Posts Tagged ‘tells’

Poker Tell 2 Description

Wednesday, May 20th, 2009

Poker has gained tremendous fame over the past few decades. It is now one of the most played games at casinos. The simple format of the game makes it easy to adapt to various forms of rewards, monetary or otherwise. But the goal of every player is always the same, to win! And to win, different players employ different strategies. One of the most cherished tricks in the poker player’s bag is the Poker Tell. This is used to judge the opponents’ game and also to trick them.

The technique of poker tell relies heavily on the physical reactions or changes in a player during the game. It is not as easy to judge an opponent’s move with this technique as it looks. One single poker tell can not really give you the true picture of what your opponent’s situation in the game is. Therefore, a good poker player uses a combination of different tells. At the end of it however, the player that is best able to read into his opponent’s moves will win the game.

A poker tell popular among players is ‘Speed’. The time a player takes to place his bet is very important. One should not take too much time in analyzing the hand as most professionals know this to be a sign of a strong hand. On the other hand, professional players also know how to use this technique to fool other players into believing they have a strong hand. Another important tell to be aware of is the ‘quick bet’ – it indicates a weak hand. Playing the online game however, is entirely different from playing at a casino. In a casino the players have to wait till the opponent moves his hand whereas, in the online format the players have an option of clicking the button and choosing their move early.

A very good online poker tell is “Chat”. Based on just the chat, the mindset of the opponent can easily be determined. For instance, if a player is talking continuously and suddenly he stops, it is probably because of a weak hand or something else in the game play has adversely affected his chances. So it might be a good idea to keep the chat to a minimum, much like casino poker and in effect reduce the chances of giving out vital information.

Another tell-tale tell is the ‘shaky hand’. In this, the player might be oozing confidence in his words and the way he’s behaving, but his hands give him away. As an old Chinese proverb goes, ‘where the hand shakes, the heart trembles’. If a player notices an opponent’s hands shaking, he can easily tell that the confidence is then only an act. It then becomes easy to call that player’s bluff and take advantage of his weaker position. Remember to capitalize on the weak moment that the player is having as very soon as the situation changes, he might truly be confident of beating you. But, with the knowledge of all of these tells, you know well that there is no way you are being taken down!

Poker Tell 1 Efficiency

Wednesday, May 20th, 2009

The rules of poker are so simple that anyone can play it. To master it however, is not as simple as learning a few rules and a few tricks. The key to poker lies in understanding your opponent’s evaluation of his own hand. To do that most poker players use something called the ‘Poker Tell’. It is a behavioral change that can be noticed in player, when reacting to something in the game – either the cards or a favorable bet or anything else. By rightly interpreting this behavior, a player can properly assess his opponent’s situation and formulate the right strategy accordingly.

There are various poker tells that can help a player successfully navigate to come out at the top of the game and win with his hand. One of the oft-employed strategies in poker is that when a player sits on the table, he should select any one player to be his opponent for the game. By doing so, the player is forced to think more about not only his game but also his opponent’s. And based on the information they gather, they can formulate their strategy for the game. The most important opponent in a game is the player sitting to one’s left, as he is the one who moves right after you.

The player that thinks out of the box and plays unconventionally will increase his chances of winning. An important tool when playing with novices is ‘time delay’. A rule of thumb states that any player that is taking more time to make his move generally has a strong hand. However, when playing with seasoned players, this might not work as they sometimes deliberately use this idea to mislead the other players. If playing a game with opponents that might be intentionally using the time delay technique to mislead, it is important to use a combination of poker tells to analyze the moves right.

‘Betting’ is one of the other better-known poker tells. And though betting is an important technique, without the right timing it is not of much use. If a player takes too long to place a bet, it can safely be inferred that he is not in a winning position. This might even be a trap by the player to confuse his opponents and an attempt to mislead them. Also, the player to start after the deal in not ‘telling’ if he checks quickly. To understand this point, an example will be helpful. Hand 1: A player checks in the hope of getting a free card but quickly folds after seeing the bet of his co players. Hand 2: He checks on marginal cards and makes a quick decision to call and later check for the deal and to flop a monster. In this case, the player is the first person to act and so he should take his time to make his decision and he should check. This strategy is known as a clear poker tell. When he does this, his opponents will most likely fold and he will win the blind pot.

