Or, it's just someone who says it all the time because they're trying to get people to show their cards for information.

Or, it's a really good player who always wants to know stack sizes and/or prevent angles from people hiding chips.

I was going to respond with the caveat you added at the end. This can be very unreliable and even a false tell from good players since the suit check is pretty widely known. Beware the player who never has to recheck his cards after the flop rechecking his cards in this spot.

Definitely agree w/ the above.

weak=strong , strong=weak
classic fish tells

so the suit check can be a nice weapon in the pokers arsenal

The allin situation. When the opponent goes allin and watch the dealer or in general is announcing his allin not to you means strong hand/ nuts. When somebody goes allin and staring into your eyes is weak .

I play 1/2 at casinos.

Some players have a tell based on how they handle their chip stacks when they're in a hand. For the weaker players, they really don't deviate from their actions, so it's really easy to take advantage of.

For example:

-They're on a draw or they have a weak hand, like mid pair/weak kicker, but don't want to give it up just yet: they'll throw in their chips in a way so it makes a nice chip line. I think they want to appear nonchalant, like it doesn't matter what you bet because they're going to call. They're willing to gamble, so you better make sure you have something worth betting.

-They missed and/or they know they're probably not winning the hand, so they try to take a stab at the pot on the river with a bluff: they'll pull a single stack of of $20-$25+ chips and quietly push it in front of them. Sometimes they'll make sure the stack is nice and straight. This screams weakness to me because everything is so meticulous. Sometimes, it even starts with their cards. They'll look at it, put own nicely in front of them, carefully put a chip on their cards, and then quietly push their chips, stone-faced. Everything about it says "please don't call" because they're being so careful; they don't want anything to be out of place or look suspicious, when in actuality, the whole thing does.

-They hit the nuts or have a really strong hand: they'll count out the bet in stacks of 5 or so a couple of times, maybe adding chips, taking some out. Then they announce their bet before pushing it forward. This is just a very obvious tell that they have a big hand and they want to get paid off on, but how much should they bet? Not too big or they might fold, not too small because you wont be making a lot of money off your big hand. You can practically see their thought process as they count out and restack their chips numerous times.

Now, I'm sure this isn't 100% reliable with against all players because some players will bet out a number of different ways no matter what they have. However, I find for those who have set betting patterns, it's a good tell to keep an eye out for.

Not reliable at all, IMO.

IF you can even understand what that grouping of words is meant to convey, that is.

And by "you" I mean anyone, everyone, myself, yourself, etc. (Just saying that was in no way meant to come off as some sort of jab at you personally, lol).

when you shove on someone and he seems surprised, dwells with it, then starts pushing the cards slowly, now that's a tell he will fold

Getting live river tells from fish is super easy, although it took me a long time before I actually started doing this (coming from an online background). Just start talking to them. If they talk back, and you get the sense they are trying to convince you they have a good hand, they are likely bluffing. Also if they are unable to talk and unable to move at all, they are likely bluffing. Everything in between, they have a value hand.

Man, I don't agree that that is reliable at all, either.

It can be if you know the opponent, but I think that is exactly the kind of logic that is dangerous to apply blindly.

I've applied this pretty liberally at live $2/$5 games vs fish for the last ~5 years and I've made much better river decisions as compared to when I used to just default to the correct online move. It obviously doesn't work 100% of the time (nothing does), and you don't go way out of line to make absurd hero calls based on a general fish river read strategy like this, but it's definitely improved my winrate (vs fish). You'd be surprised, some people offer A LOT of information if you just talk to them.

On the flop:

A very quick look and then away means they hit it strong
Long look means they hit it weak or nothing
Long look and check on their cards on draw heavy boards means they are checking if they have their draw. Quick look and check of their cards is a strong draw (example AKhh on 5h3h7x board)

Of course the above is not always correct.

Pushing out a stack that doesn't look like a perfect stack of $100 usually means strong. Basically, "who cares how much is there. Just call me."

I actually have found this tell to be somewhat unreliable. It works some of the time, but some players just have a natural tendency to shuffle or play with their cards. But that's probably true of all tells. They may work a lot of the time, but never all of the time.

My favorite tell (and the most reliable in my experience) is the Tell Lockdown, i.e., when a player tries to control himself so as to give off no tells. In one circumstance in particular, I had an overpair and my opponent called me down before raising big on the river. He then went into tell lockdown, placing his hands over his mouth, holding his head still, hiding behind sunglasses, etc. I was trying to figure him out when I remembered that when a player is trying hard not to give off any tells, he fears being called. He went into tell lockdown so as to give me no reason to call him. Ironically, by trying to lockdown his tells, he gave off the greatest tell. I called and he showed top pair, mid-kicker.

I see this often with medium-to-somewhat strong hands, who "need" to know if folding is correct.

Two tells that I act on
1. The speech-any explanation for a bet or raise ('Guess it's time to gamble', 'Time to go home', etc) is usually a beginning or intermediates player attempt to disguise their strength.
2. Drinking from a water bottle-This one is less commonly known, so it still seems valid. When a player has made a big bet or shove, and the other player is tanking, I have found that if the betting player drinks from their water bottle or cup, this usually indicates that they bet a bluff or a draw.

Most other behavior that Navarro talks about, face guarding, defensive posture, etc, usually is only good for telling me if a player is stressed or not, but the fact that they are stressed does not always correlate into an actionable read.

I look at the dealer when I say all in because I want to be sure they heard me and understand my intentions. I do this regardless of whether I'm value betting, bluffing, or merging. Often times dealers will be chatting or looking around the room while players make river decisions. I make sure they see and understand my action before saying all in.

Smile authenticity.

Just got back from a trip to Vegas and I played 80 hours live at 1/2.

On two separate occasions, I called a sizable river bet when I had a hand like 2 pair, with 4 cards to a flush on the board (and I didnt have the flush).

I made both of these calls based primarily off of physical tells, but the one that really seals the deal for me is smile authenticity.

I engaged the villains and try to get them to laugh, smile etc. In both instances, villain would do a sort of fake laugh with a very clearly forced, fake smile. Typically genuine smiles are associated with strength (from what I have seen thus far), and as such I was able to profitably make these 2 calls and accurately determine that both times villain did not have a flush either.

Strong means weak and weak means strong - Mike Caro

This general principle is very reliable. A big river bet where the player tries to look intimidating is almost always a bluff.

If the player is capable of acting, this principle holds up. If the player is not an actor, then this principle is not reliable at all.

I try to look at tells within an overall character study of the player in question. Tells by themselves are unreliable, but I ask myself, what kind of person is this? An actor, a naive young player, a savvy veteran? Are they wise enough to use reverse tells on me or not? etc etc

Sounds very useful. What do you say to get them to smile?

I actually use this a lot to gain information from my opponents. Not the most reliable, but those who say they'll show are bluffing/ weak

Someone mentioned this but I find the:
staring at the flop means they missed, a quick look away means they hit to be the only tell that really makes me money, personally. Not all players obviously but for a surprising number of players this one is very accurate almost every time.

90% of the time I hit my flush on the flop/turn I check my cards so people think I'm checking if one of my cards match the board.