how to hide tells when playing live

[Bowman26]

Always act like you have ACES! Like you can't wait to get your chips in the pot. And stay that way.

 

[Beanfacekilla]

I have some input.


I play a lot of live poker. I am not the best obviously, but I think there is a lot of inaccurate info in this thread.


For example:
Someone mentioned Mike Caro's take on tells, specifically the tell where people glance at their chips when they are going to bet.

Others have also mentioned other tells to look for.


And then a couple people mentioned giving false tells deliberately.



I think many of you have tells wrong. You have to realize, tells are often player specific. Just because Mike Caro makes a book or video about common tells does not mean every time you see one of them, it will be accurate. You should be looking at players to determine what their tells are.

I have seen people glance at their chips just the way Caro describes, and fold to a small bet. Perhaps they were thinking something else, like they had a gutter ball and wanted to see if they could afford to chase it.



And furthermore, tells are few and far between. It is pretty rare to even spot them.


And someone else said when people stare at the pot or cards they are weak.


I do this every time I bet, and someone is trying to get a read. I stare blankly at the same spot on the table every time. So for someone to just say that every time someone looks like this, they are weak, is incredibly inaccurate.


Different players are going to have different tells, and they are pretty difficult to spot.




However, if you want to hide tells, I have some input on this.

Every time you act, do things the same. Whether you have the nuts, or nothing. Establish a routine at the table, and stick to it.

Don't answer people when they talk to you. Pick a spot on the table, and just stare at it, every time. Never deviate or change your behavior. I do this, and I know I am very tough to read.




If you want to spot tells on others:

You have to first observe your opponents and establish a baseline, their normal posture/body language/ demeanor.

Now, as the session progresses, observe them when they are strong, weak, etc. This is tough though because many times you won't see their cards. It takes some time to figure people out.




And furthermore, tells are really over-rated anyways. Betting patterns, lines, and simple observation of villains habits will tell you much more.





And as for faking tells and/or hiding them:

Most live players are not advanced enough to pick up on any of this crap anyways. It is a waste of effort. You should be trying to get reads on your opponents with the smorgasboard of other information being projected at the table.



Tells are not as generalized as people tend to think. Many times, tells are unique to the player.




That is my input. It is based from my experience playing live.



P.s. Mike Caro's tells are mostly BS in my humble opinion. I have studied tells and body language extensively. Joe Navarro has much better info on the subject.

 

[blueduck88]

Many recreational players at the casinos take a drink right after they make a move. With my experience , this means that they have a really strong hand and are not concerned with what you do. I believe Caro discussed this tell in his book.

 

[Fieldsy]

I have some input.


I play a lot of live poker. I am not the best obviously, but I think there is a lot of inaccurate info in this thread.


For example:
Someone mentioned Mike Caro's take on tells, specifically the tell where people glance at their chips when they are going to bet.

Others have also mentioned other tells to look for.


And then a couple people mentioned giving false tells deliberately.



I think many of you have tells wrong. You have to realize, tells are often player specific. Just because Mike Caro makes a book or video about common tells does not mean every time you see one of them, it will be accurate. You should be looking at players to determine what their tells are.

I have seen people glance at their chips just the way Caro describes, and fold to a small bet. Perhaps they were thinking something else, like they had a gutter ball and wanted to see if they could afford to chase it.



And furthermore, tells are few and far between. It is pretty rare to even spot them.


And someone else said when people stare at the pot or cards they are weak.


I do this every time I bet, and someone is trying to get a read. I stare blankly at the same spot on the table every time. So for someone to just say that every time someone looks like this, they are weak, is incredibly inaccurate.


Different players are going to have different tells, and they are pretty difficult to spot.




However, if you want to hide tells, I have some input on this.

Every time you act, do things the same. Whether you have the nuts, or nothing. Establish a routine at the table, and stick to it.

Don't answer people when they talk to you. Pick a spot on the table, and just stare at it, every time. Never deviate or change your behavior. I do this, and I know I am very tough to read.




If you want to spot tells on others:

You have to first observe your opponents and establish a baseline, their normal posture/body language/ demeanor.

Now, as the session progresses, observe them when they are strong, weak, etc. This is tough though because many times you won't see their cards. It takes some time to figure people out.




And furthermore, tells are really over-rated anyways. Betting patterns, lines, and simple observation of villains habits will tell you much more.





And as for faking tells and/or hiding them:

Most live players are not advanced enough to pick up on any of this crap anyways. It is a waste of effort. You should be trying to get reads on your opponents with the smorgasboard of other information being projected at the table.



Tells are not as generalized as people tend to think. Many times, tells are unique to the player.




That is my input. It is based from my experience playing live.



P.s. Mike Caro's tells are mostly BS in my humble opinion. I have studied tells and body language extensively. Joe Navarro has much better info on the subject.

I pretty much agree with this. I really don't even look for tells, but I do always stare at the cards with my hands to my face leaning over each time I am in somewhat of a big hand.

 

[Henry Minute]

Dont worry about hiding tells, 90% of people cannot interpretet them correctly anyway.

Instead learn to realise what your tells are, what others tells are.

Bit of a contradiction there, surely?

If 90% can't interpret tells why bother about your own?

