Live poker tournaments and tells

[ph_il]

Just wondering, for those that play live tournaments, what are you looking for when it comes to tells?

Sometimes, they're pretty obvious. For example, I might know what the player behind me is going to do preflop based on what he is doing with his cards.
-he might be holding them, ready to muck when it gets to him.
-he might put a chip on his card and then pick up just enough to call when it gets to him.
-he counts out a raise prematurely before it gets to him.

Are these tells or just good observations? What about the other players? I try to watch and observe them and their actions but sometimes I feel it's information overload. Is it necessary to try and memorize everyone's body language when they play? I feel i have trouble reading body language at times. Are betting patterns what I should be paying more attention to than physical tells, especially in small buy-in tournaments?

For example, someone who bets out 1/3rd size pots on draws, valuable bets for 1/4th pot size with strong hands or nuts, and over bets pot on straight bluffs.

Im a lot better at memorizing these in players, but how reliable is it?

 

[therealslomo]

If these behaviors are consistant and result in the same end action every time then yes they are tells. Read em and Reap is a good book on live poker tells, as well as Mike Caro's book on tells.

 

[skaterick]

paying attention to bet sizing in live tourneys and live cash games will sometimes give you valuable information . in all tourneys , however, seats go busted and tables get re arranged , so observing enough hands to generate accurate info about any single player is tough .the larger buyins with longer levels provide better sets of data , but then you may face opponents who know you are watching them , and they might give little away or worse , provide you with false tells .