The Truth About Tells

Daniel Negreanu is an instructor at PokerSchoolOnline. JOIN HERE

I'm going to let you in on a little secret here. If you believe that watching for a twitchy eye or a flared nostril is what poker is all about - you're quite wrong. Many poker players (mainly those who are new to the game) are preoccupied with the notion that bluffing and the ability to discover tells are what it's all about.

I often hear someone say something like, "Oh, I could never be a good poker player. I have a terrible poker face." Or, "I wouldn't be very good at poker. I just can't tell a lie, so I wouldn't be able to bluff with a straight face."

Well, if you believe that, this column should be a pleasant awakening. While it is important to avoid giving away too much information with your body language, it's nowhere near as important as learning the fundamentals of the game. In fact, I would bet that a world-class player could beat a low-limit game even if he told his opponents what he had on the turn every single time! Of course, that would work only if his opponents didn't always believe him, but I think you get the idea.

So, what is it, then? What is it that separates average and good players from the great ones? Well, obviously, tell recognition would be one factor, but it's simply not the most significant. The answer is: hand-reading ability; the ability to process information that you've gathered from your opponent in the current hand and in past hands, and to use that information to narrow down your opponent's holdings. Picking up on your opponents' betting patterns and understanding what they are and aren't capable of doing, makes this much easier. So, when you hear people talk about "reading people," what it really comes down to is reading into your opponent's mind what he is thinking at the moment, and trying to figure out how he would play various situations. It's not about noticing that when Al has a flush draw, he eats an Oreo cookie without opening it up first, but when he has top pair, he licks out all the cream first. That would be one heck of a tell, but obvious tells like that are pretty much reserved for the movies. However, some pros would like you to believe that their biggest strength is their ability to "see through your soul"; that is, knowing what your hole cards are just by looking at you. This might be true in cases in which players have exaggerated tells, but for the most part, a great player makes his read based on the actual betting that took place, not the facial tics.

Now, I shouldn't be telling you this, but I will anyway. It's simply a scare tactic used by many pros to make you feel uncomfortable. Think about it: When you make a bet (whether it's a bluff or not) and your opponent throws his hand in immediately, or even calls immediately, is it intimidating? No, not really. Well, what if he takes extra time? He stares you down. He cuts his chips out to make it look like he wants to raise, and so on. Now, that might make you sweat a little bit, especially if you are indeed bluffing! If it doesn't make you sweat, it at least might make you uncomfortable having a guy stare at you for so long. It's all a ploy, as simple as that.

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