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