I actually agree with most of what you wrote. I think tells are an important part of the game and, as with the other important parts, they can either help or hinder depending on your ability to use them correctly.

 

[Venom246]

Well thats a hard one, as people have mentioned before sunglasses,caps/hoodie and lots of alcohol might help if u have many tells or if u are nervous playing live. I tend to give away tells myself like shaking hands when i have Aces in a big cashgame pot^^

 

[BluffMeAllIn]

Try wearing one of these:

On a serious note. I wear glasses at the Table, but not just any glasses. I wear Blue Shark Optics (Found here) and a Ball cap. I do have a hoodie that I bought specifically for playing poker (real thin and it breathes), but I don't wear it often.

I get people trying to bust my balls for wearing the glasses, but those players typically say something because it bothers them. There are many reasons to wear glasses and not just for tells, but I won't get into those now.

The reason for BSOs over sunglasses is I played for some time wearing regular sunglasses (Oakley's) and I lost a game heads up because when I looked down at my had I saw Ace/9 suited proceeded to go all in when other player called I flipped my cards to see 4/9 suited. Light in the room wasn't the best, but my dark glasses cost me the "W". After that I did my research and found BSOs to be the best Poker specific glasses out there. I highly recommend them.

Those glasses do in fact look pretty sick, however they are so reflective is there not the possibility that you could end up reflecting your cards in the shades and others could see them? I know obv alot of pros wear them but it has to be something to keep in mind when your playing that need to be careful with how you look at your cards (or were the reflections showing in the pics on the site overemphasized?).

I have at times worn glasses but they are dark in an already dark lower level of a pub I played at so I tended to stay away from wearing them for fear of misreading my cards. On the tell note, as bean indicates there could be general tells to look for but tells are player specific and generally many people who have read that book would probably be doing such as false tells to throw some people off.

 

[jcdagenius]

stiff as statue and move the same way when betting

 

[Fieldsy]

After reading and reading with tells....especially Joe Navarro, I realized I gave up a tell...but not always.

When I am bluffing, my body is much more stiff and I would stare down at the board. Sometimes I do this with a big hand regardless if I have a good one just out of nervousness, but if I know I got em I will look away and sit back and relax more.

I think a good idea is to really try to think of what you do more instead of who you are playing.

 

[blakewyte]

One thing I learnt is to be consistent with your own body language. Whether you have a strong hand, marginal etc.

Unless I have a premium hand at a live table, I usually wait a bit and watch the other players for a couple of hands before playing. I try to identify the ones who are always betting/calling, who takes down pots pre-flops and what their bet sizes are.

Next is considering their bet sizing. A lot of them are recreational gamers and don't go that much in-depth into poker - they don't come to forums like CC to read up on how to improve their game play, don't read poker books. They just play it like any other game and get lucky with their cards sometimes. Not being able to fold a top pair even when the board is so wet, calling with really junk hands etc.

It's a lot easier to read them because they haven't figured out that they're exposing their tells for all to see so they get sucked out pretty often by the more seasoned players.

I don't really talk at a table (in any case, they don't talk to me, they have this stereotype that I'm a dumb idiot who doesn't know how to play) and I avoid eye contact but I know this could be a bad thing because then I won't know or be able to suss out what my opponent has. I try to gauge the strength by the bets he makes or if he just simply calls or checks.

But when I'm not in a hand, I'm watching everyone really closely, especially when it's HU.

Back to the topic, be aware of your own body language and I guess, try to be consistent? That way it makes it harder for anyone else to read you.

 

[mlgibbs78]

i personally just take a square box about size of head and cut few holes in it and wear that during the game... nobody can see ur face so its a no brainer to do this....

I've never understood all these years why more pro's in the big cash games dont have a cardboard box around their heads ? with logo's also.

 

[IJustWantToTalk]

Just take a chill pill. I think they come in 5, 7.5, 10mg and higher maybe even. Lmao. Honestly though... just learn to get comfortable at the table. Stay confident at all times. I am a very talkative person and often get the table to loosen up by cracking jokes or making myself look like a real clown/joker kinda guy. Than I take yo chip stack! Shazaam bitches. Only thing to remember... keep it cordial at the tables. Some of those fish are absolute idiots but it does NOT give you the right to brag about winning the hand and rubbing it in their face. They worked hard for their money, you need to be happy about having won it and leave it at that.

 

[IJustWantToTalk]

Oh and tells... Study yourself first. Realize when it is that your being dishonest to yourself and naturally you will be able to see these traits re-appear in others. Most people are not so different from one another. 8 out of 10 times I can tell if the person I'm playing is lying Live. Pay attention to betting habits. Also... you have to remember. There are some people who have CRAZY bankrolls. Doctors and lawyers with way too much cash to burn will THROW AWAY a solid 3 Buy-ins at a $1/2 NL hold'em game ($900+) Just to burn some steam before they head back to the $5/10 or $20/40 games.

 

[blakewyte]

i personally just take a square box about size of head and cut few holes in it and wear that during the game... nobody can see ur face so its a no brainer to do this....

I've never understood all these years why more pro's in the big cash games dont have a cardboard box around their heads ? with logo's also.

LOL!

New poker fashion statement.

If I could, I'd wear the Daft Punk/Deadmau5 helmet.