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In my experience playing live, the most reliable tell is the "sigh". really really reliable as the nuts in my experience of playing 3months full time.

In my experience playing live, the most reliable tell is the "sigh". really really reliable as the nuts in my experience of playing 3months full time.

Oh yeah, this one is reliable at LHE as well. Sigh, then c/r.

Speaking of things you can only do once, this one is really good and will work if you are ready for it - its for playing live cash NL...sometime you will make a big river bet and a "live pro" type guy is going to expose his hand to you before he decides what to do. If you are ready for this possibility you can immediately react to get what you want, what you have to do is if you are bluffing exclaim "dealer that's a call right?" and if you have it say "dealer that hand is dead". The trick is you have to do it in tempo so it doesn't look like you are capable of leveling him, more like its just an honest reaction to the shock of seeing his cards.

Did you actually do it?

How about the newbies who when in the blinds automatically look at their cards before the action is on them? These folks are giving away all kinds of information about their hand. When they are weak sometimes they wont put a chip on the cards because they are going to just muck them to a raise anyway. Sometimes they will hold their cards in a pre folding motion too. When they are strong they will study and focus on the action on each player. Keep their hand protected and be waiting like a kid who has to wait his turn to get his ice cream cone. So don't look at your cards until it is your turn because some players are watching you.

Speaking of things you can only do once, this one is really good and will work if you are ready for it - its for playing live cash NL...sometime you will make a big river bet and a "live pro" type guy is going to expose his hand to you before he decides what to do. If you are ready for this possibility you can immediately react to get what you want, what you have to do is if you are bluffing exclaim "dealer that's a call right?" and if you have it say "dealer that hand is dead". The trick is you have to do it in tempo so it doesn't look like you are capable of leveling him, more like its just an honest reaction to the shock of seeing his cards.

Note to self...Never play live poker vs. a dude named DeathDonkey.

I know that this is straight from Mike Caro, but watching your opponents' immediate reactions when the flop comes out is pure gold.

LOL. What about that awkward moment when you are starring at your opponent and he is starring back at you eye to eye when the flop comes out. I always just smile. Everyone at the table is waiting for the staring competition to be over. If you were on a steal might be a good time to glance down at your chips when the flop comes out. Ala Mike Caro tell just reverse. Then bet it with a dirty stack!

Cash game tell here. If the table has been normally chopping and the sb just limps = m.o.n.s.t.e.r. If you are a cool guy you could ask him if he wants to x it down and if he hits bet it usually 20$ so there would be a bonus or a jack pot. If you do this and he wins a bonus he should be buying you beers for the rest of the night.

Honestly I don't put a whole lot of stock into live tells.
I've read both Caro, and Navarro and there's plenty of things that CAN happen but it's not always the case.

I've seen ( and had myself) shaky hands when involved in a big hand. Whenever I'm just starting to play again and I'm involved in a big pot I usually get my hand shaking a bit. I've also seen this in other people sometimes with big pairs (QQ+). I haven't actually seen it all that much, but I have seen it.

Navarro talks a TON about "happy feet" and I've actually looked for this one. I've seen plenty of people get happy feet, and also fold. So I'm not sure it's actually as reliable as he makes it out to be.

I'd say tells are best against regs you play against A LOT. 95% of the people I play against are total unknowns and I only see them once.

Personally I hardly EVER look for tells, and at the lower levels I believe they're 100% not needed. If you can spot one, great. If not, the game is easy enough to crush playing standard.

I have a buddy that's whole game revolves around trying to "read people" and he's a losing player. Rather then work on his game, if he donks off a buy in he chalks it up to "my read was off".

Edit:
The 1 tell I've noticed is reliable 100% of the time is when someone makes a bet out of turn, they're very very strong.

Navarro talks a TON about "happy feet" and I've actually looked for this one. I've seen plenty of people get happy feet, and also fold. So I'm not sure it's actually as reliable as he makes it out to be.

Yeah, never really got this one. How do you ever have the opportunity to check out what your opponent's feet are doing, unless through 'accidentally' dropping some chips on the floor every pot you play or by spending a whole session tying and untying your shoelaces? The rest of the table would surely think you had OCD or autism.

Yeah, never really got this one. How do you ever have the opportunity to check out what your opponent's feet are doing, unless through 'accidentally' dropping some chips on the floor every pot you play or by spending a whole session tying and untying your shoelaces? The rest of the table would surely think you had OCD or autism.

Watch closely their whole body will be moving when having happy feet. Its only a tell if you can make a connection with strong or weak when you replay "everything in your mind", and you have seen him do it more than 2 or 3 times it begins to become reliable.

Honestly I don't put a whole lot of stock into live tells.
I've read both Caro, and Navarro and there's plenty of things that CAN happen but it's not always the case.

I've seen ( and had myself) shaky hands when involved in a big hand. Whenever I'm just starting to play again and I'm involved in a big pot I usually get my hand shaking a bit. I've also seen this in other people sometimes with big pairs (QQ+). I haven't actually seen it all that much, but I have seen it.

Navarro talks a TON about "happy feet" and I've actually looked for this one. I've seen plenty of people get happy feet, and also fold. So I'm not sure it's actually as reliable as he makes it out to be.

I'd say tells are best against regs you play against A LOT. 95% of the people I play against are total unknowns and I only see them once.

Personally I hardly EVER look for tells, and at the lower levels I believe they're 100% not needed. If you can spot one, great. If not, the game is easy enough to crush playing standard.

I have a buddy that's whole game revolves around trying to "read people" and he's a losing player. Rather then work on his game, if he donks off a buy in he chalks it up to "my read was off".

Edit:
The 1 tell I've noticed is reliable 100% of the time is when someone makes a bet out of turn, they're very very strong.

Edit:
The 1 tell I've noticed is reliable 100% of the time is when someone makes a bet out of turn, they're very very strong.

Be careful with this read sometimes dudes will bet out of turn like this to keep you from betting so they can get that free card. Its an old school angle shoot.

Also when their feet/legs get active it can mean they want to gamble/are compelled to gamble, especially if it happens as they are waiting in anticipation for the dealer to throw them cards.

Be careful with this read sometimes dudes will bet out of turn like this to keep you from betting so they can get that free card. Its an old school angle shoot.

Really? I've actually never seen someone do that as an angle.
However I'll say my casino is pretty strict with banning people, and if you do that kinda thing it would probably get you a suspension.

The only angle I really see is that "fake raise" thing. Where someone bets, and then a guy cuts out a bunch of chips behind the line, then pisses around for 5 minutes and just calls.

Really? I've actually never seen someone do that as an angle.
However I'll say my casino is pretty strict with banning people, and if you do that kinda thing it would probably get you a suspension.

That's probably a big part of why, where I used to play was terrible for this sort of stuff probably because they never seemed to ban anyone including known angleshooters and people who were most clearly breaking the rules.

This is an observation of mine, never read Carro/Navarro so I don't know if they talk about this. Seems fairly common though so they probably do.

If you are grabbing/stacking/counting chips to bet, and you see opponent grabbing his chips as if matching them up to yours, this is often a tell that he's going to call. So if you are bluffing, you can check and get away.

Once caveat is that there are some players who will do this to make it look like they are calling because they don't want to face a bet. Watch closely when they are involved in other hands to find out which category they fall into, because it's usually one or the other - rarely does someone mix it up. If they are "the faker" type, then put in a big bet if you are bluffing, and make your value bet a bit smaller if you have a strong hand.