Amatuer tells.
It’s been some time since I have written a post about poker but I am still playing on Wednesday and also play occasionally one other day during the week. It has been a whirl-wind for the last couple months with my poker with more ups than downs, which is always a good thing.
But lets talk about some amatuer tells, and things that you might be able to pick up and help with your poker game.
Recently I played in a local tournament at an Elks Club that my buddy put on. He set the whole thing up, and while it was a lot of work for Mike, I think he did a great job. I finished 3rd out of 50-60 people, but going into the final table to caught some bad luck and then tightened up to make the money. However, I had a major tell on every player at the final table which gave me an advantage, but luck came into play and I lost with the best hand 3-4 times in a row.
So what was I looking for? When I first sit down to play, and the cards are not being shuffled I like to watch how a player sits when comfortable. I also like to make poker talk and see how well a person remembers that bad beat, because you don’t remember the times you gave that bad beat…. When the player is comfortable and just chilling, take a mental note of how they are sitting. Are they sitting back, sitting straight up, where their hands are placed and if they bounce their legs or play with their chips. When the cards are being played, how to do they put their chips into play and with which hand. Do they throw them in or do they keep them close.
On the chips alone, beginners who are fishing and don’t have the best hand will throw their chips into the pot when they are unsure that they have the best hand. And when they have a great hand, they will place their chips close by because they think that they will be getting the chips back, so why put them further and out of reach. If they put them close to themselves, you can almost gaurantee that they have a very good hand. If a person forcefully puts his chips into a pot, they most likely have the best hand. In the Elks game I raised pre-flop with AK hearts. During most of the first table, people stayed out of my way and I bluffed a lot when I realized people were scared of me. Anyways, I looked down at AK hearts and raised it to 45 chips. I had one other person call. Flop came out A56 rainbow. I was attempting to set the trap and checked. The other player checked too. At this point I was sure I had the best hand. Turn card was a 4. This was somewhat a scare card, so I made a small bet of 65. The other player grabbed his chips, looked at me, and forcefully put his 65 into the pot by putting his chips down hard. I knew I was beat at this point, but maybe I was wrong. River brought out the worst card for me with a king, but I checked again. The other player, which was a woman, didn’t look back at her cards, looked at the board, then me and put in a tiny raise of 40. I didn’t want to call, but had to see her straight. I called and she turned over 78 suitted.
Other tells have to do with how people hold their hands. Sometimes to find out ones tell you must call their bluff or better hand. Players tend to do all sorts of things with their hands that they do not recognize. If I see a person keeping their hands flat on a table then changing on the next hand, which hand was the better hand. In most cases, the flat hand is the worst of the two. Why? People tend to put their hands flat and not touching when bluffing because their brain is telling them to fight and win.
Here’s exactly what I look for when I sit down.
1. How is the person sitting?
2. Where are their hands?
3. How do they breath?
4. Do they move around alot?
5. Do they spread their elbows?
6. Are their arms at their hips or fully on the table?
7. Do they shake?
Take a mental note then watch how people act when playing poker. I hope it helps you win more big hands!
Hoping you look down at aces….
sc
