my left shoulder,
that it's weighted towards J9. Though don't forget the one combo of quad threes. In any case, your overpair is never good here. He's check/calling with KK and QQ here, not donk shoving. Fold it.
I had, for the first time, put someone on an exact hand with a fair amount of confidence. I congratulated myself on saving $140--just as good as winning $140--and I grabbed my aces to throw them in the muck.
Hey dumbass! Knock if off! You made two pair on the river, you dumb ****. You counterfeited him. I don't think he sees it, either.
I was so fixated with patting myself on the back for figuring out my opponent's hand that I hadn't read my own hand correctly. I pulled my cards back, just before releasing them, and I called.
Flamingo: 8 hours:
+$91
Last edited by suitedjustice; 09-07-2018 at 10:30 PM.