888poker is back once again with more tips and tricks to help you elevate your poker game from meh to amazing.
This time around, the ambassador Vivian Saliba is dishing out some useful advice on how to spot poker tells when playing live poker at events such as the 888poker LIVE tour.
If you’re struggling to decipher some of your opponents’ lines, listen to Saliba, and you’ll be better positioned to take their chips the next time you’re at the tables.
Pay Attention To Bet Sizes
Once you have played with an opponent for a while, you should have an idea of their standard bet sizes.
Let’s say an opponent has previously raised to three times the big blind preflop on multiple occasions. On one hand, you saw that they had a weak holding at showdown. Now, if the player has changed their pattern and opened to five big blinds, this is an indicator that they may have a strong hand.
Even though you shouldn’t base all your decisions on inconsistent bet sizes, it can help you try to unravel the story your opponent is trying to tell.
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Look For Timing Tells
The amount of time a player takes before making a decision can tell you a lot about the strength of their hand.
As an example, you open to two big blinds from the hijack and the cutoff snap jams for 20 big blinds. The action folds back to you, and you now need to decide whether to call or not. Take some time to realize that your opponent did not even consider just calling or three-betting. They had pretty much made up their mind to get all their chips in the middle.
The quickness of their all-in indicates that they will usually have a rather strong hand. In this case, we can fold the weaker part of our standard calling range.
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Be Aware Of Contradictory Behaviour
Some weaker players will intentionally show their tells, hoping they will interfere with your decision-making process.
If a player is facing a river bet and puts on an Oscar-winning performance about being unsure what to do before moving all in, they probably have a very strong hand.
The fact that they behaved weakly and took such strong action as going all-in is contradictory and can reveal a lot about their hand strength.
Observe Body Language
Looking for micro-expressions such as stress or excitement during a hand is an important aspect of live poker. However, you should also look for signs before entering the hand.
Let’s imagine that you’re considering raising a weak holding, and while deciding your action, a player who has been on their phone the entire day finally puts it away. They’re now focusing and looking attentively at you so use this as an indicator that they’re going to enter hand, potentially raising you.
Using tells like this can make you a lot of chips in the long run.
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Stay Focused When Not In A Hand
One of the biggest mistakes in live poker is that some players do not pay attention to what’s going on when they’re not in a hand.
By not observing what’s going on, you risk losing the opportunity to gain information on your opponents. By paying attention to every action, you can determine patterns and learn about your opponents’ emotional states.
Editor & Live Reporter
Calum has been a part of the PokerNews team since September 2021 after working in the UK energy sector. He played his first hand of poker in 2017 and immediately fell in love with the game. Calum’s proudest poker achievement is winning the only tournament he has ever played in Las Vegas, the prestigious $60 Flamingo evening event.
