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Show And Tell - How To Read Your Poker Opponents
Master the art of reading people and poker will be as easy as taking chips from a baby with the help of this free
article.
As well as earning the distinction of being the best no-limit player ever, Stu ’The Kid‘ Ungar was probably the best
reader of other players. One example of his phenomenal ability came from a heads-up match with 1990 world champ
Mansour Matloubi. After Mansour went all-in on the river for tens of thousands of dollars, Stu Ungar looked at him
hard. He quickly called, but before he did he named Mansour‘s hand exactly – a busted straight draw. Mansour was just
getting over this when he looked down and saw what Stuey had called with – his hole cards were 10-9 giving him
just 10-high. He not only called the hand but with cards that could only beat a total bluff. Mansour Matloubi –
former world champion – got up from the table and said he would never play heads-up with Stu Ungar again.
Ungar had what every poker player dreams of – an almost supernatural ability to know what other players are holding.
The ability to read a player‘s cards based on information they don‘t mean to give you is the most exciting skill
in poker and gives you a buzz like nothing else at the table. The feeling you get when you make a call for all your
chips and pick off a bluff. Or when you pick up on weakness, push your stack in with 8-3 and watch your opponent
fold his winning hand. It‘s unalloyed pleasure – and the only place you can get this buzz is playing live poker.
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Online poker is great and has changed poker forever and for the better. But if you want to be the real deal, live
poker is where it‘s at. You haven‘t passed the real test this game has to offer until you‘ve sat down with the pros
and been stared in the eye by someone who‘s forgotten more about poker than you‘ll ever know. It‘s like he‘s
looking right through you – you feel naked, vulnerable, tiny – like the end to a bad date. And that‘s when it all
falls apart.
Your mouth is dry, your hands are shaking and your heart is pounding at a thousand miles an hour. You don‘t know
where to look as his eyes bore through you; and at that point you might as well have your hand tattooed on your
forehead. You have become a mass of tells.
What Is A Poker Tell
A tell in poker is – literally – something that ’tells‘ your opponents information about your hand. It could be
the way you stack your chips, the size of your bets, the speed of your pulse, a scratch of the nose, the tone of
your voice and on and on. But before you become petrified and swear never to sit down in a live game again, don‘t
worry, your ability to spot tells and to stop giving them out will improve – starting here. In fact it can
become something that makes a serious contribution to your profits. Remember, as TJ Cloutier says, ’Every poker
player has tells, even the great ones.‘
Weak But Strong
The fundamental rule of tells is this – people will act strong when they‘re weak and weak when they‘re strong. It‘s
that simple. Of course, not all tells are an act – some are just a natural reflection of your personality. For
example, if a player stacks their chips neatly in value order it‘s likely they play a very conservative game... and
work in accountancy. If their chips are all over the place they‘re more likely to play in a wild care-free fashion
and their chips may not be theirs for very long. Occasionally players will represent the opposite to the truth.
Double bluffs – or reverse tells – do exist but only at the higher levels of poker. For now all you need to know is
that strong means weak and vice versa. So if a player bangs his chips down and stares at you he probably doesn‘t
have too much. However, if he‘s talking easily and doesn‘t seem to be taking too much notice of the game then get
ready for him to raise your bet.
Cookie Monster
But while tells are a very important part of reading someone‘s hand, you should be careful not to take a tell as
too universal. It‘s true that sometimes people have a specific tell that gives them away but this is rare. For
example, in the movie Rounders Teddy KGB – played by Russian impersonator John Malkovich – eats an
Oreo cookie a different way based on whether his hand is strong or weak. This is rubbish – he‘s supposedly one of
the most feared poker players on the New York circuit yet no-one‘s spotted this. The point is you should look at
tells as a piece of information that should be seen in the context of their play of that hand and all other game
variables. For example, if you‘re unsure what a bet means and are 50-50 on calling based on factors like pot odds,
but your opponent has stopped playing with his chips and is staring straight at you with a tense mouth, then you
really need to get your chips in there!
