How to Read Tells at the Poker Table

The thing that separates a person playing poker and a person playing good poker is understanding what tells mean. Tells are unconscious signals letting people know what they have in their hands. If you concentrate hard enough and pay attention close attention, you can learn information that gives you an advantage. The more the advantage, the more money you can make.

Difficulty: Moderately Challenging

Instructions

Spotting a Strong Poker Hand

1. Look for players acting uninterested. This is usually an act hiding the fact he has a good hand.

2. Look for shaking hands. When a player's hands are shaking, it is usually because she is so excited for her good hand.

3. Look for lack of caring. A lot of times a player will make comments questioning how weak his hand is or that he shouldn't be in it. Watch out for this as that is a sign he has a monster hand.

4. Watch the other players' eyes. If she looks at her chips directly after looking at her cards, chances are she has a good hand and is contemplating her bet.

5. Watch other players' chests. If the chest makes breathing noticeable by going up and down, that shows he is trying to hide his excitement.

Spotting a Weak Poker Hand

6. Watch out for intimidating players. Usually, when a player stares in the eyes of another player, it is to act comfortable when in reality her hand is very weak.

7. Watch the chest again. If it's not moving after a bet has been made, it likely is because he is scared of getting called with his weak hand.

8. Be suspicious of really quick betting. This tends to be done to convince players he doesn't have a weak poker hand, but he likely does.

Spotting a Drawing Poker Hand

9. People who constantly check their hands after each turn of a card do so because they are making sure they have a draw.

10. Slow playing in an action pot shows the person doesn't really know what to do, but they are willing to stay in. This shows the player is on a draw.

11. After the card is turned, watch the signs the player gives out. If there are signs of a strong hand, that means they hit their draw. If the signs show a weak hand, that means they missed their draw.

Tips & Warnings

• These tells are quite basic and known by avid poker players. They will be giving the opposite signals to you as to trap you into making the wrong decisions. Don't let them fool you.

References

• Basic Poker Tells

Resources

• Top Ten Poker Tells