Posted Mon Apr 25, 2005 1:44 pm GMT by dopemope223
I'm new at this forum and i think tells are a very important part of poker. at weak tables it makes all the difference, but i wanted to make a list of all possible poker tells which you have picked up over playing. I intend to print this off and study it...
Sum tells which i have come apon playing are.
-staring at their card on the flop and then at their chips(i've read ppls hands blind this way)
-ther leg starts shaking everytime they had a hand
-their eyes dart around the table speedly after they hit the flop
-when their bluffing there chest is moving more the normal because of their heavy breathing
-they won't look you in the eye when their bluffing
-they cover there mouth hiding a smile(which is stupid cause everyone knows that one)
I know all tells are relavent to the person that your playing and to put sum1 on a hand you need a variety of info such as betting patterns, player type ect, but adding anymore to this list would be helpful...
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Posted Mon Apr 25, 2005 1:51 pm GMT by Geno
Like he says in Rounders - if he is a fish, he'll act meek when he has a hand, and strong when he doesn't. That is often true. Watch for people suddenly getting chatty or hurrying play along, it's often a good indication that they have a hand.
Posted Tue Apr 26, 2005 10:29 pm GMT by tame_deuces
Depends on the players.
For inexperienced players repeated calling often means chasing. Well, for those that I have played against  Betting pattern is often the simplest key against many, many players. In my most horrific scenario I remember one guy I played against live. He always checked if he didn't hit in EP. Quite often by simply calling his raises preflop when he was in earlier position than me and betting when he checked->Instant fold. How's that for helping on implied odds. But I guess that was a pretty extreme scenario, and that he didn't catch on was strange.
+ You got the usual Caro's tells stuff that probably lies about in a thread here somewhere too.
Posted Tue May 03, 2005 4:22 pm GMT by kellerumd
One I have noticed recently is when someone has a hand, they will be ready to flip their cards over and they will be playing with them a lot and picking them up off the table. I think its just cause they are really excitied to show them. I noticed it on one big pot and got burnt by trips.
Posted Thu May 19, 2005 11:57 am GMT by weirpougs
| Quote: | | be ready to flip their cards over and they will be playing with them a lot and picking them up off the table |
glad i read this cause i'm sure i can pick up on this on our group games - i'm sure ive done it as well.
| Quote: | | they cover there mouth hiding a smile(which is stupid cause everyone knows that one) |
i love that one! but when i play i seem to have a grin on my face all the time :D making it immpossible for anyone to know when i'm serious!
one tell i think is obvious: when the cards a delt and anyone is having a drink they sudenly put their drink out of the way - could be seen as if they have picked up something.
oh and shaky hands, but once a beer is down everyone no one does it.
Posted Thu May 19, 2005 2:10 pm GMT by Imajica1975
as far as live tells go, my favorite one so far is:
I host about 7 or 8 people in a tourney every other week or so. One of the chairs I used to use is a recliner. Its the kind of chair that leans back a little, so it just kinda "sucks you in."
Well, long story short, every time the guy sitting in this chair would have a hand, he would lean forward. When he was bluffing or didn't have squat, he would lean back to a more comfortable position in the chair.
After he got knocked out, I told him his tell. Now no-one wants to use the "comfy chair."
Posted Fri May 20, 2005 7:29 am GMT by fiezk
| kellerumd wrote: | | One I have noticed recently is when someone has a hand, they will be ready to flip their cards over and they will be playing with them a lot and picking them up off the table. I think its just cause they are really excitied to show them. I noticed it on one big pot and got burnt by trips. |
Pre flop the opposite is often true. If someone looks at his or her cards for the first time and suddenly looks away, it's an indication that he/she has a strong hand. Most of the time people get nervous when looking down at a big pair, AK, etc.
Posted Tue Jun 07, 2005 12:39 pm GMT by TallBrad
I have two friends who, pre-flop, I could always tell if they liked their hand.
One guy would look at his cards as soon as he got them, if he liked them he would stack them neatly on top of each other. If he didn't like them, he would leave them on the table in a messy pile. Also, if he really liked them, he would stack them neatly, then stare at his chips as he was trying to see how much he would raise.
The other guy, his was the same as the one mentioned by fiezk, if he liked his hand, he would stare off to his left and act as if he was dis-interested.
Unfortunately now both of them don't look at their cards until it is their turn to play. Those tells saved me lots of chips, when I was going to try and bluff at the blinds.
Posted Tue Jun 07, 2005 1:00 pm GMT by JustinHEMI04
| TallBrad wrote: | I have two friends who, pre-flop, I could always tell if they liked their hand.
One guy would look at his cards as soon as he got them, if he liked them he would stack them neatly on top of each other. If he didn't like them, he would leave them on the table in a messy pile. Also, if he really liked them, he would stack them neatly, then stare at his chips as he was trying to see how much he would raise.
