In most live cash games I play when I select a table obviously I'm looking to pick a table with as many tourist type newbs as possible. Ideally it would be the whole table but more often than not you can find a 1/2 or 2/5 game with 2-3 of them sitting. I try to sort the players at my table into 3 catergories to base my Tell Strength on.
Newbs- Your complete amateur donks who no very little about the game on many levels.
Recreational Players- You might have seen them here or there over time but know they aren't so into the game of poker to know the deeper aspects of it.
Regs/Pros- They're there day in and day out and are solid players that you notice making proper plays and maintain their poker face.
When im at the table I'm constantly watching each player and observing their mannerisms pre and post flop trying to pickup on anything I can. Whether this be how fast they are breathing, how they play with their chips, how they place their cards after checking them and the list goes on. Where I'm going with this post is when it comes to applying these tells I assign them a certain amount of strength based on the players skill category. A total newb who can't help but have their hands shaking as they raise the hand pre or literally **** themselves when they check their hole cards you can be almost 99% sure they're holding a monster and play based off of that info. Same to be said post flop when they wear it on their face that they just smashed or missed the flop. When it comes to the latter two levels of play I am much more wary to assign strength to the tells unless it's observed over a period of time. A rec player may be able to control their hole card peek reaction enough but can't stop himself from seeming uninterested or overly talkative when he is holding the nuts. I'm more apt to use general tells against the newbs and recs then I would a reg. Not to say regs don't have tells, but that they are much more aware of their own mannerisms and could be using what you perceive as a tell as a trap against you. It all varies player to player as most things in poker will. But you can feel much more confident about your reads against lower tier players and use their tells to break them.
I think the initial trend would be for one to think that the less skill a player has the higher level of 'trust' that can be put into their behavior tells. I'm actually going to lean towards the rec player having the most trust worthy tells though since they have (more) experience in the 'hands played' area and have those previous 'memories' that may effect their play today.
With a complete newbie it's nice to try and find out if they have watched a lot of 'TV hands' or if they are just getting into the game via a friend or something. Getting an idea of their version of how things are supposed to go would lead me to a more comfortable read on them. I also think that the betting pattern (or lack there of) would give enough away that my emphasis on the live tell wouldn't be needed as much. With a TV newbie I would think that the reverse tell would be attempted much more often simply because that's what they have been exposed to and want to try and pull off.
Regs (not Recs) and Pros need to be viewed over time and tells and patterns need a bit more confirmation before given them extra credence during a hand IMO. GL
To be honest, there are no 'reg professionals' at the low stakes. You should be able to nail down the correct exploitive strategy fairly early against most players at those levels. If you truly come across highly skilled regs at 1/2, just table change or improve your play.
To be honest, there are no 'reg professionals' at the low stakes. You should be able to nail down the correct exploitive strategy fairly early against most players at those levels. If you truly come across highly skilled regs at 1/2, just table change or improve your play.
That's like saying there are no fish at nosebleeds.
