Looking for Tells in Live Poker Games

Many people will tell you that the key to beating your opponents in live Texas Holdem poker games is the human element and that reading other peoples physical tells is the way to go. Well to that I say this, the best players are very good at giving off either no tells or false tells and so you can easily find yourself being dragged down blind alleys doing this sort of thing. The tells that people look for and think that they see can and are nothing more than illusions most of the time. If you see a person fumble chips when they bet then is this an indication of a bluff or are they excited to be holding the nuts or did they just drop the chips? It is difficult to say either way until you spot the same thing several times more and see the same results. But even then your opponent may realise that they have done this and then look to fake the tell.

I would recommend an entirely different approach and this probably contradicts what has been written in some otherwise very good books on tells. I would advise people not to look for physical tells and instead look for tells associated with betting patterns. An experienced live game player may not throw off any tells after years of experience but yet may not be fully aware of tells in their betting. Maybe they raised from position on three successive orbits and then made a continuation bet each time. This is a repeatable betting pattern that needs further examination. If it is folded around to the same player on the button or in the cut-off ands they raise on three successive hands then this is a pattern. Likewise if they bet when the flop comes then this is also a pattern as well. This is a far more reliable method than trying to stare this person down to try and ascertain whether they are bluffing or not. Or you could raise to steal from the cut-off and the button calls you each time.

They then call your flop continuation bet as well only to fold to a second barrel on the turn. This is a pattern; you do not need to stare your opponent down for signs of weakness. In the previous three examples, your opponent has indicated their hand strength and the betting pattern has been clear. These sorts of actions speak louder than physical tells and are far more accurate. Another example could be an opponent who open raises from late position and then bets all three streets post flop. To bet three post flop streets like this in no-limit Texas Hold em would require a very powerful hand or a very weak hand that was on a bluff. Judging by the fact that powerful hands are hard to come by then my guess would be that they are multi-barrel bluffing if they have done this on three successive hands.