Observing the actions of your opponents is a key element of live poker play. Paying attention to what is going on around you can make, and save, you money, as opponents give out clues to their holdings in many different ways, some obvious, some not so. The improving player will incorporate into his game an understanding of the meaning of tells, and will have studied a good book on the subject, such as Mike Caro’s Book of Tells.
Tells come in three varieties: voluntary, involuntary and stupidity. You can learn about the first two categories of tells, and if you play enough live poker you will probably encounter the last one now and again.
Under the category of voluntary tells comes the “strong-when-weak/weak-when-strong” concept. This suggests that some players, when they have a good hand, will try to represent that they have a weak hand, and vice-versa. You have to watch out for a change in a player’s betting habits and attitude, then figure out if it's relevant to the hand in play.
A player with a strong hand, for instance, may feign disinterest; they may push their chips in very slowly or seem reluctant to put their chips in the pot at all. They may be chatting away to the player next to them until prompted to act. They are being “weak-when-strong”.
Perhaps the most common “strong-when-weak”; tell is the premature bet. You call an opponent’s raise pre-flop, then before the flop has finished being dealt he pushes (or throws) his stack in. Even though it was your turn to act. If you did not learn the possible meaning of this action, then you would be in line to make a wrong decision: you might suspect something was up, but not be quite sure what.
Involuntary tells are the most reliable indicators of what a player has in his hand. A wildly throbbing neck vein of the opponent who has made a large re-raise means he is most likely to be bluffing. The opponent whose hands are shaking uncontrollably as he pushes his stack to the middle should not usually be called: his hand is so good he just can’t contain his excitement. If you are very attentive you may see a player glance down at his chips – for just a microsecond. This very likely means that at that moment he thought about betting. He may not bet, but knowing that he may bet is information you might profit from.
Some players are stupid enough to actually tell you what their hand is – or isn’t. A player once told me “I don’t believe you’ve got the flush” – another player at the table pointed out the obvious. Yes, but now he knows you haven’t got it. One time a player was discussing his hand with a railer, but in a foreign language. With a bit of help from his gesticulating I managed to figure out that what he was saying was, It’s the last few hands before the rebuy period ends; I only got about half a buy-in left so I may as well take a chance with these rubbish cards; If I lose, I’ll make another rebuy plus a top-up, then I’ll have more chips than if I just kept the chips I have now and then topped up, and it will cost me £100; If I take the gamble and win, then I may just need to top-up, which will cost me £50, or possibly nothing if I double-up again;. I called his all-in bet with pocket fives, which beat his J-3 offsuit, then doubled up again a couple of hands later with pocket aces. I avoided both a rebuy and a top-up and went on to finish in the money. And all because I was paying attention.