Two behaviors arose at a recent NLH tournament that have me quite perplexed.

In the first situation I had been catching a lot of cards and therefore raising a lot of pots consecutively including re raising and check raising opponents. My image was certainly aggressive and even some of the players made comments about my activity. One of the players that had made a comment had brought a book with him and was “reading” his book in between hands. I got into a hand with him where I c-bet on the flop with a decent holding and he went over the top of me for a large sum. After he made the rather large wager he casually went back to reading his book. I tried to talk to him or get some tell from him but he kept reading his book. My gut instinct is that this is a bluff and the book acted as a pacifier to calm his nerves and avoid making eye contact. I didn’t call because my holding was too marginal. Have any of you ever seen someone do this? What is your take on this behavior?

The second situation occurred when I min raised in the hijack and was called by the BB. On the flop the opponent lead out with a bet and I called. On the turn he check raised me all in. Once again I had a good holding nevertheless I was taking some time to think about what he could have when suddenly he called the clock on me. I had only taken about a minute of time at the point where he called the clock on me. Once the clock time had been established the player began taunting me saying “He’s not going to call me” “He’s going to fold” “He’s wasting time.” I eventually did fold and the player mucked his hand. I feel as though he called the clock early and taunted me in the hopes of forcing me to make a mistake and call him with a weak holding. What is your take on calling the clock early on an opponent and taunting them?

Thanks.

I don't feel too strongly about the first one but I think it's a bit more likely to be a value bet than a bluff. Generally strange behavior associated with a bet will be strong hands, and reading a book after betting is pretty strange. I would think it's such an unusual behavior that he wouldn't want to do that when he was bluffing, just because he'd be afraid of his book-reading making you suspicious. But I don't feel too strongly about that.

The second one: yeah, I think goading makes strong hands a lot more likely from bettors. Calling the clock is a goading behavior. As are the obvious taunts. If he's a stranger to you, then it's very likely this is a strong hand. Some people might say "well, it could be a reverse tell and he could be doing this as a bluff to psych you out" but you just hardly ever see that, because players who don't know each other don't want to take the chance that the goading will trigger a call. People just don't it. The only time I've seen such behavior be a bluff is when it's two opponents who know each other pretty well and have some verbal history and like to try to psych each other out.

Unless it seems forced, a player returning back to his default or previous behavior (whether it is watching TV, messing with his phone, talking, watching his phone, or reading a book) tends to indicate relaxation, in my experience. This usually means strength. I would agree that this is a weak tell.

No reason to disagree so far ...

1) The going back to the book is meant to look like a ploy with regard to your aggressive play ... "I'll show you", but I've seen this plenty with my style and it's usually a very strong hand.

I will say that if you flat/raise here and then he doesn't go back to the book then it's a weaker hand that he now needs to readdress in his mind. I've never gotten a snap fold in this spot when I raised.

2) This one goes back to the 'opposite' rule ... A V will generally say the opposite of what he wants you to do FIRST. If the barrage continues then he will generally mix up the phrases so you can't get a read on what he's saying.

The calling of a quick clock usually is looking for a call. The 'caller' wants you to think he's weak and by giving you less time to think, then wont 'figure it out' to fold properly. I think in most 'clock' cases the 'caller' wants you to get pissed and 'just call'. I also agree that extended history with an opponent can sway this type of behavior towards more folds than calls. GL

Thanks for the input folks. Greatly appreciated.