Poker Tells (What You Know From Experience)

So I decided to create this thread because I am looking to expand my game well beyond the cards and the mathematics. Now I know that tells always pertain to previous actions, consistency of the "tellers" actions, the story of the hand (flop,turn,river), and so on and so forth. But I would like to hear from some experienced players that have won hands or have some very good examples of ways in which tells have helped them to win hands, and what some of those tells may have been whether they have been simple twitches, gestures, or betting patterns. I have read the book Read 'em and reap, and by reading it I have remembered specific past hands that could have been altered drastically had I read that book before they occurred. I just want to hear from you guys because I am very interested in learning a lot more about this topic.

Yeah this is something i have been very interested in lately during live play as being able to read players lets you truly dominate and outplay people. A few players that i play with at a local game have a few tells that i have picked up on. One player when he has a monster pocket pair will often place chips on top of them as if to protect them from something happening, so that tell has often got me out of hands i would normally call his raise with. Another player always blinks constantly when he is bluffing or betting into a hand he hasnt made yet (drawing hands) or just a weak pair that he knows are no good.
I also notice the way people put out chips is a huge one, e,g if they place the chips in a pile or splash them over the table often is a tell.
I just try to do everything the same at the table, like where i place my cards and hands during a hand and even count my breathing sometimes (to slow down when im in a big hand) and especially watch out how you put chips in the middle because that is a huge tell on alot of players.
I am no reading machine though, I am still trying everytime i play to improve that aspect of my game along with others.
Good luck though and im very interested in this thread.

I would like to contribute to this great thread.

First of all, I believe tells are player specific for the most part. But some common tells are:

Heavy breathing. You can see the players shoulders rising up and down, you may even hear them breathing hard. Most of the time, this is when someone flops a BIG hand. However, people do this sometimes when they are bluffing.

Trembling hands. You can see this tell easily, as it will be difficult for the player to place his bet because he is so shaky. Not always, but most of the time this tell indicates a big hand or monster draw.

The intimidation tell:
This is more of a general body language tell. This is when a player will try to stare you down or splash the pot very aggressively. It may seem as if they are trying to bully you out of the pot. However, if they had a great hand, why are they trying to make you fold? Many times (but not always), this may be a player who totally missed the flop, but is trying to win the pot.

As with all tells, they are not always accurate, and experienced players may project incorrect tells on purpose (I sure do).

So take this post with a grain of salt. Just my $0.02

Tells are very hard to pick up nowadays. What used to be a tell for weakness is now a tell for strength. It also varies between players.

I played at a table at Foxwoods (2-5)no limit and the guy to my right would get happy feet when he was strong. 5 hours later into the session a new player sits down and he gets happy feet. I assume he is strong. He then showed a bluff for about $700 to player across the table. The player could not see his feet. #pokersissick

I have found theses to be very reliable at 1/2 NL and in home games. I have only played one gut who was a good actor with very convincing false tells. Once I caught on, I just let him bluff off his chips.

people lean forward when they have a good hand very often.
Drinking while waiting, or self massaging are usually very weak hands
Sighing while calling, or sadly saying something like ok, while putting money in the pot -very strong
speech before betting is often the nuts

the book of tells and read em and reap are actually surprisingly accurate.

I play in local rooms in New Hampshire. I have noticed a few, a regular I play with when he bet the river he sometimes rubs his eye when he has a strong hand. Another rubs his thumb in a soothing motion when he is put to the test with a weak hand. Can`t wait to read more!

Some good input so far.

I recently read an article (I'll try to find it) that talks about a specific tell. Basically it talks about the length of time a player looks at their hole cards. Saying that players will instinctively look away from their hole cards faster when they have a premium hand. Not sure how accurate but it was a pretty good read.

The most important tell that was described in Read em and Reap was definitely the fight or flight when faced with aggression. Joe Navarro (the FBI guy), related the whole poker situation to meeting a bear in the forest unexpectedly. His most interesting point was before we decide to fight or flight, the first step is freeze. I was beyond impressed with this because it is true and I myself have done it. I am generally a very outgoing person and talk at a table and such, but sometimes when I bluffed, I literally froze. We freeze because its your minds way of thinking you will not be noticed, AKA when you are bluffing you want to draw as little attention to yourself as possible. So if you see that someone has been talking alot after betting in hands and then suddenly they get in a big hand, place a big bet, and then freeze up, there might be a chance that they are bluffing. I have found this tell to work consistently and it also helped me to plug up a leak in my live tells.

Loving this thread so far, keep it coming folks.

Disassociation - flopped a set or better? Then your eyes are are going to stay away from the board/table/action in an attempt to communicate there is nothing there that helped you. An effort to draw attention AWAY from your monster.

Still looking at the board? Trying to figure out what needs to happen for you to get back in the hand (complete a draw, hit your over card, etc).

