Poker tells are a tricky topic.
Most beginners put way too much credence into tells
early in their poker journey. Eating đ
an Oreo cookie could mean someone has a strong
hand in the movies, but in real lifeâŠnot so much.
But many đ
experienced pros focus
solely on playing a good strategy, completely ignoring live poker tells in the
process.
The correct path is đ
somewhere in the middleâfocusing on strategy while also
considering tells when they present themselves.
Which common poker tells deserve your
attention? đ
Weâve brought in acclaimed poker tells expert Zach Elwood to help answer
this question. Zach runs a training site that đ
focuses on poker tells, and his content
has been recommended by many very successful pros.
Now, letâs kick it over to
đ
Zach.
Note: Level-up your poker strategy with the 10 Laws of Live Poker. This free
guide reveals powerful tactics that are đ
extremely effective in live cash games. Plus,
mental game tips that will help you stay cool and confident even when đ
you're running
bad. Get the 10 Laws for free now!
Hey Upswing readers! Iâm Zachary Elwood. Iâm here to
share a đ
new, updated list of the top 7 most useful poker tells.
I chose these tells
because they are common or reliable, đ
or both.
First, a little about my expertise on the
subject.
After my first book Reading Poker Tells was well-received in 2012, đ
I knew I
would only be writing more books if I had something new and interesting to say. In 2013
đ
I spent 8 months straight, full-time (50+ hours a week, no joke), researching and
writing the book Verbal Poker Tells.
I đ
didnât plan on spending that long, but as I
watched a lot of televised poker and took notes as I đ
played, I found there was a lot
more to say about verbal patterns than what Iâd initially imagined.
Some of the đ
tells
below may seem common-sense when reading them, but Iâve found when you really start
keying into the major patterns đ
and looking for some of these elements, youâll start to
understand a lot of during-hand much better than you thought đ
possible.
7 Poker Tells
That Deserve Your Attention
Click any of these tells for a detailed explanation that
will help your game:
The đ
first four poker tells focus on physical tells while the last
three will focus on verbal patterns. Behavior associated with đ
large bets is the most
reliable type of behavior, so these patterns all apply best to players making
significant bets.
Tell đ
#1: Defensive Movements
Most experienced players know that when
you reach for chips to bet and your opponent then also starts đ
to reach for chips, as if
ready to immediately call, itâs an sign they probably donât have a strong hand.
Mike
đ
Caro discusses this tell in his 70âs classic Caroâs Book of Poker Tells: The Psychology
and Body Language of Poker. đ
The reason why itâs a reliable tell is simple: holding a
strong hand, a player is not likely to give đ
a player in front of them a reason not to
bet; to the contrary, theyâre more likely to sit still, đ
not reach for chips, etc.
But
the weaker a playerâs hand is, the more likely it is theyâll make some sort đ
of gesture
to try to prevent you from betting.
There are more subtle ways this tell can manifest
itself. Often, even đ
just a small unusual movement from a waiting-to-act player makes it
more likely theyâre not at the top of their đ
range.
Most of this behavior originates
unconsciously; itâs instinctively defensive, not something planned and acted out.
Consequently, defensive movements arenât likely đ
to be reverse tells, and so they can be
quite reliable.
Here are a couple examples of subtle movements:
Minor chip movements
đ
before checking to the aggressor
Suppose that, on the turn, a player checks and calls a
bet from a player behind đ
in a timely manner. On the river, the first player then slowly
grabs her chips and riffles them for a đ
couple seconds before checking. This behavior is
subtle, but it can be a sign that she is unconsciously trying to đ
give the impression
that she has interest in the pot, which makes a weak hand more likely. The lesson here
đ
is that you should look for defensive behaviors when opponents check, not just when
they are facing a potential bet.
Subtle đ
hand movements toward oneâs chips
Suppose that
on the river a player checks and, as his opponent thinks, the first player đ
positions
his hand on the rail, close to his chips. Even small movements toward oneâs chips can
be a subtle đ
indicator of discomfort, and thus an unconscious attempt to discourage a
bet.
Subtle indicators like these are far from perfectly reliable, đ
of course, so it
helps if you can find other signs of defensive behavior, such as:
Staring intensely
after a check
Sitting đ
awkwardly still after a check
The more signs that indicate
defensiveness, the more you might have the opportunity to bluff.
