Live reads

EWheelChair

Has anyone got any tips for reading players from their actions? I usually just play off the general feeling i get from them, i don't look for anything specific, ie eye movement etc.

Bandana boy

i find you need a very discerning eye to read eye movements and dilation of pupils etc
Plus i have not got the best eyesight

i find you learn more from betting patterns amount raised position betting etc

although that said this weekend one guy held his breath every time he was trying to steal the blinds which was nice of him

DapperGent

I have won a good bit of money live with the tell that if your opponent makes a bet and then brings his hand up to cover his mouth that he is bluffing. An unconcious attempt to conceal a lie kinda thing.

I have lost roughly the same amount of money by thinking an opponent was bluffing because he made a bet and then brought his hand up to cover his mouth.

El Stuntman

shaking hands often implies that your opponent either has a monster or else MS....

<Jesus will punish me for that>

ianmc38

I've seen the shaking hands with AA about 100000 times now at this stage, including my own shaky mits about 3000 of those times.

jbravado

If I reach to make a bet and my opponent quickly reaches for his chips I always always bet-they are nearly always weak.

However bear in mind that a decent opponent can incorporate fake tells into his game which can be deceptive.

I agree that betting batterns and raises are very important.I always like to talk to an opponent before I make a desicion and find that some players give a lot away through speech play.For example recent live game I asked "will you call" as i moved to bet the river.He replied "Ill call any amount".Holding the nuts I duely tripled the bet I was going to make which he gladly called. I find valuable info can be found out by the way someone answers your questions.

kincsem

Newbies who have read a few books often ask how many chips have you got. They think that will scare you and you will give away info. I count out the chips carefully and accurately, look at them and tell them. They seldom bet.

NickyOD

Watching oponents as the flop comes down usually gives you the most information during a hand. Also many noobs are very chatty when they have a monster. I know one player I have seen palying for a year who preflop announces "raise" very loudly when he has a big hand but quietly when he has something marginal.

The one Kincsem mentioned is a funny one. Usually asking for a chipcount means they are concerned about how much they stand to lose then how much they can win.

A quick call usually means a drawing hand.

Also if you've raised and someone and he asks you "Do you have a pair" 90% of the time this means he has a smallish pair and is wondering if he's racing. Not really a tell you need because he's usually facing your all in but might be handy to know if you want to speachplay him into calling. I remember a hand I played in Vienna where I came over the top of an MP raise with Jacks all-in. He asked me the same question "Do you have a pair" I said "There was only way I can play this hand" He says "You must have Ace-King" and he calls with pocket 4s. ........ He hit a 4.

RoundTower

NickyOD wrote:

A quick call usually means a drawing hand.

This is one of the most consistent ones, it may work online too.

Imposter

I find a shaky hand while holding your breath is a great way to get a call with AA!

As someone else says people grabbing chips after you usually means they have nothing. Hand over mouth depends on the person.

5starpool

kincsem wrote:

Newbies who have read a few books often ask how many chips have you got. They think that will scare you and you will give away info. I count out the chips carefully and accurately, look at them and tell them. They seldom bet.

It really freaks them out when you tell them exactly how much you have in an instant without even looking at your chips. I love playing with people that you know aer actively looking for tells cause they think everyone radiates them if they look hard enough. It's like knowing someone is a spy for the enemy, give them what you want them to know only. It can work a treat against some newbies.

Mellor

5starpool wrote:

It really freaks them out when you tell them exactly how much you have in an instant without even looking at your chips.

I suppose i'm borderline OCD and i'm always counting my chips and arranging them, so I nearly always know exactly whats there.

As for the shaky hands, I always noticed my hands shaking when playing. Not wile i'm in hands, even just when stacking my chips.

El Stuntman

Mellor wrote:

I suppose i'm borderline OCD and i'm always counting my chips and arranging them, so I nearly always know exactly whats there.

As for the shaky hands, I always noticed my hands shaking when playing. Not wile i'm in hands, even just when stacking my chips.

lay off the cocaine

jbravado

I dont think shaking hands is a tell as it depends totally on the player.Personally,my whole body shakes!!!irrespective of whather Im on a big bluff or holding the nuts.

Samba

Breathing, always watch a players chest to see how heavily they are breathing, this works even better with female players.

If someone bets into you and they are practically panting, this is usually a good indication of a monster, when people are bluffing you will not see such heavy breathing, they tend to be more calm as they have no hand and little to be excited about.

You must however be careful using this read as seasoned players will generally not get over excited about hands, as they've been in that situation a million times before.

That's all im giving away


There are a vast array of basic tells like the above, the more time you sit with a player and get to see showdowns, the more you will learn about their personal tells. For Example.

