Not looking at your pocket cards until its your turn to act.

Quite a few pros seem to do this live
Is this the best way of doing it because you don't give reads to people acting before you and you can focus on reading them first?

I always try to do this live, better to be paying attention to the other players, and wait for your turn to act to look at your cards, imo. So to answer your question yes.

I try to practice it as well.....it does help not to give anything away and lets u focus on there tells....Very good habit to get into!

Yeah, there are several tells that can occur from looking at your cards out of turn. Just a bad habit to get into.

Well, I guess I better learn to be more patient about looking. Great advice!

i love it when people to my left and the blinds check their hole cards , it is lots of good free information on how to play my hand.

I read another take on this topic in Bluff magazine that I tend to agree with and try to practice the few times I play live.

It stated that if you are not good at reading physical tells from your opponents that you should concentrated on not giving tells yourself. Thus rather than waiting for your turn and having everyone at the table looking at you. You should rather go ahead and look at your cards before play comes to you. The one thing he did stress was that no matter what your cards you act the same in every occassion.

nc_royals that is true, but how are you going to ever get good at picking up tells if you are not looking for them?

The good thing is that when you wait you can look at the action and determine what kind of a hand you need to play. When you look at your cards and don't see a very good hand it is easy to just doze off and miss situations where you could have made some money.

Also at times people are afraid to slow the game down, but looking at your cards when it is your turn actually isn't a lot slower as you see the action and most times will know what kinds of hands can be played.

i think that if you find a time to peak at them well no ones looking works too, i try to not look till my turn but that comment about having everyone looking at you kinda makes me think... it helps when bluffing tho cause everyone watches you peak and bet right away, so it shows strength... so i might have to switch it up alittle to see what the response is and get back to you guys on this one...

i dont really think that it hurts me... i just look at them and then put a chip on the cards and then when its my turn i either raise or bet...

It might hurt some people who are very telling or frustrated during the day.. i try to stay on an even plain

I think giving off tells is mostly due to not having played enough live poker. You just need to get your aces cracked a few times before you can start to not care so much about getting them.

I don't know about others, but I don't have many problems with giving off tells. As far as I know I have only ever once given a definite tell to my opponent and that was when I was very hungover. Maybe in the beginning I was giving something away, but not much as of late.

I agree it good tp pay attention to other players while they look at their cards. But in live play I often try to sneak a peak at my cards if I don't think anyone is looking. That way when it is my turn I can seem to make a play without looking or when I look again I won't be giving a tell as I already know my cards. But another tip I would give you and you probably already know is to watch the players on the flop not the cards. the cards will be there the players reaction to them will not be there long in most cases.

I used to do this all the time when playing.
I have found it go either way for me,just depends on my table and my table image.
I have found when waiting to long to look that I find the whole table looking at me waiting on me to make a desion.
I sometimes will take a quik look,then watch the opther player sin the hand then take another look into it.

I think late in tournys is a good idea. I personally don't make a point to do it in cash games. If you have a good pre-flop routine you should do fine. Look at the cards and react the same way every time. Players that wait to look at their cards gives the table a spot light to look at them with. Id rather peek at them quickly and view the entire table as they see their cards.

Why would you look at your cards before it's your turn to act and possibly give someone information about your reaction that they wouldn't otherwise have? And wear shades so your eyes don't give away your premium hands.

Also try looking at your opponent(s) when the flop is turned over. I think you might pick up something by focusing on them instead of the cards (which aren't going anywhere and will look the same 10 seconds later).

When I am actually paying attention while playing online, as in studying my opponents & paying attention to the pot size & their stacks & such I cover my hole cards, figure it will help when I get to play live.

The biggest tell live is when players that are yet to act and they position their cards a certain way like they are going to fold (just like the auto-fold button online).

I have to disagree on the shades part. I used to wear them when I was starting out, but now I feel I can see my opponents, cards, the board and the whole action better without them.

People here seem to be too worried about giving off tells since there isn't that many players that are going to cold read your eyes for knowledge of monster hands.

If you want to lessen the amount of tells, start with the basics like not displaying intentions like folding and figuring what the other player has instead of feeling too exited about your big hand.

