Body Language

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soillwill

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Does anyone study body language beyond a passing glance? I feel that understanding cultural norms, speaking patterns along with psychology of con artists, thieves and other jobs that require moments of dishonesty mixed in among the facts. I do in my personal time and find that a great deal of factors can expose the truth if you are able to spot the moments they flash. Most of the time micro-expressions show our true state of mind but can be missed if you blink or aren't paying full attention.

No one can cover up every sign and its obvious when someone is just trying to through you off. unless you are a sociopath or psychopath, who literally exhibit no remorseful behavior naturally, then you will give yourself away. But you have to have a serious memory and able to spot micro-patterns like a super computer.
 
This Fish Chums

This Fish Chums

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Live Play Superstition or Genius?

I have absolutely no ability to read tells. Every time I think I've figure out someone's tell it ends up being the opposite of what I thought and I get hammered. However, I do have a strategy/superstition when it comes to my own tells. What I do is in my head I tell myself over and over that I have the opposite hand of what I really have. I try to force myself to truly believe I have different cards in the hopes that my body will produce tells which are the opposite of what I actually have. I have no clue if this actually works which is what my make this a superstition, but it's better than any other superstition I've heard of.
 
rikisrakis

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Personally I am of the opinion that you should avoid trying to incorporate tells and reads into your game altogether unless you are extremely skilled at reading body language, or you are playing with someone who you are very familiar with, i.e. someone who has a tell that has proven to be consistent over time.

Otherwise, don't waste your time. I think a lot of novice players assume that poker is all about hard reads because of what they see in movies and stuff, but ultimately all it does is blind them from playing correctly. If you commit to an action because of a read you have made, you are often opting to make a play that is not mathematically sound, and if you end up being wrong it can be an extremely costly mistake. I think it is much safer and more profitable for the vast majority of players to give no weight whatsoever to your opponents' physical behavior, so that they cannot deliberately influence your decisions, and you will not end up making any risky offside plays based on a hunch.

See below for a classic example.

 
Tony Vayer

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I don't study body language. My tongue is studying my wife's body.:p:D:p
 
whiskers77

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It is an interesting topic, absolutely! I guess, especially when you are playing live games. I heard first time about it in one communication training for my job and I was fascinated about this.
I just can say few things about usual communication, e.g.:
If someone puts his head back in direction of the neck, it means, that the person is already kinda "fed up" and not wants to listen further.
Putting the head to the side, you can expect this person as listening and thoughtful.
Putting fingers/hands in front of the mouth shall mean, that this person not really want to talk about this topic. And so on and so on....

About life games, I just heard, that the feets shall give a lot of information about someone, because the most try to control face or hands, but not the feets...
 
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soillwill

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I can see that way of thinking. In my opinion, i think it is an important aspect to understand as well as the game in every game that is played. Be board, table or athletic. Exploiting an opponents mental state is a high function of the game, think about it. if you are playing in a card game and someone hits your table with 10x the amount of chips anyone at the table has, you will automatically play a lot tighter because of the financial edge they literally have over the table. This can force some players to be overly cautious or aggressive to try and win against them. Like wise, the player with the most chips can just sit back and study every player at the table and collect great intel against them or just straight up pay to see if you have what you have in order to gauge your betting patterns.
 
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Joonnn1212

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I place no credence in live reads when I am playing against strangers at a casino. The only time I do incorporate a little bit of analysis of body language into my decision is when I'm playing against my friends who I've played with for years at my home game. Some of them just play for fun and can be very face up emotionally about the strength of their hand:D
 
Ninja Jyraia

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I have no ideia how to read someones body.The PRO´s say that this is a powerful tool to be a winner in live poker.I need to learn the body language.
 
quick

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While not always the case, generally if someone is breathing heavy or rapidly while in a hand they usually have a big hand or if in a pot and making a bet/facing a big bet where they think they're hand is good...look closely. That's why if you wear slightly looser fitting darker colored shirts you can reduce the amount of breathing changes visible. Sure some people are just running on adrenaline when playing for lots of money but still in a big hand you're going to be amped up.

Another usually good tell is seeing someone's pupils suddenly change size. It's uncontrollable and, if you notice when in a romantic encounter, if someone is very sexually attracted to you they're pupils will often grow large when looking at you. And when your beautiful turn card hits giving you the nut full house...your pupils may widen. Obviously if there's a sudden change in lighting brightness that messes up the tell a bit.

Sweating and/or shaking when reaching for chips can be a tell but can be unreliable as many health issues can cause these physical symptoms.

Also some players will look at their hole cards differently when dealt big hole cards than with junk. I've noticed that players who want to fold their hands will move them around face down a lot and push them forward a little without realizing it. But again it depends. Then, as Negreanu has pointed out, people often look down at their chips which to him is a tell that they're going to bet, but I'd take that with a grain of salt as people do look down randomly.

Mostly physical tells are overrated though and should be considered but not used as rock solid proof of accuracy of your read.
 
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soillwill

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From playing online to live tables for cash vs. tournament play the differences are very noticeable to an average player. People are more uptight or overly confident in their playing style. It's not hard to gauge the players that are lost in the lights but even columbus found cuba instead of india and still benefited from it. I don't go hard on these players until after I have a good feel about their playing style, if I'm catching middling pairs that is.
 
steelheart

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First you need to learn how to control your body and remain cold as ice. Only then, once you have perfect emotional control, you can proceed to deceiving others with fake signals. It is likely to take you a long time to master, but it is worth it.
 
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