There is one fitz regular, very good player, i studied his facial movements for a good hour every time he raised PF. When a certain inner twitching of his lips occured, he had a big pair every time. I don't think he is even aware of this tell himself


Oh o.k one last one. SE Cash game from NL table. In short I see a raised flop of 10 high with J10, PF im a little worried about a big pair.

He bets and I call, we both check the turn which is a blank, he then bets the river hard.

While im thinking for an age about whether he has the over pair or not (another player is all in with us, if i fold I get to see his cards)

When I was deciding on calling his river bet, he was repeatedly reaching for his cards when I was feinting a call.

He was dying to show his hand, only reason I can think of is because it's a monster, so I fold and he duely shows KK.

It's very important to take in every little bit of information at the table, being a sponge has big rewards, the cards matter less if you can read your opponents hand from their facial expressions and gestures

5starpool

Here is a live tell.....

If Harold Huberman raises you, fold.

brianmc

5starpool wrote:

Here is a live tell.....

If Harold Huberman raises you, fold.

For this tell to be most effective, I would advise finding out who Harold Huberman is rather than asking every player who raises you what their name is.

It helps to keep the game moving.

5starpool

brianmc wrote:

For this tell to be most effective, I would advise finding out who Harold Huberman is rather than asking every player who raises you what their name is.

It helps to keep the game moving.

This is like a "one/three card from your hand" flush in Omaha. If you don't know, it is a mistake you only make once. If you do it twice you need a slap, 3 times you need to quit.

ollyk1

5starpool wrote:

Here is a live tell.....

If Harold Huberman raises you, fold.

Not true anymore. He's a changed man Dom especially since he's left the Fitz and enjoys the pleasures of the SE.

Breathing, always watch a players chest to see how heavily they are breathing, this works even better with female players.

I don't care if this works or not its a bloody great excuse for getting caught looking anyway Samba!!

P.S. I personally give off a lot of tells I feel and I don't know if the best way to prevent this is to go further down the poker look line with hat, mp3 and shades etc or to start getting even more anitmated at the table generally in the hope of hiding the tells in the overall mix. Any thoughts??

HalfBaked

ollyk1 wrote:

Not true anymore. He's a changed man Dom especially since he's left the Fitz and enjoys the pleasures of the SE.

I don't know, I think that this is still good info. I for one would be very wary of being raised by Harold, more so than just about anyone else.

connie147

I dont think im much good at picking up tells but surprisingly enough I got one two weeks ago that worked a treat.On a final table and good player to my right is being pretty active.(ive played with him before a few times and hes normally a tag but can make a move too).So with 5 left he raises my BB from the small blind and I call with 8-9s.Flop is K-J-9 and he moves allin for all my chips.I'm looking at him and he has his elbow on the table and his jaw resting on the palm of his hand.All of a sudden I could see the vein in his wrist
pumping like mad.I took it to mean he was under pressure so I called and he had 4-4.Dunno if it was a tell but it helped me make the call.Anyone see anything like this b4.

strewelpeter

Last night a guy, probably a boardster...he seemed to be a good player and well known, made a very good but difficult call against me with a medium pair against a q hi flop when I was clearly representing a range like a big pair or AK AQ...as it happens I've only got AJ.
Later he told me that he reckoned I made too much noise so he called !

I was drunk with tiredness and he was taking ages to decide I'd been listening to mp3's and kinda drifting along to them absent mindedly (I'd even started humming along earlier which musta been horrible for anyone at the table :eek: ) but to be totally honest my chips were in and I still thought it was better than evens that I was ahead...so I was done playing the hand.
There really wasn't anything I can do about it now so I was just switched off as regards thinking about the hand...as they say at the dogs, it was over bar the shouting.
The funny thing is that recently when I was really, really looking for a call from another good player, well known for his speechplay, he said that he didn't call because I wasn't freezing up and blanking him

EWheelChair

Sometimes you can see the pulse in their neck, but i find it very hard to make these decisions because my heart races when im bluffing and when im holding the nuts.

I don't think there are any certainties. I think the best way to go about it is it watch for signs in hands you aren't involved in, espically the ones where the cards are shown. Get a few reads and make up a profile of that player for when you bet against him.

Still, good to hear peoples different stories

5starpool

The only people I have reliable reads on are Ollyk1, Brianmc, IonaPaul and BigDragon.........

brianmc

5starpool wrote:

The only people I have reliable reads on are Ollyk1, Brianmc, IonaPaul and BigDragon.........

*cough* *cough* *splutter* *cough*

*picks himself up off the floor*

You certainly put them to good use in that cash game.

