Live Poker Tells

When you are playing poker online you don’t really have any physical reads that you can learn about your opponent because you cannot see them. You might be able to pick up some online poker tells, but it isn’t the same as live poker tells. That is part of the luxury of playing from the comfort of your own home. When you are playing live you do get to see these physical tells that your opponent gives off. It would be a great poker tip to take in that you make sure to note these habits that your opponent shows you so that you can take advantage by using it against them later.

We have come up with a list of the top five live poker tells that you should look for in your opponents. These are the top live poker tells that you will see because they are the most common live poker tells.

Top Five Live Poker Tells

Here are the top five most common live poker tells:

1. Overly Emotional- If your opponent is acting overly emotional this can mean one of two things. The player is either acting in a manner that their hand is complete garbage when it is the absolute nuts or they are acting like their hand is the nuts when it is complete garbage. This isn’t the most common live poker tell that you will see, but many players are guilty of it. If you can pinpoint these players and catch them on their bluffs then you will be able to make some serious cash.
2. Shaky Hands- Lots of players get nervous when they are up to something. When a player goes to make a big bluff and they are scared to lose their chips a lot of times they will not be able to stop their hands from shaking. Most of them won’t even notice they are doing it for that matter, but you will. Sometimes you will notice shaky hands when a player has a very good hand as well. At times players will show both of these as tells. At that point you need to ignore it all around. It is important that you make the distinction between the two before you declare it a tell about the player.
3. Betting Pattern- Just like online poker, a player’s betting pattern is another huge tell about the strength of their hand. A good player bets unexploitable so that his opponent cannot make this tell about them. A lot of times players will bet exploitable which means you can take advantage of them. Making a weak bet is normally a signal of a weak hand. A strong bet normally means a strong hand. Also, keep an eye out for players who bet a different general amount when pure bluffing. They will sometimes bet the same amount each time it is a stone cold bluff.
4. Reactions to Other Players- Pro poker player T.J. Cloutier always looks at his cards as soon as they get to him when playing live poker. A lot of players like to watch their opponents look at their hands before they look at their own, but not T.J. A great poker tell that most poker players are missing out on by waiting to look at their cards is seeing the action that is going on behind them. When a player in front opens with a raise you want to be able to look around and see how players react to this. The players who are more interested in what is going on before the action is to them are more than likely the ones who have playable hands. You can tell a lot about the strength of your own hand by knowing a little more about the strength of those that follow you in the action.
5. Unusual Behavior- Keeping an eye out for unusual behavior might seem like common sense, because it is. This is also the most important and most common tell that you will pick up on your opponent. Keep tabs on each player and how they play their good hands and bad hands. Any time that they deviate from this pattern you can be certain that you are going to pick up a tell on them.

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