BODY LANGUAGE FOR POKER PLAYERS: SPOTTING TELLS It's one of the most talked about parts of poker: the tells. Whether or not you are at a multi-table tournament or a cash game, poker tells are always there. The pro's learn to hide them, the amateurs die by them. No matter your skill level, you too can learn to profit from spotting, and using, tells.

A composed face, lacking expression, is the one that may be masking emotion. It's technique known as putting on a 'poker face' and is the easiest and most successful way of concealing what you'd rather not show. Narrowed eyes, a tense forehead, and tightened jaw muscles are small, subtle signs that an emotion is being suppressed.

As anyone who has ever played a game of poker knows, the best way to win is perfecting the art of deception. Everyone has heard the term 'poker-face' which comes from the idea that body language can give away what kind of hand you have. The dawning this face is the most basic strategy a player can use to manipulate other players in the game. #1528 - poker face: mastering body language to bluff & read tells. Body language, in the form of poker tells,is a great way to get information on an opponent’s strength/weakness. Find out how to use it to your benefit. Find many great new & used options and get the best deals for Poker Face: Mastering Body Language to Bluff, Read Tells and Win by Judi James (2007, Perfect) at the best online prices at eBay! Free shipping for many products!

Spotting a tell is often difficult for new players or players who are not used to looking for them. Each player is different, and what may mean one thing for one player may mean something else for another. The easiest way to get into the habit of spotting tells is to start small: watch one person at a time. Watch how they act when they fold without betting, how they act when they have a good hand, how they act when they are bluffing, etc. Once you are confident in your ability to read one player, start studying others and see if the tells appear with them as well. More often then not, you will start learning what tells happen most often, and how to spot them.

Tells are often very subtle, but one you learn to spot them it will be much easier to pick up the clues. Remember the basic truism: in poker, showing strength means you are weak, while showing weakness means you are strong. It's a game of perception, and you need to be perceptive to spot the tells Here is a list of some of the most commonly encountered tells in poker:

? The Lean Back: A player is often conscious of the other people at the table, and if they know you are looking at them, they may sometimes do one of the classic tells: the lean-back. A player who has a strong hand will often lean back from the table, crossing their arms in front of them. This is an unconscious showing of their desire to seem nonthreatening. If you see this, the player is probably sitting on a good hand.

? The Easy Smile: The stare-down is a commonly used tactic at the poker table. If the hand is down to you and one other player, and you want to know what that player has, try staring them down. If they look back at you and they are sitting on a good hand, they will often offer a smile slightly after making eye-contact. But be careful. A true smile will bring the corners of the eyes back as well as the corners of the mouth. A fake smile where only the mouth smiles is usually an indicator of weakness. You'll need to be sure you are able to tell the difference between a genuine and fake smile.

? It's in the Eyes: When a player is dealt a great starting hand, such as a pair of kings in hold 'em or A-2-A-4 in Omaha, their eyes tend to get bigger. What you need to look for is someone who looks like they just saw something they like very much. The muscles around their eyes will unconsciously retract the eyelids and their pupils may even dilate. If you see this happen, you can be sure that players has a strong hand.

? The Repeat: There are verbal tells just that are just as valuable as physical tells. For instance, if you ask a player 'Did you hit your three of a kind?' and they repeat the question back to you, as in 'You think I hit three of a kind?' the answer is almost always yes. This fishing for information can be very useful if you do it correctly and know what to look for. If someone repeats your question back to you, this is usually a sign they are trying to avoid lying, and thus have a good hand.

? The Dejected Sigh: You've probably seen this a hundred times, and may have even done it yourself. As soon as a player looks at their cards or sees the flop, they almost immediately say something like 'Dammit,' or sigh in frustration. This is their attempt to try to convince you they are weak. But remember what we said earlier? Someone who is projecting weakness is usually strong, and when you see someone try so blatantly to project weakness, they are strong.

? The Look Away: When the flop comes and a player quickly looks away, this is a clear sign the cards have hit them with something good. For example, if a pair of 7's comes off on the flop and you see a player look down at their chips or quickly turn their attention to another player, that person probably has hit their set of 7's. In this situation, you'll often see these players check the bet and wait for someone else to put some money in the pot. At that time, don't be surprised if you see a big check-raise from the person who was so quick to look away from the flop.

Poker, being a card game, doesn’t require you to do much with your body.

This means that, in a way, your weight, height, or age range doesn’t really matter. You’ll be welcome at any table, as long as you have the money (or someone else does).

That’s part of the reason why some people don’t take the idea of the proverbial poker face very seriously. But does having one actually help players hide their motives or bluffs?

My goal here is for us to take a closer look at this matter. After all, do you need a poker face or not?

1 – What’s in a Face?

Body Language Poker Facebook

Before saying anything else about how important a poker face may or may not be, let’s make sure we’re on the same page about its meaning.

A poker face, by definition, is that emotionless look you have regardless of the strength of your hand. Now, why would it be a good idea to appear devoid of emotions while playing poker?

The answer is simple! You want to avoid giving away any unintended signs or tells. Above all, you want to have control over how other players perceive you.

