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