Importance Of Online Poker Tells

Tuesday, April 14th, 2009

Whoever said that casino games were a piece of cake was definitely not from this world. There are a few specific rules and regulations each casino game has that have to be followed. However, like every other game, just knowing the rules and regulations don’t make you a good player. There are lots of important methods and techniques that mark the difference between a winner and a loser. Whenever playing a game, the player should understand the moves of his opponents and figure out if he is bluffing just to throw him off his game. Falling for a bluff is a sure shot short-cut to ending up on the losing side. For example: A twitchy or sweaty reaction to a change in the game might actually be a bluff by a player to make the other players think that he is going to loose the game.

As if trying to tackle these attempts at game-tricks wasn’t enough in a face to face game, we now have to deal with these tricks in online games too. So how do you go about recognizing such ‘expressions’ of your opponents? As deciphering these things can be quite a task, players are helped out by a few logical views on the online versions of these games – the “online poker tells”. These tells help a player understand the true flow of the game and help him make a logical move. Of the 15 odd tells that have been defined, here we present for you 2 tells.

The first of the two is known as “To pause or not to pause”. As we all know, time is an important factor in playing poker, specially online poker. The players need to maintain a certain degree of timeliness in their moves to avoid getting caught over good or bad ‘hands’. With an online version, there is always a time-limit to every player’s move – typically 30 seconds – which is generally sufficient to make a strong move. A few basic tips here follow simple logic – if the player takes too long to decide on the move and increases the bet, he is likely to have a strong hand. On the other hand, if he takes time and does not end up making any move, then he probably has a mediocre hand.

Sometimes though, even some of our best guess work can prove us wrong. Players might not raise the bets, but might still make a move after pondering over a strong hand for a long time. So it is suggested that to be able to guess the other player’s moves, you should try thinking like him.

The second of the two tells is the “Instant Playing”. This move helps a player win the game in a short period of time. With this tell, the opponent does not get enough time to understand and analyze the player’s move. For example: On some poker sites, there are lesser check boxes for the players and they can instantly play on the bets and thus win the game. Though this is often a good idea, it doesn’t guarantee success every time. It can even work against the player causing him to lose their hand. Also, players with weak hands often check the boxes instantly. The key is to understand the opponent’s ideas and accordingly plan one’s own strategy.

Good Poker Tells Show Great Impact

Thursday, April 9th, 2009

As much as we all love poker, it is admittedly not an easy game. Though not the most difficult task, it is not an easy one either trying to understand the game. Every game involves a strategy that helps the player win the game as quickly as possible.

Success in this game can only be assured through patience and well guided efforts. The rules and regulations of the game should be kept in mind by the players while playing poker. They should also be good at analyzing the opponent’s moves and judge their ‘hands’. The moves of the opponent are easier to interpret using a technique called ‘Poker Tells’. A poker tell helps a player understand the strategy of the opponent by analyzing the behavior of the opponent and thus estimating his move.

Poker tells take into account the steps, various expressions and movements of the opponents. For instance when an opponent takes a long time to make a move and raises the bet, the player can infer that his opponent has a strong hand. At other times, a loss in another room distracts the players and they often mention something to this effect in the chat. Such messages are often a good indicator of the player’s mood and their mental stability for the game. Sometimes some players have a long response time. This delayed response often points at a weak hand. According to a recent survey it is estimated that 73% of the players end up having a longer response time for weak hands. Even though these tells are famous, they do not work at all times. In fact, some players even deliberately use such moves to distract their opponents.

Though poker tells are not fool-proof, they do offer some logical views on how to best ascertain an opponent’s hand. They obviously can not assure victory to any player or offer any form of strategy, but definitely improve the chances. For example: If a player notices his opponent having drawn, then he can often increase the bet and raise the pot. This gives him a chance to force his opponent out of the game. A player slowing down his hand is a sign of an inexperienced player having some difficulty in making an appreciative move. Two other handy and valuable poker tells are “Raising in Position” and “Waiting for Big Blind”.

Raising in position is a widely-used and efficient poker tell. It is not only a useful tell in the online format of the game, but is also often used in the offline version. A player has more chances of stealing the pot if he raises the bet when all the other players in the game have folded. It is thus a smart move for a player to increase his bet in situations like this. At other times, having employed this tell the player will notice the opponent folding and giving the player more chances of winning the game. In waiting for big blind, the player should watch out for the opponents who are continuously placing blinds. Such players often have more chances of winning the game.