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2.9 Poker Tells and Observation
The difference between good players and great players is a great player’s ability to read their opponents.
A great player observes his opponents constantly even when they are not even involved in a hand.
They do this so they can pick up as much information on the opponent as they can so that when it comes to a showdown between themselves and a particular opponent they have that information available to use.
So what do they watch for:
A) Betting Patterns
What kind of hands are they raising with?
How often are they slow playing hands?
How often are they bluffing?
How do they act with certain hands eg: big pocket pairs etc?
What size bets are they playing with particular hands?
So if you observe a player who is very tight, doesn’t raise very often, never slow plays hands, never bluffs etc, and he comes in with a large raise, then you can safely put him on a big hand and you may want to get out of his way in that hand.
B) Physical tells
In live poker, tells can be an important factor on working out what hand you opponent has and usually plays a big part in your decision process.
For example if you are playing in a live game and your opponent puts a big bet in, and as he puts his chips in you notice his hands shaking, this usually means that he has a big hand and the adrenaline is pumping through his body. You may use this tell to make the decision to lay your hand down.
Tells are a lot less significant online, as you can’t see the person you are playing, you rely more on betting patterns online, but there are some tells that can be used online which we’ll discuss in a later module.
So the point of this section is to emphasise the importance of always observing your opponents. Play a game with yourself, each time you are not involved in a hand watch the play and watch the betting patterns, try and guess what hands your opponents are holding, and every time you get to see the cards at the end of the hand, see how close you got to guessing correctly.
At first you will probably get things pretty wrong, but over time and with practice you will get surprisingly accurate and it will play a huge part in your game.
One other point I would like to make is showing your hand when you don’t have to – As a beginner you shouldn’t show any cards that you don’t have to. Each time you do this you are giving away free information to your opponents. You should always Muck your hand when given the opportunity.
There are situations where it may be beneficial to show your hand, but we talk more about this in Module 5.
CONTINUE TO NEXT SECTION - 2.10