One caveat: đ
Some
players move around a good amount in general, and so this pattern will be less reliable
for these players. đ
You should always study your opponents over time to get a sense of
how they normally behave.
And of course: even đ
if you correctly read an opponent as
having a weak hand, thereâs no guarantee theyâll actually be folding. Even with đ
a
strong read of weakness, how loose your opponent is should always be a
consideration.
Tell #2: Hesitations and Pauses When đ
Betting
When a player makes a
significant bet, hesitations and pauses will make strong hands more likely. Players
betting weak hands đ
and bluffs will usually do so straightforwardly and normally,
without pauses.
A couple examples of hesitating-type behaviors:
A player has a lot đ
of
stop-and-start movements when gathering or placing the bet.
A player announces âbetâ or
âraiseâ and then pauses a while before đ
announcing the amount or putting in chips.
What
are the reasons for this pattern?
Players betting weak hands and bluffs donât want đ
to
be studied for any longer than is necessary. The longer the bet takes, the more likely
it becomes that đ
an opponent might pick up something on them (even something wrong) that
can be interpreted as a sign of a đ
weak hand.
The longer the bet takes, the more likely
it becomes that an opponent might pick up something on them đ
(even something wrong) that
can be interpreted as a sign of a weak hand. Players betting weak hands and bluffs đ
want
to convey confidence. Betting straightforwardly and normally is one way to convey
confidence.
Betting straightforwardly and normally is one way đ
to convey confidence.
Players betting strong hands can have incentive to convey uncertainty, so youâre more
likely to find hesitating đ
and uncertain behaviors from strong hand bettors.
As with
most bet-related tells, itâs much easier to find signs of relaxation and đ
strength in
bettors than it is to find indicators of anxiety or a weak hand. Players betting strong
hands often đ
give themselves away by doing unusual things that bluffers generally arenât
willing to do or arenât comfortable doing.
Tell #3: Double-checking đ
Hole Cards
The
meaning of double-checking hole cards depends on the situation:
For players who are
waiting-to-act or who end up checking, đ
double-checking hole cards will generally
indicate weak hands. (This is the case with other ostentatious behaviors as well.)
For
instance: a đ
player calls a pre-flop raise, sees the flop, and then double-checks his
cards a couple times before checking.
If this player đ
flopped a very strong hand, like a
set, theyâd likely be very stoic and wouldnât draw attention to themselves. Like đ
many
ostentatious behaviors from non-aggressors (i.e., checkers, callers), this is an
indication that theyâre not mentally focused and unlikely to đ
have much of a hand.
For
players who have just made a significant bet, double-checking hole cards will generally
indicate relaxation đ
and a strong hand.
For instance: a player makes a big bet on the
river and, soon after, double-checks his cards.
If đ
this player were bluffing, he
wouldnât want to do something that could theoretically convey weakness or uncertainty.
And double-checking hole đ
cards can, to many people, convey uncertainty, so a bluffer
would instinctively just not want to risk that interpretation.
This is đ
a good example
of how important it is to interpret poker tells in the context of the surrounding
situation. Itâs đ
a mistake to take a âthis means thatâ approach to behaviors; there are
always multiple factors influencing the meaning of đ
behavior.
Note: Level-up your poker
strategy with the 10 Laws of Live Poker. This free guide reveals powerful tactics that
are đ
extremely effective in live cash games. Plus, mental game tips that will help you
stay cool and confident even when đ
you're running bad. Get the 10 Laws for free
now!
Tell #4: Quicker-than-usual Calls
Of all the bet-timing tells, quick calls are
đ
probably the most generally useful. Quick calls will generally indicate weak or
medium-strength hands.
Why is this? When a player immediately đ
calls a bet, it means
that they have immediately ruled out a raise. Because players with strong hands are
often đ
focused on maximizing value and playing their hand the best way they can, this
makes it unlikely that an immediate đ
call is made by a player with a strong hand. If a
player with a strong hand does decide to đ
only call, he will usually take a few seconds
to reach that decision.
Immediate calls will be most practically useful pre-flop đ
and on
the flop just because this is usually when bets are small enough for players to be
capable of đ
calling without much thought. On the turn, bets are bigger and most players
will tend to think longer about these đ
bets no matter what they have.
Pre-flop, for many
players, an unusually quick call of a 3-bet or a 4-bet will đ
make it likely that the
player has QQ or JJ. These are hands that many players consider too strong to đ
fold, but
also too weak to reraise with. With all other hands, including AK, most players will at
least consider đ
folding or reraising.