The other guy, his was the same as the one mentioned by fiezk, if he liked his hand, he would stare off to his left and act as if he was dis-interested.
Unfortunately now both of them don't look at their cards until it is their turn to play. Those tells saved me lots of chips, when I was going to try and bluff at the blinds. |
Similar to the stacking I have noticed that if players are coming into the pot, they will put their card protector on the cards. If not, they don't bother. That is why I go through the same routine regardless of my cards.
Justin
Posted Wed Jun 08, 2005 12:13 pm GMT by Oldgzer
A few I've noticed:
--Two guys I frequently play with will always start SLOWLY reaching for their chips if the board has helped them at all. As they're looking at the board, they reach for their chips.
--three of a suit on the board, people looking at their hole cards usually indicates they have ONE card of that suit. If three of a suit hits and a player will bet/call without looking down, he/she usually already has flush
--A player shakes his head or lets out a sigh of disappoinment usually means they have a monster hand
--the better the hand, the farther away from the table they get, almost as if they're not afraid of whatever bets come their way.
Posted Wed Jun 08, 2005 2:45 pm GMT by Skribbles
Ran into one guy last week that would say "Oh what the hell" as he threw chips into the pot. I became a rich man off him. And by rich I mean I won about $30 off of him.
Posted Sun Jun 12, 2005 6:53 am GMT by Cyberhwk
| JustinHEMI04 wrote: |
Similar to the stacking I have noticed that if players are coming into the pot, they will put their card protector on the cards. If not, they don't bother. That is why I go through the same routine regardless of my cards. |
That one is one of my favs. Some more long the same vein...
*Player already has their cards between their index and middle finger as they've already decided to fold their hand and are just waiting until the action gets around to them.
*If the pots been raised, some people intent on limping in will have already counted out the appropriate number of chips.
These are useful on those borderline plays or to decide if you need to re-raise in order to thin the field.
Posted Fri Aug 05, 2005 12:40 pm GMT by jimmyg_123
I have a friend who had a tell in certain situations. If I acted before him and would bet after the turn he would call and say something like "just to keep you honest", which usually meant he had hit big. I told him about it, and he seriously didn't even realize he said it. Now he tries to say it on purpose to throw me off.
Posted Fri Aug 05, 2005 1:11 pm GMT by Soup_dog
| jimmyg_123 wrote: | | I have a friend who had a tell in certain situations. If I acted before him and would bet after the turn he would call and say something like "just to keep you honest", which usually meant he had hit big. I told him about it, and he seriously didn't even realize he said it. Now he tries to say it on purpose to throw me off. |
Doh! What did you tell him for?
Posted Sat Sep 17, 2005 1:36 am GMT by Jauron
| kellerumd wrote: | | One I have noticed recently is when someone has a hand, they will be ready to flip their cards over and they will be playing with them a lot and picking them up off the table. I think its just cause they are really excitied to show them. I noticed it on one big pot and got burnt by trips. |
Sometimes when I'm bluffing and I mean big time bluffing at the river and I have no shot at winning if they call me I use this same "tell" to try to get them to fold.
It works pretty well actually, as soon as they reach for chips and it looks like they might call, grab your cards and act like you are about to turn them over the second they push their chips in the middle, they will usually (if they see it) hesitate, sometimes even fold.
Posted Sat Sep 17, 2005 2:46 am GMT by JohnnyCache
If someone acts quickly, it's usally a sign the last card was a blank for them - they already decided what to do, and the card didn't change their mind. People have to think about a hand that got improved, or shot to hell.
Posted Mon Oct 10, 2005 10:41 pm GMT by Dat_Dude
| Skribbles wrote: | | Ran into one guy last week that would say "Oh what the hell" as he threw chips into the pot. I became a rich man off him. And by rich I mean I won about $30 off of him. |
Same situation here. A buddy in my weekly card game always shrugs and throws his hands in the air (just like saying "what the hell") then bets a decent amount. I had to pay big one time to this tell, but since have saved a lot of money on it.
Well, I then was an idiot and told him he was doing it, only to see him KEEP DOING IT!
That is what I love about Poker...most people have no clue they are giving their hand away.
Posted Sun Oct 23, 2005 11:26 am GMT by truplaya_177
If they look at they're chips they have a big hand. This is a sub-concious tell that almost everyoone has.
Posted Wed May 10, 2006 7:54 pm GMT by Raisor
For the people who play in my games, one of the best is when they try to stare me down. Most times when they have something good, they just starte straight ahead. When they stare me down, they're usually bluffing, or don't have that big of a hand.
Posted Wed May 10, 2006 8:23 pm GMT by aaronw
If someone is talking and they seem nervous, they usually don't have a hand (in my experience anyway)
Also, I find that if after the flop comes someone immediately look at their cards, they usually have hit the flop in some way, shape, or form (ie- either pair, 2 pair, some sort of draw, etc.)