I like to wait to look at my hole cards till the action is on me. I rarely see people do this course i play in somewhat lower buy in tourneys. I also feel like this gives people an image that i know what i am doing more. Some times when i look at my cards before the action is on me i feel like i way be giving something up.
For instance an easy tell to read on people is when they look at their chips they may tend to bet or raise. I have caught myself doing this so i tend to avoid the hole cards till the action is on me.

I dunno if it's the "best" way of doing it, but those are certainly the reasons for doing it: if you haven't looked at your cards, you can't give away any information about how good they are.

Not having looked at your cards also means you're not as influenced in the way you study the other players. If you look at your cards right away and you see 73o, you're probably not going to bother studying the other players because you know whatever happens you're going to fold.

The flipside to it though is that if you wait until it's your turn to act before looking at your cards then everyone will be looking at you when you do it. You can counter that by practicing some tell-concealing behaviour - watch pretty much any televised footage of Chris Ferguson and just copy the pose he strikes every single hand, that's as good a start as any to tell concealment.

Read 'em and Reap by Joe Navarro has a very good chapter on tell concealment too (it breaks down why the Chris Ferguson pose works, and covers some other stuff besides).

I agree with the two fold aproach to not looking until it is your turn. 1 if your looking at your cards your not looking at the other players for tells. 2 If you can pick up on some tells by not looking at your cards that good but also by wathing the betting patterns as they happen you can first off have an idea as to what cards you may want before you even think about playingand second it won't give you an opportunity to fall in love with your cards and play based on what others have done before you also.

I ALWAYS wait to look at my cards until the action is on me, ring games, tourneys, etc;

People give off so many tells when they peak ahead of time:
Leaning forward and looking anxious (great hand)
Look at their chips (some do it so quickly it is easy to miss if you don't watch them which can happen if you are sneaking a peak at your cards) which indicates they want to raise
Grabbing a card cover and placing it over their cards (indicates they are going to be in the hand)
Grabbing chips in advance and holding them in their closed hand (have to watch carefully for how much they grab - are they limping or raising?)
Positioning their cards out away from them (indicates a fold)
Positioning their cards close to them (indicates they are staying in)
Lean back in their chair after looking (indicates a fold)
Look up at the tv or somewhere else (non interest, folding)
Look closely at other players (they are staying unless they are attempting to read others)
Tight squeeze of their cards (good hand)
Loosely drop their cards back down (bad hand)
Stop chewing their gum briefly (great hand)
Keep chewing their gum (okay to bad hand)
Shake their leg (very good hand)
Hands shake slightly for a moment (monster hand)
Start sweating (monster hand)
Wipe their hands on their pants (monster hand or difficult decision)
Let out a noticeable breath of air (monster hand or difficult decision hand)
Body tenses (great hand)

This list isn't complete and these aren't all 100% but once you have sized up the caliber of your opps then for the bad players or inexperienced ones it's pretty darn close.

I pick up on so many tells while playing, many of them happen so fast you really have to be watching the person. If they are wearing glasses it is harder as those who do a quick glance down towards their chips often don't move their head, just their eyes.

Watching others really helps me to make my decisions when I look at my cards. I can almost "insta-decide" what I am going to do as soon as I see my cards because I already have reads on some (sometimes many) of my opps. I might throw away my QJ su in the co because I know the nit in the sb is going to raise or reraise pf. I might throw out a healthy size raise in the co with my 24su because I know the blinds are going to fold if I do because of the way they looked at their cards and other tells they gave off.

For those that "sneak a peak" live - you have to play the way that is most comfortable for you. Just consider the above and stop and think if you do any of these things when you look before your turn. Players like you help me to make decisions when I look at my cards. Of course there are some who may give off fake tells, but not very many.

Stormraven. A concise collection of tells which i use to my advantage. I like to do the opposites of all the things you have mentioned.

Excellent list StormRaven.

Obviously you've gotta study your opponents for a bit to ensure the tells are accurate for them. But on the whole that's very good general advice. Kudos

Nice list. but what if they do it backwards, forward. <<<<That would make a great player.
I have sweat on my hands all the time, that would lead to a real bad miss read.

To be honest I've heard all of the arguments for this, but tell me, if you really can't keep your poker face on preflop...what happens on the river, when you know your cards, and all of a sudden you make your flush draw for the nuts in a massive pot?