Observe And Conquer
Spotting tells and reading players should be something you work hard to improve. It‘s impossible to spot a tell
unless you‘re observing the players you‘re playing with and constantly learning their habits and mannerisms. This
means when you fold your hands keep your head in the game and watch the action that follows. It means not spending
that time thinking about your work meeting tomorrow. Watch the game and try to make an educated guess what the
players involved are holding so when you‘re in a hand with them you have information you can use. This is a great
habit to get into and will make you a much better poker player.
When determining tells, trusting your instincts is extremely important. Your ’feelings‘ about a situation are
not spooky or mystical but based on your hours of play at the table and years of people-watching away from the table.
All this accumulated experience feeds back to you in the moment you face a difficult decision so try and go with
it – you‘ll be amazed how often it‘s right.
Practise reading tells, trust your instincts and one day you‘ll know what players are going to do before they
do it. And maybe one day someone will swear never to play heads-up with you again.
Spot Online Tells
A tell is any habit, physical reaction or behaviour that gives other players more information about a poker hand.
As in most facets of life, holding information or additional knowledge can only put you in a stronger position, and
this is the case in poker too.
Is it possible that players on the internet can also display ‘tells?’ Okay, you won’t be able to see any outward
physical signs such as trembling hands, flexing muscles, pupil dilation or the vein in the top side of your opponent’s
head throbbing, but yes, it is possible to derive information by observing the way other people play online.
This list of internet poker tells will help you detect weakness or strength. One word of warning here, exercise
caution, just as in live games experienced players may well vary their play and give out false tells to fool
players. Additionally other factors may also be involved, for example, if a player has been disconnected several
times during the game, his slow betting is merely a sign of a bad connection. Similarly, many players operate on
more than one table at a time, don’t read too much into his betting speed, because his betting speed is influenced
by the demands of his other tables.
Observation allied to sound tactics is the key to successful poker, studying your opponents, spotting their
patterns and or styles of play. A good player will always mix his style to confuse the other players and this is
what you should also strive to do.
Fortunately there are plenty of poor players online to take advantage of and these people make many of the
mistakes highlighted below.
Betting Speed Tells
Every online poker room has a set number of seconds that each player has to respond before he has to make a
check, bet or raise or else they are folded. However, often, the speed of play can be a good ”tell.” Typically, a
quick bet is a sign of weakness, and a delayed action is a sign of strength, as the player is calculating his
strategy with what he perceives to be a huge hand. Watch how much time it takes the other players to make their
action, and mentally make a note of it. If you get a chance to see their cards at showdown, see if you can
determine what they ”slow bet” with and what they ”fast bet” with.
The Pregnant Pause
As a general rule, if a player pauses a long time, then bets, that still means he probably has a good hand and is
trying to figure out his play. If, however, he pauses for a long time and just checks, it usually means his hand is
mediocre at best.
The Check Box
Most online poker rooms have little boxes you can check for quick play. As a general rule, you shouldn’t use
these. They give too much information away.
A player who pre-selects the check button probably has a weak hand; if he selects the call any bet button, most
likely he has a good hand; and if he selects the raise pot button he is probably holding a monster.
Moreover, players who use pre-action buttons are most likely not paying attention to the game. They are either
playing on multiple tables or doing something else on their computer. These players will only bet if they have good
hands, and are less likely to employ fancy tactics like bluffing or check-raising.
The Quick Check
A quick check by a player usually indicates a weak hand. If you are on the button and all the players before you
checked quickly, you can probably take down the pot with a strong bet.
However, be very careful if a player re-raises after checking quickly. In this situation, your opponent’s early
quick check was probably an attempt to trap you into betting into his strong hand.
