Body Language Poker Tells

When you enjoy playing Poker or are learning how to master the game, not only do you have to have a very good mathematical understanding of the value of each hand you have been dealt out, you also need to be aware that your fellow opponents will be watching you very closely as you play each hand dealt out to you.

Live poker tells such as reading people’s reactions, body language, and subconscious signals can give you the edge against many opponents. And equally, knowing how to manipulate these psychological tendencies can help you throw your opponents off if you feel yourself playing in a predictable manner. A poker tell is an action, either physical or verbal in live poker, that gives away the strength of a player’s hand. There are typically 9 or 10 players at a full Hold’em poker table, so if you are observant at reading poker tells, it is not hard to pick up on them for future use. You can find extensive literature on the art of reading tells. Body language is the type of thing that you’ll get infinitely better at reading as time goes on. This could be said about most any skill in poker, but picking up on tells is truly something that requires actual game play experience to learn and improve upon. Body language comes, to me, in two different varieties. You’ve just learned 13 most common poker tells; make sure to watch this video a couple of times to really memorise these; when you know what to look for, you have a much better chance of spotting it; Go play some live poker at your local casino. Pay attention to other players and their behaviour. Study their body language and look for tells. Body language, in the form of poker tells,is a great way to get information on an opponent’s strength/weakness. Find out how to use it to your benefit. Body Language in Poker: 7 Poker Tells You Need to Know.

There is often a unique set of skills many Poker players need to adopt to ensure that they do not give away any “tells” when playing Poker.

A tell is a body movement or some form of facial expression that can give more experienced poker players, who are closely watching you, an idea of whether you do in fact have a very strong Poker hand or are trying to bluff them with a low valued hand!

Below is a complete overview of the top 10 Poker player tells. Make sure that when you are next practising your Poker playing skills at home you put in front of you a mirror and watch how you play each hand, it may often surprise a novice player just how much information they can give away via body movements of facial expressions!

  1. Playing with Jewellery – You really do need to look out for the players who are playing with a ring or necklace that they are wearing. Also you need to be alert to the fact that when you have a strong Poker hand you may find yourself suddenly rubbing your ring or fingering a necklace you are wearing.

    Playing with any type of jewellery they are wearing is one of the most basic give away tells a player can perform at a Poker table, so always be on the lookout for this tell and try and not wear any type of jewellery if you have noticed you start to play with it when playing Poker!

  2. Nervous Laugh – A fake of nervous laugh when a player is interacting with other players is usually a giveaway that something is not right with that player’s hand. The social nature of Poker is one where interaction, humour and Mickey taking of other players is to be expected, however an obvious tell is one whereby a player is unusually nervous or suddenly changes their mannerisms. So always be alert to these changes in a player you are playing against!
  3. Impatience – You often need the patience of a saint when sat around a Poker table. Poker players are never in a rush to take their turn and as such any player who seems impatient or very eager to play their hand is usually a player with a very strong hand. The impatience of a Poker player can often be that player’s downfall, so always be aware of such a player and monitor the hands they are playing when showing any kind of impatience at the Poker table!
  4. Counting Up Chips – Going all in with your chips is often an indicator that you think you have the hand required to win the pot on any round of Poker you are involved in. However some Poker players will try and intimidate another player into thinking they have a very strong Poker hand by looking at that opponents chip stack and then counting up their chips, as if they intend to go all in on their next turn!
  5. Staring at Other Players – Gawping at another player with a blank facial expression is often very off-putting for the other player, so if you notice one player is indeed looking at you, then be aware they may be trying to intimidate you and give you the impression their hand is much stronger than it actually is!
  6. Getting Angry – One very obvious Poker player tell you may come across of even suffer from is becoming angry. When a player has been folding their hand repeatedly and finally gets a playable hand they will become angry if several players on the trot fold their hand, and this will often give those players left in that game an indication that you have finally being dealt a strong hand and those players may also opt to fold their hands!
  7. Twitching – Any type of nervous twitch is going to be jumped upon and noticed by other more experienced poker players. So if you twitch your nose or any other body part you will have to control that twitch or you are likely to give away your playing strategy and will always be at the mercy of those more experienced Poker players!
  8. Looking Away from Other Players – When a novice Poker players knows they will not be able to control their facial expressions when they have a strong hand or they are bluffing, they tend to look into space and will never make eye contact with other players, and this is an obvious tell for more experienced players sat around the table!
  9. Trying to be Funny – One of the more obvious tells which to an inexperienced play can often go unnoticed, is when a player is trying to be funny or is teasing another player. Distracting any Poker player when they are deciding how to play there hand is often a vital part of bluffing or playing a strong hand, so always be on the lookout for a player who suddenly cracks a witty one liner or starts to tease one or more players sat around the Poker table you are playing at!
  10. Obscure Ramblings – You will often find lots of light hearted banter between players sat around a Poker table, however if one player starts rambling on about something unusual that is often a tell that they are trying to distract other players and not alert them to the way they are playing or just what type of hand they are holding!

Poker, being a card game, doesn’t require you to do much with your body.

This means that, in a way, your weight, height, or age range doesn’t really matter. You’ll be welcome at any table, as long as you have the money (or someone else does).

That’s part of the reason why some people don’t take the idea of the proverbial poker face very seriously. But does having one actually help players hide their motives or bluffs?

My goal here is for us to take a closer look at this matter. After all, do you need a poker face or not?

1 – What’s in a Face?

Before saying anything else about how important a poker face may or may not be, let’s make sure we’re on the same page about its meaning.

A poker face, by definition, is that emotionless look you have regardless of the strength of your hand. Now, why would it be a good idea to appear devoid of emotions while playing poker?

