How do I find tells?

Poker is a game of incomplete information. If you can complete it, you have a huge advantage over your opponents. A lot of players pay very close attention to their opponents faces and body language to get “tells.” I don’t, and yet I still know what people have a lot of the time. How? I pay attention to betting patterns.

Betting patterns aren’t necessarily a sure fire way to pick out what somebody has, but they definitely give you a feel for how strong or weak your opponent is.

Generally somebody who is bluffing might bet big - clearly they don’t want to be called. Someone who is slowplaying might check call and then fire a bet on the river. Someone who has a strong hand might simply value bet it and hope to get called. To figure out what your opponent has you need to know their ability. Strong opponents will not make the obvious bet, they will not make the easy bet - they will do something that you don’t expect given the situation.

The only way to figure out what kind of opponent you’re up against is to pay attention to how they play.

Example: Last night I was playing in a $5 game in my room, just kind of messing around. I limped with J♥8♥ in late position and the big blind (Adam) raised to T$400. I called. The flop came 10♣ 8♦ 4&spades. I bet out T$900 and Adam started to raise - I knew almost immediately that he was holding AJ. I told him “Ace Jack is no good here.” And he folded his AJo face up.

I am not sure what exactly stood out about Adam’s play that made me think AJ, but I’ve been playing a lot of poker on him and I have been paying attention, so I have picked up on how he might bet his AJ after missing the flop and something clicked when he was starting to raise.

I don’t want to say body language and breathing and all the other items aren’t important, because they are. But if you’re playing in the biggest games with the best players everyone knows about the obvious tells. Not everyone knows how to conceal their betting patterns, a lot of it is subconcious and they really don’t have much control over it. Start paying attention to how people bet and eventually you will pick up on what they have.

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