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.
^^^Great point.
Like I stated originally, a lot depends on the caliber of your opps, you need to size them up.
chug - if you are that good that you can do the opposite of all of these things on a regular basis and pull it off on a regular basis then you are indeed a great read on others and a great player. I did mention people do the opposite sometimes and when you do this, sometimes it pays off, sometimes many other tells, betting patterns, etc; come into play and it doesn't work out. As originally stated, you have to do what is most comfortable for you.
Oz - thanks for the compliment
I did not mention your example as it is a great one and you had already posted it. If you look in advance at a hand like 73 os then you might tune out to others which won't effect you during that hand as you plan to fold anyways but could be a big mistake for a future hand because you've tuned out others.
Kid - you are right, if they mix it up then it certainly sends out cross signals and makes reads harder. This is why you size up your opps and of course preflop are not the only reads to look for. As for the sweating hands, there are many players with the same problem and therefore you know to not go by that. I see these players all the time and look for their other tells as the sweat is not a viable read for them. I mentioned these are not 100% accurate for all but for the noobs mostly it works great.
Cubin - if you can't control your poker face preflop then it is doubtful you'll be able to control it postflop and both will be detrimental to your game and this is too important of an area to not concentrate working on. I like to take a couple of things and concentrate on those things till I feel comfortable with them before moving on to trying to concentrate on any other new things. Try concentrating on this for a bit until you feel more comfortable that you aren't giving visible tells to your opps while playing live. I think the above also answers your second point/question. If being under the spotlight makes you nervous then even if you've already sneaked a peak then chances are you are giving off some sort of tell to your opps anyways. Stuck between a rock and a hard place you are until you get more comfortable.
bogweed - yes, I see people looking again more than once at their cards, either because they forgot a card, a suit or want to confirm they have what they think they have. Might as well wait until it is your turn, this gives you time to study your opps and do what Thewall has suggested, think ahead what range of hand you should have to call/raise based upon the action ahead of you before you look.
ncroyals - good point, that is a big tell, acting opposite. Not all do of course but good point.
Monoxide - I agree to a point. It is usually the "drama queens/kings" who want to hollywood out every hand or the very inexperienced that take a long time. Either way it certainly won't matter for if you are none of these. I pretty much have my mind made up of what hands I need to do what with before it's my turn and look so my decisions are very quick. I do not slow the game down at all by waiting and neither do many of the experienced players I play with. That's okay, either category above usually are easy reads so they take some time but I take their money, lol. As for waiting for a big tourney, why? Isn't better to get the habit and experience in the smaller ones so you don't make a mistake in the larger ones, therefore developing good habits as to not screw up in the bigger ones and to continue practicing your reads on various types and skill sets of opps?
Luke - I play with a couple of people with an anxiety disorder, my husband has one and you've brought up a good point. I know with these people whenever they are in a big pot they are going to shake due to nerves. They shake when they have a big hand and they shake when they are bluffing. It took me a few hands to figure out this guy I play with about once a week. I used to think he shook only when he had a good hand I did fold a better hand to him once because of it. Because of him I have learned to closely watch those who shake often and they do shake differently depending on the monster vs bluff hand. This one guy (Paul) finally asked me how I was able to read him so well. I told him he shook.. He laughed, said he shook all the time so it didn't matter. I just said, okay, you're right, and walked away. But he doesn't shake the same way. He shakes even more when he is bluffing than when he has a monster. He concentrates harder on not shaking to not give away his monster than when he is bluffing - pay attention to your game and ask someone who is GOOD with reads if they can tell the difference. Paul also shakes both his hands and left leg while bluffing, his left hand handling the chips and his left leg shake less with a monster. Seriously ask someone to watch you, you may be shaking differently than you thought. We all notice things about ourselves and then there are other things we don't notice at all until someone else points them out.
Reducto - exactly, you might make your mind up in advance and have trouble changing it if you look ahead of time. Not all people do this but most have at one point or another.
***Like I said, it's my personal preference to look at my cards only when the action is on me. I strongly recommend it because I am quite good at reads during live play, I have regulars asking me to watch them and depending on who it is I will. I pick up on stuff that many others don't and the few times I will agree to watch another player I will often find something they had no idea about and were certain they gave off no tells. Then when I tell them what type of hand they had based on my observations they believe. Where I play I prefer playing with the tourists than the regulars, I make more money this way so I don't mind helping a select few of the regulars with this. Online, I am terrible with tells. I rely on betting patterns instead of the time they take to do something unless I pick up on a consistency and even then I'm not very good.
You have to do what is comfortable for you, I'm a strong advocate for waiting and have listed my reasons why. If you play better and don't give off tells by sneaking a peak then do what works for you. I'm not telling people that my way is the only way, just why this works for me and that I'm good at it live. Others are very good with their reads in other ways.
Sorry for the long post, no more long responses unless someone has a direct question. If this helps some, great, if it doesn't then ignore it, no skin off my back either way.