The answer is simple! You want to avoid giving away any unintended signs or tells. Above all, you want to have control over how other players perceive you.

Of course, to have absolute control would be an unrealistic aspiration, unless you’re some sort of master hypnotist. If you aren’t, then other players will always be able to form their own impressions about you.

And that’s actually a great thing if you’re empathic enough to grasp what those impressions are. In fact, a big part of one’s evolution as a poker player requires the development of this skill.

(Being empathic, by the way, is about perceiving others’ emotions, not necessarily sympathizing with them.)

Once you get good at this, you can have a lot of fun playing with other people’s expectations about you, at least to a certain extent.

And a poker face is one of the many tools you have at your disposal to do that.

2 – Expanding the Picture

Body Language Poker Tells Two

I think it’s here that things can get a little confusing, because it seems that some people tend to ignore the fact that your face is only one part of your body.

It may be the most important one (it certainly is in lots of social situations). But it should never be seen in isolation, at least this is what all experts on body language agree upon.

They all say that you should never make any assessments about someone based on a single sign. (A person may have folded his or her arms simply because it’s cold, for example.)

There’s no doubt that your facial signs can say much about you at a poker table. But not always for the reasons that most people think.

And, if you’re too hasty in your conclusions, you’ll get all mixed up later on, which can cost you a lot of money.

3 – Telling a Complete Story

Language

The most reliable physical reactions are those that, as far as I know, can’t be faked.

These are great sources of information, and, in poker, we call them tells.

A tell is anything a poker player does that tells his or her opponents something about the strength of his or her hand.

The classic example here is the dilatation of pupils whenever someone’s interested in what he or she sees. This is one of those tells that can’t be faked.

Body Language Poker Tells Someone

As you might have guessed, being able to perceive someone’s pupils during a game isn’t always easy. But if you can, it’s probably easier to tell if your opponent is less likely to fold.

In any case, most of the tells you’ll see at a poker table aren’t so reliable without prior knowledge of the person behind them.

For example, what can you say about a player who is blinking more than usual? Or of a person pursing his or her lips? Or of someone staring straight at you?

The answer is always the same—it depends.

4 – When a Tell Is Not a Tell (Until It Is)

Poker player and author Mike Caro discerns between two types of tells in his classic book about it:

Body Language Poker Tells Friends

  • Tells from actors
  • Tells from non-actors

In poker, an “actor” is anyone who tries to disguise a weak hand by acting strong and vice-versa.

This would be the person who sighs after hitting a set on the flop. And who smiles when bluffing on the river. So, that’s already something for us to have in mind.

More than that, if you’re up against an amateur, I’d say this is one of the first things you have to pay attention to. Of course, it’d be naive to ignore the fact that other players also understand this distinction.

Consequently, if they aren’t “actors” themselves, they can sometimes “act as actors.” But those are a minority. In any case, you should pay attention to how your opponent behaves all the time. By this I mean, not only against you.

Paying attention to what is going on all the time is what enables you to have a broad perspective about someone. You won’t have a complete picture, mind you. (You’re not omniscient, are you?)

Body language poker tells someone

But you’ll be able to identify those reactions that seem out of place according to that picture in your mind. These are the moments where your instincts will tell you that something is off.

And you’d do well to obey those instincts most of the time, especially if you’re an experienced player.

5 – How Far Can a Face Go?

So, do you need a poker face or not? …Many times, the answer is no.

Not because it’s not important to disguise your hand. Of course it is. But because there are ways of giving and receiving information that go beyond your facial expressions.

In fact, they even go beyond your body language. (Or your verbal communication, for that matter.)

Do you remember how I chose to define the term tells earlier in this text? If you don’t, here it is again: Tells are anything that reveals to other players something about your hand.

Most of the time, the most critical information comes from other things. Namely, the fundamentals of the game.

That’s why great real money online holdem players don’t take too long to become at least good live players, too. After playing so many hands online, they’re able to have a solid understanding of those fundamentals.

And there’s one in particular that deserves a special place in our discussion here—your betting patterns.

6 – Mixing the Colors of the Palette

Betting patterns are important regardless of the poker variant you choose, but even more so in a no-limit game.

In no-limit, you have the option of betting as much as you wish at any time. (If you have the chips, of course.) This makes it much easier for a savvy player to recognize how you feel about your hand.

That’s an even more dangerous situation if you’re playing Texas hold’em because other games benefit players who understand the pot odds better. That’s why pot-limit Omaha is much more prestigious than no-limit Omaha.

And other games played with no limits don’t offer lots of betting rounds. The only exception I know of is 2-7 Triple Draw.

It isn’t for nothing that people call no-limit Texas hold’em “the Cadillac of poker games.” And it’s no coincidence that poker has become more popular than ever because of this particular variant.

Do you see where I’m going with all this? Imagine a game in which you can bet as much as you can, and the game also has up to four betting rounds per hand. That’s a lot of information for a good player.

I hope I’ve been able to show you why your betting patterns are so important because your opponent may not always see how you placed a certain bet.

He or she may not even have noticed if your hands were shaking, or if you splashed your chips on the table. But they’ll always be able to know in which situations you bet and how much.

They’ll also know how frequently you tend to bet, call, raise, check-raise, or fold. This type of information is usually more than enough for a great player to beat a less skillful one.

Body Language Poker Tells Rich

Conclusion

Body Language Poker Tells The Best

So, let’s wrap up our conversation about your poker face (and your body language in general).

Can we say anything for sure about its importance? As you can see, this is not a matter of affirming that you need a poker face or not.

The thing is that, even when you have a great one, it won’t be of much use to you unless you have also worked on your fundamentals.

Until then, by all means, feel free to bring your sunglasses and scarf to the table. Just don’t count too much on them if you’re up against an opponent who knows what they’re d