Keep in mind that âquickâ is of course subjective
and dependent on what you think is normal for đ
a player and situation. Depending on
circumstances, a quick call could take several seconds.
The overall aggression of a
player can đ
be a factor in narrowing their hand range. For example, when an aggressive
player quickly calls a bet on a đ
flop of Jâ„ 7â„ 2â , itâs become unlikely that that player
has a flush draw, because an aggressive player will đ
usually at least consider a raise,
even if he ends up only calling.
Another factor in interpreting immediate calls is the
đ
time that has passed during that round. The quicker an immediate call occurs after the
last card(s) has been dealt đ
will be more likely to indicate a weak hand. If a player
has had a long time to think about đ
what his action might be (for example, if his
opponent thinks a long time before betting), then his immediate call đ
will be less
likely to adhere to the general pattern.
Tell #5: Weak-hand statements
Whatâs a
weak-hand statement? Itâs a statement that đ
seems on the surface to weaken the hand
range of a speaker.
A weak-hand statement, when said by a player making đ
a significant
bet, strengthens that playerâs range.
For example, a player bets and says, âIâm just on
a draw; donât worry.â đ
He would be unlikely to weaken his hand range like that, even
jokingly, when bluffing. Bluffers generally donât want to đ
risk such things and stick to
neutral statements or strong-hand statements if they choose to speak.
This fits the
general and đ
well-known âweak means strongâ category of poker tells and may seem
somewhat obvious. But there is value in analyzing bettorsâ đ
statements to look for
not-so-obvious instances of weak-hand statements.
Here are a couple more subtle
examples of weak-hand statements:
On the river, đ
a player studies his opponent and says,
âI donât think you have anything,â before shoving all-in.
By stating his opponent
doesnât đ
have anything, he is indirectly stating that he himself does not need a strong
hand to bet. Itâs an indirect đ
weak-hand statement.
A player shoved on the river and
when his opponent doesnât call immediately, the player says, âWhew, I was đ
afraid youâd
snap-call!â
His statementâs surface level meaning is: âI have a strong hand, but I
donât have the nuts.â It đ
is a weak-hand statement that removes the strongest hands from
his range, and that is something a bluffer would hardly đ
ever want to do.
Strong-hand
statements are much harder to interpret than weak-hand statements. Bluffers obviously
have an incentive to imply đ
or state that their hands are strong, so youâll hear a good
amount of strong-hand statements from them.
Also, players betting đ
with strong hands may
just be very relaxed and enjoy telling the truth, or enjoy trying some reverse
psychology. I đ
would wager youâve seen plenty of bluffers AND players betting strong
hands say things like, âIâve got the nuts, Iâm đ
telling you.â
If you watched the 2024
WSOP Main Event final table, you might have seen the hand where Scott Blumstein đ
made a
full house with his Tâ 9â versus Pollak. Pollak checked his straight on the river and
Blumstein bet. đ
After some talking by Pollak, Blumstein said, âYouâre going to let me
bluff you on national TV?â
In such a high-stakes đ
spot, itâs quite unlikely that
Blumstein would risk placing the idea he were bluffing in Pollakâs mind, in my
opinion.
One đ
of the reasons this kind of behavior is so valuable is that itâs hard to
predict how an opponent will đ
react to oneâs âspeech playâ. This means players are
generally very cautious about what they say and donât want to đ
accidentally influence an
opponent to call. This makes weak-hand statements accompanying significant bluffs quite
rare, even amongst better players who đ
are theoretically more capable of switching such
things up if they wishes.
Another interesting thing about Blumsteinâs statement: it was
a đ
bit goading, which leads me toâŠ
Tell #6: Goading
A goad is defined as something âthat
urges or forces someone to do đ
somethingâ. Its meaning comes from a tool named the goad,
which is a pointed rod used to get an animal đ
to move forward.
Goading in poker takes
the form of a player trying to abuse and agitate an opponent into taking đ
some
action.
When a player engages in goading behavior when making a significant bet, heâs
more likely to have a strong đ
hand. It doesnât really matter in which direction a goad
is trying to influence someone; just the mere fact that đ
it seems intended to get
someone to do something makes it a goad and increases the chances itâs said by đ
a
relaxed, strong-hand bettor.