Posted Wed May 10, 2006 10:25 pm GMT by LeafsFan1122
| truplaya_177 wrote: | | If they look at they're chips they have a big hand. This is a sub-concious tell that almost everyoone has. |
I know this thread has been dead for quite some time, but I'm pretty bad at finding live tells and need to get something cleared up. I was under the impression that when a player looks at his chips, then checks, that's normally a sign of weakness. If they look at their chips then bet well.....I guess you need to look at your chips if you're going to bet.
Posted Thu May 11, 2006 6:04 am GMT by snoogins47
| LeafsFan1122 wrote: | | truplaya_177 wrote: | | If they look at they're chips they have a big hand. This is a sub-concious tell that almost everyoone has. |
I know this thread has been dead for quite some time, but I'm pretty bad at finding live tells and need to get something cleared up. I was under the impression that when a player looks at his chips, then checks, that's normally a sign of weakness. If they look at their chips then bet well.....I guess you need to look at your chips if you're going to bet. |
It obviously depends on the player, situation etc... which is why I think in a thread like this, for folks that are inexperienced, there's probably a lot more long-term value from reading the first part of every tell listed, and not putting a whole lot of weight on the second one (the "what it means" part) Not that there aren't some fairly universal ones, but I just don't want somebody here donking off their whole stack seven times because the 'bluffing' tell that they read here is actually a sign of strength against a player in their homegame
Anyway, I'm just gonna toss out randomly the things that I've found as the 'most important' things to look for. I'm sure I'll miss plenty.
First and foremost has gotta be the nerves one. I hear a lot of people trying to spot the vein in the neck... I usually check out the hands myself. Shaking hands are a dead giveaway for a lot of folks.
The "double-check the hole-cards" thing is a dead giveaway too, but everybody knows that by now. But, not only checking for one of a suit, it can apply other times... like when somebody doubles checks on random low-middle blank card on the turn/river, they're usually checking to see if it paired them.. which means they think there's a good chance it might have paired them. If somebody double-triple checks their hole cards on a big bet, and make a big raise... well, they weren't usually looking back to think "do I have a bad enough hand to try bluffing?"
One of my favorites absolutely brutalizes those people who have obviously read about the game, don't know you, and think they're much better than they are. (You know, the ones that invariably say that their strength is 'reading people' and bitch about how they can't win online because it's rigged. Those sorts)
That, quite simply, is to make sure, in a sly manner, to see where they're looking when the flop comes down. If they're regularly staring at people's eyes, and not the cards... well, the next time you've got the nuts and they're in the pot, throw your entire stack in like a Costa-Rican Madman, announce "FOUR HUNDRED DOLLARS," lean forward, stare at them, and don't you dare f*cking blink.
This works against people who aren't specifically the type I mentioned above... maybe they aren't always checking your eyes instead of the flop... but my story is more fun this way.
Above all though, the most important part of reading tells is the same as reading betting patterns and anything else.
Look at everything you can, that just happened. Figure out why it might have happened, based on logic, and past information. It's probably pretty easy to figure out where to go from there.
Posted Mon Aug 14, 2006 5:04 am GMT by Ryan231
When I first started playing live poker I'd mouth the cards I had during the hand. I didn't really ever notice it until this 1 guy kept saying my hands out loud and I was like "wtf dude, how could you know I had 94o?"
I guess it came from playing online a lot, but damn I wonder how long it went on before someone told me :x
Posted Mon Aug 14, 2006 8:52 pm GMT by MasterMike
Sometimes preflop, if i have cards or want someone to fold, i will reach for chips before it is my turn just to get people to fold. Someone told me of this "tell" and i acted like i didnt know what he was talking about.
Sometimes i forget to really observe the person for a tell, so i like using betting patterns. I love this except for the fact that a lot of times they will stick with their mediocre hands (just a pair with a lot of possibilities on the board), and i cant bluff them 
I got good at checking heart beats of people/ breathing, then i told someone and it screwed that up a little. Doesnt work as much now, but every once in a while.
Also, if a player leans too far forward or with elbows on the table, thats normally a sign of strenght from what ive seen (kinda harder though, because a lot of times leaning back is a sign of strength). In one game, it was so obvious after about 4 or 5 times, i just told him and he tried to deny it. Then when he did, i called his bet, and i lost... but i sure as hell proved the point!!
Also, if you ask someone their hand, and they say something quickly like Jack.. then hesitate for a split second and say ace. Normally that person has the jack.
I play with one guy that will say his hand often times or lie about it, and hes a little tricky on how to pick up on it. I got to be better with him because i could tell if he was telling the truth or not which he gradually started to do more, then he switched it up so now its much harder.
EDIT: after playing tonight and reading this thread, ive been much better at pickng up tells. Just listening to people call/reraise/ raise you can tell a lot, im not sure what it is, but im really happy about this thread.
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