The Pause and Check
A player who pauses a long time before checking is probably trying to give the impression he is thinking about
making a bet and fooling others into exercising caution and checking as well. The “pause and check” player hopes
the pause will convince others that he is holding a monster hand, and that he is taking his time to decide whether
he should bet or check-raise. In reality, this player usually has a drawing hand and is using the pause to get a
free card.
Pause and Bet
A player who thinks for a long time before betting usually has a monster hand. He hopes other players will read
the pause as weakness and bet into him.
The Table Talker
Invariably there are players who sit at the table and chat. Often it can be interesting to observe what is
going on and revealing in terms of assessing what sort of person you are dealing with – getting a glimpse of that
particular player’s psyche.
These players can fall into many different categories, a tilting player is easy to spot as they often tend to
become abusive, sarcastic and basically insult everyone in attendance. If they are irritable and angry their
judgement will be affected.
Some chatty players who suddenly go quiet may have flopped a good hand.
Other players will flat out tell you what cards he or she is holding, incredible as it sounds if the pot size is
small, these players are most likely telling the truth. The honest player’s strategy is to candidly reveal his
cards if the pot size is small.
There is often a know-it-all type who talks down to people. He or she will tell you the best strategy to employ.
Humour this person into revealing his or her strategy.
Impatient Player
When you sit down at a Hold’em table, you have the option of waiting for the big blind to get to you, or you can
post a matching big blind and start playing immediately. If the person plays immediately he or she is demonstrating
impatience and that is not a quality a good player lacks. Conversely if the newcomer does wait for the big blind they
might be more disciplined or just cheap – find out which!
Limping In
All it takes is several hands of play to get an initial read on an opponent. Many opponents will try to always
see the flop, no matter how bad their hand is. If you’re playing against someone who’s always getting in to see
the flop, you can count on the fact that many of his hands may not be very good...and a little pushing will usually
nudge him out of the hand.
Tight Players
Some players will mostly fold their hand. This typically means they are a patient player, waiting for one of the
top pre flop hands to play. If they end up betting into a round, watch out...they probably have a strong hand and
won’t be afraid to bully you with it.
Going Back to the Cashier
Sometimes you’ll notice a player who loses all his money, frequently reloading his cash. This probably means he
has some cash in the bank, but isn’t good enough to keep it in his hand! If you see someone who’s refilling the
bank a lot it could be that they begin to chase their money as they lose money and go on the tilt.
All or Nothing
One of the best things about playing online is that you can easily see how much the other players at your table
have in cash. If someone started playing with £30 and is now down to £8, the chances are they will either leave the
table or just blow the remaining amount on an all in. If they’ve been seeing a lot of flops, raise them with a good
hand and try to get the rest. More often than not, you’ll be the one sending them packing.
Folding Instead of Checking
Though most online poker sites have prompts to save you making this mistake, some amateurs will fold a hand
instead of checking it, when the check would have been free. This is usually the sign of a poor player. However, a
good player may fold instead of check on the river if he’s been bluffing and doesn’t want anyone to see his
bluffing hand. This is also a good tell, since you’re getting a read on a good opponent’s bluff.
Choice of Name
Finally, take a look at your opponents’ names. As a general rule, serious players use their real name, a clever
alias or a non-descript alias for playing. Fish many times have silly names or “rude” names. Though this isn’t
always the case, it’s a general rule that can many times give you a read on the maturity level of your opponent.
However, as with every other rule listed above, study their play first before rushing to make a judgement.
Play Poker.
Texas Hold 'Em Poker explained.
Texas Hold 'Em Rules.
Texas Hold 'Em Tips.
7 Card Stud.
5 Card Draw.
Omaha Hi Lo.
Guide to Poker Words and Phrases.
The Rules of Poker.
Poker Flop.
Online Poker Information.
Online Poker Tells.
Spotting Poker Tells.
Big Poker Game Advice.
Sit and Go Tournaments.
Heads Up Poker.
Calculating Poker Odds.
Play Online Poker For Fun.
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