Breaking Tell Habits

I was watching old videos of Tom "Durr" and saw some more recent ones. For one, he learned to keep his mouth closed and 2, he has a piercing stare that is far more intimidating, or at least appears that way, on tv. He has made many adjustments to himself in order to be a great player, so this got me thinking about how to break habits and tendencies. They say 60 days is how you create a habit but how long to break one I wonder? I know everyone is different but learning to be deceptive and silence any subtle movements, tics, tension is not easily discovered nor destroyed. For me, it's hard to bluff because of my innate nature to want to be a smart-ass as well as honest. If you ever saw me in action, it would be as clear as water from fire.

I've learned to mask it by agreeing with my opponents when they start chatting and even at times just playing off their body language and not even looking at my cards. Not wise but it has helped me learn to watch wearily at the table on all hands and figure out the pattern each player goes by.

I learned a tell on most amateurs. Say there is a flush draw on the flop or turn, most amateurs will check their cards. 90% of the time they only have one of the matching suits therefore they don't have the flush.

Well with the saying that 60 days is what it takes to make a habit. Then the same can be used to break a habit. Due to the fact you make it a habit to break the habit.

You can create new habits out of previously held beliefs and practices. It's like learning how to change your penmanship after years of constant use. As hard as you try, little tendencies will always show through in the way you produce certain letters.

I always try to play the same way, I simply close my face when I'm playing, bluffing or not, I try to keep the same expression, of course I still have some unnecessary reactions, but this is a time consuming process, if self evaluating every second is something really laborious.

Got to be careful not to create "new" tells as you try to extinguish your "old" tells.

Tells are usually some behavior that informs your opponents about the strength of your hand and what they can expect you to do through the hand.

Often it is nervous behavior that are the easiest tells to pick-up on.

My point is that if you are extinguishing some nervous behavior - it will show up in some other way because one may still be "nervous".

Charles from M*A*S*H would whistle when he had nothing ! Once the table figured that out they gutted him. Don't feel bad he is from a very wealthy family in the US !

Good luck!

Mainly those who play live should always reinvent themselves if they always keep the same habits will end up becoming losers in the long run, nowadays players invest a lot in having a better personal reading, studying psychology and gestures.

Most tells are in betting patterns. In 20 something years of poker I have yet to see someone twist an Oreo as a tell.

MountHollyDK said:

Most tells are in betting patterns. In 20 something years of poker I have yet to see someone twist an Oreo as a tell.

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LOL... and agreed. Though, often, there will be a physical/audible tell that I cant quite pinpoint, but can sense. Something in the way the person is acting gives me the impression they are weak/strong/etc. Hardly anything obvious that I can use against them in a later hand.

Most often, the way a person bets is what I notice - maybe they bet a certain amount with a particular type of hand... or... check raise with monsters, check call or lead out with draws, over bet when bluffing... or maybe they always over bet the pot when bluffing.

Paying attention to whats happening at the table, and picking up on these types of tells, is how you'll end up coming out ahead in the long run.