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Favorite Posts
- Chris Moneymaker getting a live read on Chris Oliver
- Phil Ivey talks about poker tells
- Reading Poker Tells e-book now available
- I'm interviewed on Badugi Allstars poker podcast
- More poker tells in Rounders (besides KGB's Oreo)
- Trying to influence villain to call or fold (false tells)
- Betting motion behaviors in limit
- Poker tells in limit hold'em: A critique of my book by Philip Newall
- Loose hand movements associated with high hand strength
- 2011 WSOP: Martin Staszko's (Possible) Poker Tells
- Watching the players directly to your left
- Another example of Pius Heinz avoiding eye contact with a big hand
- Poker tells at 2011 WSOP Final Table: Pius Heinz' eye-contact tell
- Situations where poker tells are most important
- "Disclaimers": a category for some common verbal statements in poker
- Self-delusion and overconfidence in poker
- A tricky player with a rather unique betting motion tell
- Looking down quickly when betting a weak hand
- Limit players who make it obvious they’re calling your bet
- Gambler's Fallacy and why not to show opponents AA or KK
- Gambler's Fallacy in poker. Defensive chip handling tell.
- A hand using poker tells - an introduction to the book
- Decision fatigue in poker
- Most ridiculous poker hand ever televised
- Great live poker advice from Limon
- Immediate calls and raises, and talking a lot after betting
- Bluffing and hand tension
- Pre-flop looking-at-hole-cards tell
- "Sick Call" Kenny vs. guy with good hand
- Some tells in a $5-10 no-limit game
- Phil Galfond and some great thoughts on poker
- Looking down when betting. Studying body posture.
- Best strategy for playing a limit game with a kill
- A forceful bet on the river and fake aggravation
- Pushing/throwing chips into the pot
- Betting movement tells - betting forcefully vs. betting gently
- Direct eye contact after betting and what it usually means
- Freeze-up bluff tell in $30-60 Limit Hold'em hand
- Facial expressions of strength and weakness
- Checking quickly vs. taking a long time to check
- Limit player who holds chips defensively
- Jeremy Sisto and some pre-flop tells meaning strength
- Acting weak when strong, starring Matt Damon
- Hole card tells in Guts games and 5-Card Draw
- Jamie Gold, lies, and ambiguous statements
- Most useful tells in limit poker
- Threatening-to-turn-cards-over tell
- Kido Pham vs Doug Lee: verbal trickery and making speeches
- Staring at hole cards usually means a weak hand
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Categories
Category Archives: Psychology
Guest blog post from poker player Daniel Steinberg
I received an interesting email from Daniel Steinberg, who’s an ex-poker-pro with some very good online and live results. He’s obviously got a lot of poker experience, so his opinions are worth listening to. I’ve included some of my responses … Continue reading
Posted in Online Poker, Poker Tells, Poker Tells Book, Psychology
Tagged bet-timing tells, talking alot 2 Comments
Immediate calls – a badly written chapter of my book
A reader pointed out an inconsistent section of my book on the subject of immediate calls so I wanted to draw attention to it for everyone’s sake.
Posted in Poker Tells Book, Psychology
Tagged immediate call, weak hand tells 11 Comments
Got third in a fairly big tournament: thoughts on poker tells
This past weekend I played a $215 tourney at Chinook Winds, put on by Deepstacks Poker. Out of about 280 players, I got third for $5,700. I feel like I’m playing my best tournament game I’ve ever played; I can … Continue reading
Posted in Poker Tells, Poker Tournament, Poker Trip Report, Psychology
Tagged bet timing, bet-timing tells, tournament 4 Comments
More on immediate calls (snap-calls) in No Limit Hold’em
More analysis of factors that might influence immediate calls in No Limit Hold’em poker.
Posted in Poker Strategy, Poker Tells, Psychology
Tagged immediate call, snap calls, stack size, tilt 4 Comments
A Snap-Call Theory
A theory about snap-calling and what it is most likely to mean.
Posted in Poker Strategy, Poker Tells, Psychology
Tagged immediate call, snap call 3 Comments
$2-5: quick call of turn bet indicates probable draw
A poker tell from $2-5 NLHE; a quick call of a turn bet indicates a high likelihood of a strong drawing hand.
Posted in Poker Cash Game, Poker Tells, Psychology
Tagged $2-5 NL, immediate call, quick call 8 Comments
Length of time looking at hole cards: a really useful heads-up poker tell
Link to a post where I talk about a very useful heads up poker tell: the length of time a player initially looks at their hole cards.
Posted in Poker Tells, Psychology
Tagged heads-up, hole cards Leave a comment
Guy Laliberte’s poker tells, Part 3: bet timing and leaning back in the chair
Examining Guy Laliberte’s poker tells, this post looks at a bet-timing imbalance and a tendency Guy seems to have of leaning back in his chair following a bluff.
Posted in Poker Tells, Psychology
Tagged bet-timing tells, bluffing, Guy Laliberte, movement, poker tells Leave a comment
Studying Guy Laliberte’s poker tells, Part 2
A second post about Guy Laliberte’s possible poker tells, this time delving back into some footage from High Stakes Poker, the Big Game, and some tournaments, all from several years ago.