2. when you're looking at cards when its your turn, now everybody is staring right at you...you're under the spotlight. Isn't it better to sneak a peek at some random time when the whole table isnt staring right at you?

You have to get the right mindset to confuse the other players, if you get AA, you need to think "Damn, now Im gonna get my aces cracked and loose a lot, but I have to play them". If you really think that way you might give away tells that confuse your opponents .

If your face has tells, well use a box
Watch Phil, when he is playing, you will see he takes all tells away.

I tend to mix it when I play live, sometimes have a peek at the deal, other times wait until its my turn. The problem with "tells" is that there is often as much skill in bluffing a tell as bluffing the hand.

I tend to find the only problem with having a peek at the deal in late position is that when it comes to your turn to act you may have to have another look just to confirm you have what thougt you have, giving your opps double opportunity to read you. Alzheimers ain't a poker players best friend.

Isnt the biggest tell in poker acting opposite of your cards. Trying to act weak with a monster... and acting strong with weaker hands??? I dont necessarily agree with your approach.

alot of ppl do this for some reason and it wastes time like omg look at ur hand quicker pls.

i play alot of live poker and time wasting tasks are the worst part... like it isnt slow enough already ffs. I would employ this maybe in a mega tourney like a 10k, or wsop event when I was deep in a tourney like above said.

I find when I play life people think I am easy to read, and are often mistaken, I have certain attributes I cannot control but Have learned to use this to my advantage.

First of I have an anxiety disorder thus cannot control shaking or stilted talking and the likes when I am making a pot big.

Naturally people put me on a big hand and get out the way, But i do bluff more then I should because of this, because I find I have the exact same reaction when I am bluffing as when I have a big hand. I'm either nervous for fear of been called or nervous for fear of lack of action, but the fact is I am nervous and I just look nervous, so they think there getting tells when there not if that makes any sense.

I adapt my behavior on viewing my cards accordingly. When the tournament has just started I tend to obey the rule of waiting till the action is on me before I look at my cards, this way I can react to the action and get reads but interestingly I can notice how people are going to respond to my anxiety disorder when I do enter pots, its best to do this early on and get a picture then to have to deal with it later on without a picture.

Then I can get a double up or two if they read it as weak or steal a lot of pots if they read as strong.

If they read this as strong and later I am short stacked I will look at my cards as soon as I get them and position my chips ready to shove so my body language shows I am going to shove I do this with a wide range because I have a lot of fold equity this way and thus can shove with any pair any two face cards and any suited connectors.

I also do the same when I have a healthy stack in late position, because I can play a similar range if I can get in for cheap, when people can visibly see I am going to play a hand I either get respect and thus can have it folded round to me and steal the blinds or someone will try slow play me in which case I can take long shots at trips, and if I can get a good read suited connectors.

I am not good at reading physical tells, but I can recognize betting patterns sometimes. For example I bluffed someone of pocket queens with 35 suited by the nervous body language and a good bet read. flop came A97 they bet out but bet seemed smaller then usual I knew if they had a big ace they would have checked it to me so I would make a bluff, based on previous hands. I knew right away or was pretty sure they had QQ it was a pair and it was probably higher then 10s. I dunno why I thought so sure on QQ rather then any other choices but I was pretty sure it was QQ. I stuck in a nice sized re raised they said AK? threw there hand over QQ.

Thus I think generally it depends on the situation like everything else in poker. Generally however Unless you have an anxiety disorder too or are playing against a body language psychologist with a PHD I doubt it would make a massive difference once your experienced and hands become routine rather then special.

When I was just playing live--I would wait until it got to me, but while I was waiting I would watch the action and think about what sort of hand it would take for me to remain in the hand. IE if there was a 3x raise or something I would need a hand AQ+ or a pocket pair. It makes throwing away AJ or KQ a lot easier when you've already made the decision before looking.

This

Yup - this is the main reason I do it nowadays as well. I noticed that I would see a decent hand like KQ and decide it was good. When it got raised I had trouble changing that opinion. Now I take that time to watch the other players, think about what they could have and who I have position on. When it comes to me I can usually make a very fast decision so I'm not slowing anything down.