See the full list of poker tells FAQs.
It’s a common belief that “weak means strong” and “strong means weak”-type tells in poker are deceptive behaviors put on by “actors”, and displayed as deceptive acts. But I think it’s important to understand that many of these types of behaviors come about instinctually, with no conscious attempt to deceive. They can be seen as a natural outcome of being in a directly competitive environment (an environment which has little analogy to any non-game, real-world environment, by the way). This helps explain why most of these kinds of behaviors are usually on the more subtle side. (It’s also worth pointing out that there are many poker tells that are entirely unrelated to this class of tells; for example, many behavioral patterns are simply about how much focus or lack of focus someone has in a given context.)
To help explain this a bit more, here is an excerpt from Reading Poker Tells:
Conscious and unconscious behavior
I consider Mike Caro’s book on tells to be a classic and I wholeheartedly recommend it to everyone. However, I disagree with the emphasis he placed on whether a tell was from an “actor” or from a “non-actor.”
In his book, Caro split his tells up into two primary sections: Tells from Actors and Tells from Non-Actors. He said players who act either weak or strong will usually be the opposite of what they are representing. This is a fundamentally true observation but, in my opinion, this idea is only really of much use if you’re playing with very bad players. Most players in mid- to high-stakes games are not actors—their most common tells don’t come from them trying to put on an act; their tells come from them accidentally exposing their level of anxiety or relaxation.
The main problem with focusing on whether a tell is “acting” or “not acting” is that many tells don’t easily fit into one or the other category. For example, many players, when they have a strong hand, will avoid looking at the person whose turn it is to act, and avoid looking at the action in general. Why are they doing this? If it’s a beginning player, he might be actively trying to trick you into thinking he isn’t interested in the action. His actions may be exaggerated. He may actively try to look bored. He may stare off at the television. But you will see decent players perform this tell sometimes, and they are not trying to act. They are reacting to a natural, subconscious instinct to look unassuming. Their tells will not be exaggerated, but will be subtle.
There are many human behaviors like these that blur the line between conscious and unconscious. This makes thinking about acting vs. non-acting an impractical way to think about tells. It’s especially impractical because it’s usually only with the most beginner-level players that these tells will be consciously over-acted and exaggerated. If you’re playing with somewhat-experienced competition, you should train yourself to be looking for more subtle tells than the ones exhibited by beginners.
Here’s a related excerpt from Exploiting Poker Tells:
Hand #87: Bettor confusion strengthens range
$5-10 NLHE cash game
A loose, aggressive, and very bad player raises UTG to $40. Two players call and I call in the BB with K♣ J♣.
The flop is A♥ A♦ J♥. The SB and I both check.
The pre-flop raiser acts confused and looks back and forth from me to the small blind. He says, “Oh, you checked?” Then he bets $60 into $160.
Any confusion from a bettor makes a strong hand more likely, even something as seemingly innocuous as this. If this player were betting a weak hand here, he’d want to do so normally and straightforwardly. These small communications of confusion and uncertainty will usually show up from someone who’s very relaxed.
This is especially true when the thing the player seems confused about is very clear. In this case, there was no ambiguity about my check or the small blind’s check, and the pre-flop raiser was sitting directly beside us, seemingly paying attention. If he had perhaps been talking to a waitress or something when we checked, his confusion could be logically explained, but in this case it was unlikely that he wouldn’t have noticed we checked.
The other players fold and I fold, too. This player was very loose and bad and normally I’d always make this call, but this player’s behavior dramatically increased the chances he had an Ace.
After I folded, he showed A♠ Q♦.
Something to note about this behavior, and many behaviors like it: this kind of behavior isn’t necessarily a conscious act. I don’t think most instances of players doing things like this are conscious attempts at deception. I think it’s mostly unconscious: an instinct to portray some timidity or uncertainty when in a position of power. This helps explain why many of these small leaks of strength or defensiveness are common: it’s not that so many poker players are trying to be deceptive, it’s just that it’s instinctive and natural for people in competitive situations to act in a way that seems opposite of their true status.
Zachary Elwood is the author of the Reading Poker Tells trilogy of books, which has been translated into eight languages and sold more than 48,000 copies. See more frequently asked poker tells questions.