Posted in Poker Tells, Psychology
Tagged facial expressions, Guy Laliberte, looseness, relaxation, stillness Leave a comment
One Drop Tournament: Guy Laliberte’s poker tells
First of a series of posts on Guy Laliberte’s possible poker tells. Covers some general Laliberte poker history and focuses on his performance at the $1 Million buy-in One Drop poker tournament.
Posted in Poker Tells, Poker Tournament, Psychology
Tagged facial expressions, Guy Laliberte, One Drop, poker tells, relaxation, stillness 1 Comment
Phil Ivey talks about poker tells
Phil Ivey recently did an interview with Nolan Dalla where he said he thinks a lot about the facial expressions of his poker opponents.
Posted in Favorites, Poker Strategy, Poker Tells, Psychology
Tagged facial expressions, Phil Ivey, poker tells Leave a comment
Mental and emotional stress of poker
Some thoughts on dealing with the emotional stress of poker.
Posted in Psychology
Tagged anxiety, psychology, stress 1 Comment
More poker tells in Rounders (besides KGB’s Oreo)
The movie Rounders contains more poker tells than Teddy KGB’s Oreo cookie tell. There are also many instances of the verbal tells I call “disclaimers”, where people try to explain away the reason behind their actions.
Posted in Favorites, Poker Tells, Psychology
Tagged Brian Koppelman, disclaimers, Matt Damon, Phil Hellmuth, poker tells, Pokerstars, Rounders, script, verbal statements 7 Comments
Trying to influence villain to call or fold (false tells)
An email thread from a guy asking about the efficacy of using a false poker tell to get an opponent to call or fold.
Posted in Favorites, Poker Tells, Psychology
Tagged calling reflex, deception, false tells, Mike Caro, poker tells, showing hands 3 Comments
Repetitive body movements and stillness
Someone emailed me a question about “repetitive behavior”, and the sudden stopping of repetitive behavior, and what it means. In general, if someone stops exhibiting a repetitive movement, it will mean they are more anxious than normal.
Posted in Poker Tells, Psychology
Tagged movement, post-bet tells, stillness, weak hand tells Leave a comment
Loose hand movements associated with high hand strength
Some more thoughts on Martin Staszko and a specific hand where he played with his chips as he was waiting to raise Pius Heinz with a very strong hand. I talk about how these kinds of loose hand movements, if they’re unusual for a player, will generally be a sign of high hand strength.
Posted in Favorites, Poker Tells, Poker Tournament, Psychology
Tagged chip shuffling, hand movement, looseness, Martin Staszko, relaxation, strong hand tells Leave a comment
2011 WSOP: Martin Staszko’s (Possible) Poker Tells
An analysis of Martin Staszko’s physical behavior in his heads-up confrontation with Pius Heinz at the 2011 WSOP. Mainly, I talk about the relative amount of relaxation and muscle movement in Staszko’s mouth and face when he had a good hand compared to when he had a vulnerable hand.
Posted in Favorites, Poker Tournament, Psychology
Tagged Ben Lamb, facial expressions, looseness, Martin Staszko, mouth, movement, Pius Heinz, post-bet tells, strong hand tells, WSOP 1 Comment
Self-delusion and overconfidence in poker
Thoughts on self-delusion and overconfidence in poker and how easy it is to over-rate your own skill.
Posted in Favorites, Poker Strategy, Psychology
Tagged delusion, overconfidence 2 Comments
A tricky player with a rather unique betting motion tell
A crazy, weird limit player and a tell I noticed he had. On the river, he’d make slower, more roundabout bets when he was weak, because he was trying to get a sense if his opponent was calling or not so he could potentially abandon his bet if he saw they were calling. If he had a strong hand, he’d just push the bet in more straightforwardly and quickly.
Posted in Favorites, Limit Poker, Poker Tells, Psychology
Tagged aggression, angle shooting, betting movement, bluffing, weak hand tells Leave a comment
Looking down quickly when betting a weak hand
Some thoughts on a limit player who had a reliable tell of looking down at his chips for a second when he was betting with a vulnerable hand.
Difficulty of categorizing and remembering tells
Knowing how to categorize and remember the behavioral information you see at the table is the hardest thing to do. It’s impossible to absorb all information, so you need to figure out the easiest way to absorb the most important information. I give some thoughts on that.
Posted in Limit Poker, Poker Strategy, Poker Tells, Psychology
Tagged limit hold'em, poker tells Leave a comment
Gambler’s Fallacy and why not to show opponents AA or KK
Continuing to talk about the Gambler’s Fallacy, and how it relates to poker. In this case, players are (mistakenly) less likely to give you credit for a big starting hand if you’ve recently shown AA or KK, so I don’t like to show these cards if I can help it.
Posted in Favorites, Poker Cash Game, Poker Strategy, Psychology
Tagged gambler's fallacy, image, showing hands Leave a comment
Decision fatigue in poker
Some thoughts on “decision fatigue” and how it relates to poker. Basically, making a lot of tough decisions wears down people’s ability to continue making good decisions. Also, food plays a role.
Posted in Favorites, Psychology
Tagged nutrition Leave a comment
Great live poker advice from Limon
Talking about the twoplustwo thread by “Limon”, a professional poker player who lives in LA, and the stuff he shares about
Posted in Favorites, Poker Cash Game, Poker Strategy, Psychology
Tagged bankroll, Limon, twoplustwo Leave a comment