5starpool

brianmc wrote:

You certainly put them to good use in that cash game.

I choose to make my charitable donations in my own way........;)

brianmc

5starpool wrote:

I choose to make my charitable donations in my own way........;)

I suppose I should admit that other people in that list would be in a better position to slag than I am.


Anyhow, for me I tend to pick up on people's voices and general mannerisms rather than specific "tells". Other than of course the super transparent "OMG I have Aces" look that some new players get.

That said, there is a tremendous amount of simple information available. An awful lot of people take their time when calling a bet if they think it's a marginal situation and don't even consider trying to hide the fact that they have a genuine decision to make. True, sometimes people will be deciding on the best line to get your stack but the people making a genuine decision about whether their hand is good enough to call with are usually pretty obvious.

Samba

brianmc wrote:

True, sometimes people will be deciding on the best line to get your stack but the people making a genuine decision about whether their hand is good enough to call with are usually pretty obvious

I often get people bluffing into my nuts using this tactic, oh how i love the drama involved in these hands, there should be Poker acting awards

ntlbell

5starpool wrote:

The only people I have reliable reads on are Ollyk1, Brianmc, IonaPaul and BigDragon.........

I think everyone has these down dom!

two of them only play the nuts and two of them never have a hand!!

brianmc

ntlbell wrote:

I think everyone has these down dom!

two of them only play the nuts and two of them never have a hand!!

And as for ntlbell - if he raises he should probably have called, if he calls he should probably have raised and if folds he has probably gone unconscious at the table and the dealer has mucked his cards for him.

ntlbell

brianmc wrote:

And as for ntlbell - if he raises he should probably have called, if he calls he should probably have raised and if folds he has probably gone unconscious at the table and the dealer has mucked his cards for him.

Call? Fold? stop trying to bring new tactics into the game!

Washout

5starpool wrote:

Here is a live tell.....

If Harold Huberman raises you, fold.

is he the guy who kind of reminds you of Uncle Junior from the sopranos?


uncle junior

ntlbell

Washout wrote:

is he the guy who kind of reminds you of Uncle Junior from the sopranos?


uncle junior

Think so, I've only ever seen him play in the SE, but if he bets, people in the gutshot fold.

brianmc

Washout wrote:

is he the guy who kind of reminds you of Uncle Junior from the sopranos?


uncle junior

Yeah. That kind of looks like him.

ionapaul

I always fold to Harold - it is funny with others at the table who don't know the story. Last week in the SE he and I were the only two involved in a hand, K high flop, I had K rag, bet into him until the river, when he raised me. I showed the table my K before mucking it with a smile. Some of the lads were a little shocked...until Harold did the decent thing and turned over his two ducks to go along with the other 2 that hit on the flop Have to say I like playing with Harold, he seems a real gentleman.

Washout

ionapaul wrote:

I always fold to Harold - it is funny with others at the table who don't know the story. Last week in the SE he and I were the only two involved in a hand, K high flop, I had K rag, bet into him until the river, when he raised me. I showed the table my K before mucking it with a smile. Some of the lads were a little shocked...until Harold did the decent thing and turned over his two ducks to go along with the other 2 that hit on the flop Have to say I like playing with Harold, he seems a real gentleman.

he is an absolute gent. ( dont think i have ever seen him raise though)

back to tells though...i must admit i havent played live poker that much so Im pretty useless at tells and probably give away a ton.
what does it usually mean when a player who genereally doesnt touch their cards after seeing them, suddenly starts playing/shuffling them after raising (only on the odd occassion though). noticed a guy doing this one night but he never had to showdown.

I took it as if he is itching for a call.

smurph

Washout wrote:

is he the guy who kind of reminds you of Uncle Junior from the sopranos?


uncle junior

I think that is paddy hicks, LMAO

ntlbell

smurph wrote:

I think that is paddy hicks, LMAO

rofl, who folds when paddy hicks raises!!!

ntlbell

Washout wrote:

he is an absolute gent. ( dont think i have ever seen him raise though)

back to tells though...i must admit i havent played live poker that much so Im pretty useless at tells and probably give away a ton.
what does it usually mean when a player who genereally doesnt touch their cards after seeing them, suddenly starts playing/shuffling them after raising (only on the odd occassion though). noticed a guy doing this one night but he never had to showdown.

I took it as if he is itching for a call.

He has J10s

ollyk1

ntlbell wrote:

I think everyone has these down dom!

two of them only play the nuts and two of them never have a hand!!

I am a rock its true........:o

ecksor

ollyk1 wrote:

I don't care if this works or not its a bloody great excuse for getting caught looking anyway Samba!!

I've used this excuse

Didn't get away with it cos she was the dealer