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How To Read Opponents In Live Poker Games

While there are only a few ways to read your opponents when playing online, you can get a lot of additional information in live games.

That being said, there’s not much difference between online and live games regarding sizing and timing tells, so the same logic applies as covered in the online section.

However, there are a lot of other factors to consider that I’ll split into two different parts – physical and verbal tells.

Player hesitates and then bets or raises

In my experience, a player is very unlikely to be bluffing with this line of action. Also, players rarely have suited hands when double-checking, so that’s worth noticing.

Playing with chips in an unusual way

Indicates that your opponent is relaxed and less likely to be bluffing. Of course, if they always play with chips in a specific way, ignore this, but if they usually sit quietly and out of nowhere start doing some tricks after betting, they’re probably not bluffing.

2. Physical tells that indicate weakness

The pretending-to-plan-to-bet-when-waiting act

Whenever you see players reaching for chips when you’re thinking of betting, you can be sure that they do not have a strong hand. It doesn’t necessarily mean that they’re going to fold to your bet but they’re very unlikely to have better than a one pair hand, so you can continue betting and barrel them off in most cases.

Counting chips for betting and then checking

Strong indication of a weak or medium-strength hand. By this action, your opponent tries to appear strong and discourage you from betting while most likely just hoping for a cheap showdown.

This attracts attention and indicates a weak hand. If you notice someone putting chips in the pot by slamming it hard, hear loud announcements of call or bet, see extra arms or shoulders movements, you could be facing a weak hand and an opponent who is just trying to look scary. This also includes shuffling cards or doing anything else that draws the attention you actually wouldn’t want when having a strong hand.

?? The 6 Most Common Poker Tells You Need To Know About

As a general rule of thumb, players are weak when they try to show strength and are strong when showing weakness.

Indicates that the player is relaxed and less likely to bluff. Of course, when someone asks how many chips you have and the player answers, it doesn’t count. But if the player starts talking while you’re thinking without any particular reason, they’re probably trying to convince you that they’re just friendly and you should play with them.

Announcing they don’t have a strong hand

Smiling and laughing is an indication of a weak hand from a player who is waiting to act (not necessarily true for player who is betting themself), but it’s even more likely to be true when a player is joking.

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Again, the reasoning is very similar. They would not risk attracting attention and discouraging action with a premium holding, so they’re more likely to be weak when joking or making funny statements.

Indicates a weak hand because they want to appear confident to prevent you from betting. The louder the check is, the more likely the player has a weak holding. The same could be said about verbal announcements of “calling”. When they have poor holding, they’ll do everything to indicate strength, which is very unlikely action with a really strong hand, because they would not want to discourage the action.

Everything can be logically explained, so always try to remember this and make better decisions.

Generally, acting strong = weak hand, acting weak = strong hand.

Tells are more useful when playing against recreational players.

Some players try to give false tells, so be aware of this possibility.

Use everything as an additional source of information, don’t blindly follow one thing.

Bet sizing and timing tells can be used both live and online.

Putting an opponent on a range is by far the most reliable way to predict their possible holdings.

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