FYP

imagine looking down and seeing pocket aces... then how do you react

then compare that to how you look down and see suited connectors

look in the mirror if you have to

The thing about tells is they only work for people that are undisciplined or new. Other than that, you get to angle. Against good players, angling can become a guessing game... but anything that makes them uncertain is good.

I will say that I think that this totally depends on the level that you play. I grind 2/1/2 NL live (Florida) but have been playing for a long time and at various limits. The players at SSNL in a live setting ooze tells. It's not things like eyebrows twitching but there are things, such as: when and how people gather their chips. People frowning when they have a strong hand. The pace at which they riffle their chips. There are a number of others, but the fact is that tells are abound in Live SSNL. Once you start watching the big things you notice the smaller things.

Tells are not physical things... they ARE betting patterns. The tells are 99% betting pattern and then you use problem solving to fill in the blanks in your information for your problem(poker hand) you may be able to use the aide of some information your opponent gives you through body language, but when you get a line on villians play and can read the general body language of your average person then you will be doing it right.


Also if he doesnt eat the oreo then bet!

The tells I look for the most are when opponents telegraph that they are going to fold or bet/raise. When I play limit, I check-raise a ton because of this.

I do not understand why some of you guys have so difficult to understand that some of us really CAN rely very much on live tells. You guys have no right to sit and decide what is possible or not, based on your own skills or experience!

Live tells are so much more than scratching nose when weak and bull**** like that. Live tells are much more complex.

I guess this is the reason you guys dont get it, is because you are thinking of "movie tells" from Rounders and similar. You know, everybody has different talents, one of my talents is being able to read people when I see them and talk with them. Simple as that.

Just because I can not do a specific thing, does not mean that no one else can not do it either. I suck at multitable online for instance, that does not mean that no one else can play well multitabling.

There are many experienced people in these forums. Yeah, not everyone is Phil Ivey, but there are many that have solid advice which could be quite helpful to those looking for input.

In my experience, decisions aren't made soley by reading tells... that would be insane... the normal route is that you put your opponent on a range of hands... the betting sequence with the given board texture doesn't make a heck of a lot of sense given the range you put on your opponent... you are confused (rightfully so)... so you think... is your bottom pair any good? If the hand range/betting sequence/board texture made sense, then you'd have instamucked the bottom pair already... it's those times where things just don't add up that should give you pause to carefully analyze the situation and look for a tell to help you make your final decision... and most of the time that confirming tell is the typical strong means weak tell (which can manifest itself in many different ways...)

That's only from my experience.... maybe you are different and blessed to be able to play soley from reading tells, but I don't think most of us have that gift unfortunately. I'm definitely not gifted enough to read tells every hand.... just on those <5% of hands that require a tough decision.... I give it a shot.

Offcourse I am approaching every hand the same way as you do and most others do. Offcourse I am looking for betting tendencies, logic in lines etc.

It is just so that I seem to have much more gain of watching and speaking with my opponents than some of you guys have.

I am sure tho, that many others can use live tells as much as I do. If not I am very blessed.

Edit. Now when I think about it, I first try to decide if my opponent seem secure with his hand or not. I can look for how fast he bet, how his voice sounded, how intrested he was of the flopcards?, if he tried to look weak or strong, is he a nit or a splasher?, how he sits, is he drunk? is he rich? is he acting?, etc, etc After that i go thru the same process as you do. If I still feel unsecure of my opponents strenght after this process, I try to speak with him or do other stuff, to see if I can get some tells out of him.

If the opponent speaks to me, I closely listen to what he says, how his voice sounds, if he seems relaxed or tense, if his mouth is tence, etc. If he does not speak I can get a tell from that too. For instance, if he is very talkable normaly but suddenly stops, is often a tell. I could go on and on at this subject.

Offcourse every tell means different things for different players, I believe it is here a skilled tellreader differencier him selfe from a non skilled.

At limits below NL 25/50 people usually socialise alot between hands and in hands, they are having a good time while playing poker. Therefore there are ALOT tells giving away if you know what to look for.

Agree. I've had players at the table talk to me commenting on hands, bad beat stories, discussing their personal views, etc. And from the conversations I've been able to get some sort of inkling of the type of opponents I'm up against.

Another aspect of tells in live poker that are important is the possibility of giving away false tells your selfe. Manipulating your opponent to do whatever you want him to do.

I often create levelling wars, when talking to my opponent in the hand. For an example acting and talking weak when I am bluffing to some opponents, or vice verca to other opponents.

If I play against a fish I often act really weak in a hand when I am bluffing, often he then thinks he is being smart and folds because he has read in a book that weak means strong at the pokertable. Etc, etc