I'm going to give you a very accurate tell- I'm even apprehensive of giving this away because we might see each other in the card room and you could use it against me, or most of my opponents will now be aware of this tell and will not be giving away their money anymore LOL. But I am generous and that's who I am, besides i learned a lot here picking up some insights on you guys. It's time to give something back.
When a person bets or raises on the flop or later street ( pre-flop bets or raises are somewhat of less importance, because there are no cards yet on the board, and most big pots are won post flop), look at the direction of their eyes after they bet. If they look to their left, they are almost telling the truth. If they look to their right, either they are bluffing or they only have a so so hand. These are involuntary tells but can be manipulated by a very very good players. But most players in lower stakes can't fake this. And this tell is not even just for poker. You can even use this in a non poker related situations. I won a lot of pots because of this. Although it's harder to recognize their eye movement when they are wearing shades, i just rely on their head tilting towards the direction i am looking for. Hope i am able to contribute a little here..

I'll go you one better Chipper and tell you why.

If the eyes go to the right (especially in an upward motion) it is indicative of the individual accessing the right side of the their brain - the creative side - or the lying/bluffing side. Left is the analytical, just the facts ma'am, side of the brain.


HOWEVER - as with any tell - it is not automatic. You have to test and confirm it before you want to involve your money on it. Hopefully someone you are observing has to go to showdown without you in the hand so you can verify without risking chips. Then again sometimes it's worth the investment.

On this particular tell (as with all of them) it is very dependent on the individual and specifically how their brain is wired. It may not be wired or balanced normally (and that seems pretty common with poker players ). We are seeing more and more (and more) left brain dominate players. They could be so left brain dominate that parts of that side has taken over some creative functions - like maybe bluffing. So again, verify your suspicions about tells before you stack off on them.

Not to burst any bubbles (no pun intended) but the correlation between eye movement and truth/lying has been mostly disproven by research.

With that, I agree completely with MediaBlitz that tells are very player dependent. Pay lots of attention to the table, especially when you aren't even in the hand. Learn specific tells but be very cautious about applying them to other players.

MediaBLITZ said:

HOWEVER - as with any tell - it is not automatic. You have to test and confirm it before you want to involve your money on it. Hopefully someone you are observing has to go to showdown without you in the hand so you can verify without risking chips.

Click to expand...

This. +100. Very important for anyone taking info from this thread.

nabmom said:

Not to burst any bubbles (no pun intended) but the correlation between eye movement and truth/lying has been mostly disproven by research.

Click to expand...

That was quite a bubble burst lol.

bump, theres gotta be some more people with some useful input.

I would like to add something else.

Tells are very helpful, if you are lucky enough to spot them. However, the best indicator of someones holdings (to me anyway) is my thought process during the hand.

Always ask yourself "why is my opponent/s doing that?"

If you have seen a half a million hands, it becomes easier to see through the BS. So experience is really paramount in reading other players.

Tells are pretty rare. If you ask yourself "why" you may not need tells at all. If it seems like your opponent wants you to fold, disappoint him. Vice versa....

a tell ive picked up on recently is when opponents ask how much u have left postflop then raise you or bet into you after asking you how much you have left its very often a bluff . And when oppenents use there bigger denominations of chips to bet or is chip shuffling there bigger chips this is also a precurser to a bluff. Lots of reads are definately player dependant as i know a player who is deadly silent when bluffing and very talkative when he has it and another player is the total opposite.

Watch the corners of the mouth.If one side turns up in what appears to be a sneer, that player is unhappy with the hand's progression.

Haven't read any of the replys so excuse me if this has already been said but by far the most important thing you can do in holdem (and stud) is to look at people when they are looking at the flop/their draw card. There's specific things to look for and many of them are well known so I wont re-hash those, but the best way to learn to "read" people is to do it in real-time and at the table. People are unique and can't be put into absolutes much of the time. Do this when you are not in the hand as well and learn. Then do it over and over and over again and for every person, every day, every hand. You'll soon see some things that are almost universal, as well as the nuances different people have that could help in a tough spot.

It's important that they don't know this though, and I wouldn't suggest being intimidating staring ppl down or just plain weird (like a lame TV stare off).

I'd suggest dark glasses to be honest. I'm fully aware people like to make fun of them (on the internet) but there's reasons some people like to hate on nits and ppl who wear sunglasses etc (again, on the internet. You wont have anyone be an ass about it at a table). Dark glasses are not about hiding your own tells imo (or being a douche ). They are about being able to see things w/o ppl knowing it and/or being awkward or intimidating. It's even better if you can do it w/o the glasses, but again you have to do it in such a way as to not make it an issue.

like with all body language reading you need to get a baseline of their behaviour. watch players out of pots to see how they act, are they relaxed? how to they play with their chips, are they moving all the time? are they usually still?, do they look people in they eye when speaking etc.

then look at how they act in a hand and correlate the info you have. after this is done you can start to look for discrepancies in their body language:

Why did a guy who is usually laid back and relaxed in his chair suddenly sit forward and pay attention?
This guy is usually very loud and aggressive, why is he suddenly quiet?
etc
soon you will notice patterns in their play and be able to associate it with the body language to get a read on their cards.

While tells are a big part of live poker, they can be a bit vague and intangible. the standard tells discussed in mike caro's book of tells and other books are pretty good, but not 100% reliable. you have to do a lot of observation of your own to get better, more reliable reads.