Specific Poker Tells
There are a number of tells that you might see during the course of a hold 'em game. All of these tells are covered in more depth in my first book, Winner's Guide to Texas Hold 'Em Poker, in Mike Caro's fantastic book Caro's Book of Tells and in its companion video, Caro's Pro Poker Tells. All of these are available from Cardoza Publishing.
What follows is a list of those tells with a brief explanation of each one. What I've characterized as "tells" include both specific mannerisms and general personality types. To help you develop a feel for the relative value of each one, I've rated each tell for you using the following scale:
*-you won't see it often, has little value **-occurs often enough to help your hourly rate ***-common tell, well worth knowing, good value ***#-high frequency, very reliable, high value
l. Impatience. *•* A player who is in a hurry to play his hand usually has a decent hand. It won't be a great hand, though, because a player holding AiAV or KVK* will usually wait until it's his turn to act to let anything be known about his hand.
up in their chairs, put out their cigarettes, quickly finish their drinks, abruptly end conversations, or summarily dismiss any spectators usually have very good hands. You don't have to do any of these things if you intend to fold when it's your turn.
3. Showing a hand to a spectator. A player who shows his hand to a non-player when play begins usually has a good starting hand. A player who shows his hand to a non-player at the end of a hand, particularly when all of the cards are out and he is awaiting a call from a lone opponent, usually has a bad hand. Showing it is an effort to convince the other player that he's proud of his hand. When you see this tell, the bettor is usually betting as a stone cold bluff.
4. First play by a good player. Good players like to win the first hand they voluntarily enter the pot with, so they can then play with "your" money instead of theirs. Keep an eye on the player who usually doesn't play when he's in the small blind. If he does call in the small blind, he has a very good hand.
5. Staring at the flop. **** Players who continue to stare at the flop after the dealer turns it up usually did not flop anything. There's nothing there for them and it takes a few more seconds to double check it and make sure.
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Playing In Late Poker Position Part3
The more players there are in the hand, the more possible variations there are in the way the hand will be played. Two players who have the four options of folding, calling, raising, and reraising could play a betting round one of sixteen different ways (4×4=16). Eight players who have those same options could theoretically play that same betting round one of 65,536 different ways! Of course, not every option is as equally likely as all of the other options. For example, I don't think you'll ever see everyone reraise and then fold!
In any event, if there are a lot of players in the pot to see the flop and you're in late position, your best strategy is to play defensively if you don't have a premium hand. You can do this in a few ways:
1. Not raising with two big unsuited cards. The only big hand you will normally make with these two cards is a straight, which is unlikely given that you haven't yet seen the flop. Besides, it's already too likely that you're beat before the flop. The most common outcome is that you'll pair one of your hole cards and your kicker will be useless.
2. Raising only for just the right reasons, andfolding after the flop if you miss. If your cards are suited and connected, then you have two ways to win. If you feel that the game conditions are to your liking, you can consider raising from late position to get value from your hand. You have to be sensible about it, however. You have to be willing and able to make a superior, professional-quality play when you see the flop: throw the hand away on the flop if you miss or only get a small piece of it. For example, if you have 6#5± and the flop is A*JV7*, do not try to make the straight.
Being able to raise for the right reason before the flop and then throw the hand away on the flop is one of the characteristics of a great player. Do not become committed to defending the hand just because you raised before the flop, as you will see bad players do.
Remember, once money goes into the pot, it's as if that money came from nowhere. It's just there. It did not come from you. How much money you personally have put into playing a hand is not a factor to consider when making any subsequent decision regarding that hand.
You can also raise with small pocket pairs before the flop in late position, if you can also throw these hands away on the flop if you miss. If there are eight other players in the hand, you will be getting 15-1 odds on your preflop raise. You can afford to miss quite a few times on the flop and still make a big profit in the long run if you play these hands the right way.
3. Not playing all hands just because you're in late position. Too many players think it's okay to play every hand from a late position. There are a lot of great advantages to playing in late position, but the mere fact that you're in late position cannot turn purely garbage hands into premium hands. Do not play hands like K*6V, 7*2*, 9444, Q*5*, J43* or 10*4*, just because you're in late position and you're getting big pot odds.
Here's a little secret: you can never get big enough pot odds to play garbage hands like these unless you're in the big blind and no one has raised. To slightly paraphrase that old saying: "You can't make chicken salad out of chicken crap."
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