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Top Five Live Poker Tells

Updated: Aug 14

Even with all the content available on game theory optimal play and other advanced poker concepts, there is still no substitute for paying attention at the table and spotting an opponent's physical tells. In Rounders, Mike McDermott struggled against Teddy KGB until he figured out the significance of the Oreos (fold!). While your typical live poker opponents are unlikely to have a behavior that glaring, here are five tells that are quite common which you can exploit for extra profit.



5. Multiway Pot Disinterest


This one is very reliable, and all you need to do is look to your left to see the future of what your opponent intends to do. If an opponent telegraphs his level of interest in pots, you can open as if you are one position later if he demonstrates a pre-folding motion. On the other hand, if your opponent with this tell is suddenly stoic and focused, you can open tighter and be more wary that your raise will be called or 3-bet. Waiting your turn to act is not only an important rule of etiquette, but it also protects you from being exploited by observant opponents.


4. Defensive Chip Maneuvers


Many recreational poker players exhibit this tell. These motions, like pretending to willingly call or shove all in as you are about to bet are usually meant to stop you from betting. Players that do this often have something, but it's not overly strong and it's a range that prefers to not face much pressure. Hands like middle pair, gutshots, weak flush draws, and top pair bad kicker often fall into this category. The player may even glare at you as you are about to act. You can exploit this tell by bluffing larger to put maximal pressure on a capped range. Conversely, you can also consider value betting a little smaller to rope in hands that clearly do not want to call big bets.


3. Ostentatious Betting Motion & The Speech


This tell often manifests on the river and generally means strength. Usually poker players do not like calling lots of attention to themselves when bluffing, so when they give a big speech, they are typically strong. On the river, the pot is bigger and the player with a strong hand knows they are likely to win it. In the midst of this excitement, the ostentatious betting motion and the provocative speech are often ways of letting off steam/adrenaline and goading their opponent into a call. It's critical to know your opponent, as some players are opposites players that like to do these things as a reverse tell. But by default, you should exploit players that act like this by folding your bluffcatchers much more often.


2. Quickly Glancing at Stack vs. Blankly Staring at Board


Players often quickly glance at your stack reflexively/automatically when they are strong and are planning out how to get your stack all in. Meanwhile, a player who continues blankly staring at the board as if not nothing is registering often hasn't connected. This is especially reliable information on the flop when they need to process three cards instead of just one. You can exploit this by folding more (or fast-playing your big value hands) against the player that quickly glances at your stack. Against the blank starer, you can bluff more while also slow-playing your big hands until they actually hit something.


  1. Timing Tells


These are often the most common and reliable tells in poker, and they can be exploited by live and online poker players alike. Quick calls give off tons of information because they mean the player often did not even consider raising. This often indicates a capped, medium-strength range of marginal showdown value hands and draws, especially on wet, connected boards where the player had a strong incentive to raise for protection and value. You can apply a lot of pressure on blank runouts when you notice this type of timing tell and you suspect you are up against a capped range.


It's also important to note when a board changes in a significant way but a player continues to bet very quickly. It's almost as if they are not processing the new information, which typically means they are very polar. On a board like 9h-6h-2s, if a player continuation bets and then quickly follows up with a big bet on the turn 8h, often this means that either they were betting a flush draw on the flop which just connected, they turned a flush draw, or they have absolutely nothing. They would have needed more time to consider how to play the middle of their range (on a flushed board) like overpairs, top pair, and middle pair when a card like the 8h materially flips all the hand rankings from the previous street. If you hold a strong blocker along with enough showdown value where you beat bluffs, this can be a decent spot to call down light depending on the player.


The Significance of Noticing Tells for Your Win-rate


While there is no substitute for playing a fundamentally sound game rooted in proper ranges and strong poker math, exploiting tells can add an extra 10-15% to your win-rate. In a game of small edges, you cannot afford to overlook something as profitable as spotting the five live poker tells mentioned above!



If you are looking to spot profitable tells at the poker table while disguising your own tells, contact Joel Wald today at joel@pto-poker.com or book a free 30-minute Zoom call to discuss how PTO Poker can help you achieve your poker goals!



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