The main reason for this is similar to the rules governing
weak-hand statements: bluffers do not want đ
to accidentally agitate an opponent and
trigger what Mike Caro called a playerâs âcalling reflex.â
Some examples of goading
statements:
A bettor đ
saying, âI dare you to call me.â
A bettor saying, âI know youâre
folding.â
A bettor saying, âYouâre going to let me đ
bluff you on national TV?â
That last
one is the statement we talked about in the last section from Blumstein at đ
the WSOP ME
final table. Not only is it a weak-hand statement, itâs also a bit goading. Blumsteinâs
statement could đ
be interpreted as, âIâm bluffing you and I dare you to call me.â
His
statement is of course open to interpretation, đ
but even so, his statement raises the
emotional stakes by seemingly trying to influence Pollak to do something, even if đ
weâre
not sure what that something is. And that is something that a bluffer tends to avoid,
because he has đ
to be afraid of his opponent acting on his goading statement (whether
logically or illogically) and calling him.
The fear of đ
looking stupid is another reason
weak-hand statements and goading statements are so heavily weighted to strong hands. If
a bluffer đ
says something like, âDonât let me bluff you,â and ends up being called, that
is emotionally a tough thing to đ
deal with. In such a situation, a bluffer would often
be angry with himself, thinking, âWhy did I say I đ
had a weak hand.â
Fear of feeling
dumb is a major reason bluffers donât often try unusual or tricky things; most đ
people
donât want to face the self-doubt and questions involved in taking an unusual risk and
it not paying off.
When đ
skilled players play other skilled players, these things are
capable of being more reversed and varied. But for most players, đ
these are generally
strong patterns.
Tell #7: Irritation
Similar to the reasons why goading is a sign a
player is relaxed, irritation đ
or rudeness from a player making a big bet is a clue that
player is relaxed.
Bluffers generally donât want to đ
express irritation or anger because
they donât want to risk agitating an opponent with their behavior. Some examples of
irritated đ
behavior:
A player shoves on the river and says, âWhatâs taking you so
long?â
A player 5-bets all-in pre-flop and says angrily, đ
âRaise, raise, raise, hereâs a
raise.â
A player shoves on the river and calls the clock on his opponent in an đ
agitated
way. (One small note about this one: because itâs a well-known indicator of relaxation,
Iâve seen this be a đ
reverse tell a good number of times when a good player called the
clock on another good player.)
Players with weak đ
hands in these situations do not
generally want to risk angering their opponent.
Another interesting way this pattern
shows up is đ
in the context of that often-heard question, âWill you show if I fold?â
Affirmative responses to this question donât contain đ
much meaning; youâll often hear
players with both strong and weak hands be willing to say, âYes, sure, Iâll show,â đ
to
this question.
But saying, âNo,â to this question is weighted significantly to
relaxation and strong hands. This is because bluffers đ
donât want to risk angering their
opponent with a negative answer. It becomes even more likely to adhere to the đ
pattern
the more rudely or aggressively the âNoâ is said.
A note about non-big-bet
situations
One important point: irritation from players not đ
making significant bets
will be tied to weak hands and defensiveness.
For example, letâs say a player is
waiting for his đ
opponent to act on the river and says, âCome on, whatâs taking so
long?â and seems agitated, it has become đ
significantly more likely that the speaking
player is defensive and doesnât have a strong hand. This is because players with đ
weak
hands:
Are often less focused on the hand Lack the incentive of players with very
strong hands to not draw đ
attention to themselves May have an incentive to say or do
something to discourage an opponent from betting.
This is generally đ
true for most
verbal behavior, so that most early-hand or waiting-for-action talking in general will
slightly weaken a playerâs range. đ
This is a general pattern, of course, not a
super-reliable one.
One example of how this kind of behavior might lead đ
to practical
action: a player raises and you have a hand that could easily be 3-bet or folded. As
you đ
think, the raiser looks at you and asks, âWhatâs the hold-up?â If youâre on the
fence, that behavior should encourage đ
you to raise, because this behavior from a player
in a non-big-bet situation makes it a bit less likely he đ
has a strong hand.
To
summarize: big-bet situations are very different than non-big-bet situations, including
early-hand or small-bet bettors. Thinking more đ
about situational factors helps you
better understand verbal poker behavior.
Wrap Up
If you liked this article, you can
sign up for đ
Zachâs free 5-part verbal poker tells email course here.