Of course, to have absolute control would be an unrealistic aspiration, unless you’re some sort of master hypnotist. If you aren’t, then other players will always be able to form their own impressions about you.

And that’s actually a great thing if you’re empathic enough to grasp what those impressions are. In fact, a big part of one’s evolution as a poker player requires the development of this skill.

(Being empathic, by the way, is about perceiving others’ emotions, not necessarily sympathizing with them.)

Once you get good at this, you can have a lot of fun playing with other people’s expectations about you, at least to a certain extent.

And a poker face is one of the many tools you have at your disposal to do that.

Poker Face Body Language

2 – Expanding the Picture

I think it’s here that things can get a little confusing, because it seems that some people tend to ignore the fact that your face is only one part of your body.

It may be the most important one (it certainly is in lots of social situations). But it should never be seen in isolation, at least this is what all experts on body language agree upon.

There’s no doubt that your facial signs can say much about you at a poker table. But not always for the reasons that most people think.

And, if you’re too hasty in your conclusions, you’ll get all mixed up later on, which can cost you a lot of money.

3 – Telling a Complete Story

The most reliable physical reactions are those that, as far as I know, can’t be faked.

These are great sources of information, and, in poker, we call them tells.

A tell is anything a poker player does that tells his or her opponents something about the strength of his or her hand.

As you might have guessed, being able to perceive someone’s pupils during a game isn’t always easy. But if you can, it’s probably easier to tell if your opponent is less likely to fold.

In any case, most of the tells you’ll see at a poker table aren’t so reliable without prior knowledge of the person behind them.

For example, what can you say about a player who is blinking more than usual? Or of a person pursing his or her lips? Or of someone staring straight at you?

The answer is always the same—it depends.

4 – When a Tell Is Not a Tell (Until It Is)

Poker player and author Mike Caro discerns between two types of tells in his classic book about it:

• Tells from actors
• Tells from non-actors

In poker, an “actor” is anyone who tries to disguise a weak hand by acting strong and vice-versa.

This would be the person who sighs after hitting a set on the flop. And who smiles when bluffing on the river. So, that’s already something for us to have in mind.

More than that, if you’re up against an amateur, I’d say this is one of the first things you have to pay attention to. Of course, it’d be naive to ignore the fact that other players also understand this distinction.

Consequently, if they aren’t “actors” themselves, they can sometimes “act as actors.” But those are a minority. In any case, you should pay attention to how your opponent behaves all the time. By this I mean, not only against you.

Paying attention to what is going on all the time is what enables you to have a broad perspective about someone. You won’t have a complete picture, mind you. (You’re not omniscient, are you?)

But you’ll be able to identify those reactions that seem out of place according to that picture in your mind. These are the moments where your instincts will tell you that something is off.

And you’d do well to obey those instincts most of the time, especially if you’re an experienced player.

5 – How Far Can a Face Go?

So, do you need a poker face or not? …Many times, the answer is no.

Not because it’s not important to disguise your hand. Of course it is. But because there are ways of giving and receiving information that go beyond your facial expressions.

In fact, they even go beyond your body language. (Or your verbal communication, for that matter.)

Do you remember how I chose to define the term tells earlier in this text? If you don’t, here it is again: Tells are anything that reveals to other players something about your hand.

Most of the time, the most critical information comes from other things. Namely, the fundamentals of the game.

That’s why great real money online holdem players don’t take too long to become at least good live players, too. After playing so many hands online, they’re able to have a solid understanding of those fundamentals.

And there’s one in particular that deserves a special place in our discussion here—your betting patterns.

6 – Mixing the Colors of the Palette

Betting patterns are important regardless of the poker variant you choose, but even more so in a no-limit game.

In no-limit, you have the option of betting as much as you wish at any time. (If you have the chips, of course.) This makes it much easier for a savvy player to recognize how you feel about your hand.

That’s an even more dangerous situation if you’re playing Texas hold’em because other games benefit players who understand the pot odds better. That’s why pot-limit Omaha is much more prestigious than no-limit Omaha.

And other games played with no limits don’t offer lots of betting rounds. The only exception I know of is 2-7 Triple Draw.

Do you see where I’m going with all this? Imagine a game in which you can bet as much as you can, and the game also has up to four betting rounds per hand. That’s a lot of information for a good player.

I hope I’ve been able to show you why your betting patterns are so important because your opponent may not always see how you placed a certain bet.

He or she may not even have noticed if your hands were shaking, or if you splashed your chips on the table. But they’ll always be able to know in which situations you bet and how much.

They’ll also know how frequently you tend to bet, call, raise, check-raise, or fold. This type of information is usually more than enough for a great player to beat a less skillful one.

Conclusion

So, let’s wrap up our conversation about your poker face (and your body language in general).

Can we say anything for sure about its importance? As you can see, this is not a matter of affirming that you need a poker face or not.

The thing is that, even when you have a great one, it won’t be of much use to you unless you have also worked on your fundamentals.

Until then, by all means, feel free to bring your sunglasses and scarf to the table. Just don’t count too much on them if you’re up against an opponent who knows what they’re d