~ P O K E R A R T I C L E S ~
The Art of Telling Tells
There's a scene in the popular poker movie Rounders where Matt Damon's character, Mike McDermott, carefully observes heavily-accentuated Russian Teddy KGB (John Malkovich) indulging in the timeless act of twisting apart an Oreo cookie before consuming it's sugary goodness. If you've seen the movie, and were paying close attention to Teddy's snacking habits, you may have come to the same conclusion that our hero Mike did, which essentially saved his hide in this heads-up duel with the pot-splashing mobster. You see, not only did Mr. KGB get quite hungry while playing cards, but he also enjoyed revealing the strength of his hands through an extensive Oreo cookie repertoire. Through the patient study of his opponent Mike was able to pick up on Teddy's fundamental poker tell, allowing him to win the match, save his friend's life, and live happily ever after as an icon of the more recent poker bandwagon.
While I'm not sure the degree to which poker strategists and psychologists have researched snack food fondling, the general art of studying tells has long been a significant and intriguing aspect of playing the game. Gambling guru Mike Caro would be considered by many to be the current master of, among a plethora of other things, unlocking the most stoic of poker faces through a variety of tells. From Caro's perspective, everything from a silent sigh to an aggressive raise can, and should, be scrutinized over as a potential tell of hand strength and player characteristics. Even if you're just bored and decide to start playing with your chips, tapping your foot, or humming show tunes, you can bet your buy-in that well-read players will be making mental notes.
Obviously poker tells can work both in your favor and against you. If you have them you may be at a disadvantage, while if you find them you can use them for your benefit. So all you have to do then is sit perfectly still wearing sunglasses and a visor, studying everyone else's quirks or habits, and doing your best RoboCop impersonation whenever you do have to move or speak, right? Well it's not always that easy, although RoboCop impersonations aren't always as straightforward as they may seem either. But think of it this way: your first hand at a local no-limit Hold'em tournament you find yourself heads-up on the flop with a guy they call "Sneaky Sal." The pot's at 100 and you're fairly satisfied after flopping top pair with A-K on a mixed suit board of 2-A-7. Figuring you have the best hand, you make a pot-sized bet and watch with curiosity as Sneaky Sal scratches his left nostril and pushes another 500 into the pile. Not having a good read on your opponents at this stage you decide to play it safe and fold, at which point Sal turns over J-3 offsuit, not exactly the most intimidating of hands. You bang your head against the table long enough for a light bulb to go off, as you recall in slow motion the nostril-itching Sal had executed before his gutsy bluff. Ten minutes later it's the exact same situation with an identical A-K hand, an identical flop, and an identical pot-sized bet. As you may have guessed from my overuse of the word "identical," Sneaky Sal then reaches up for the old lefty, makes the scratch, and pushes in another 500. "All-in," you immediately reply, confident that Sal is bluffing again. Instead he makes the call, shows a set of 7's, and knocks you out of the tournament just before he excuses himself to go find a tissue.
Now if reading the entire hypothetical situation above proved daunting for you, just imagine all the complexities of successfully reading an opponent. Not only do you have to search for tells but you have to decipher which tells are really tells, which are just random habits or occurrences (an itchy nose), and in the case of especially sneaky players, which are meant as counter-tells. In other words, you should be able to tell when a tell is a player's reaction to telling that you can tell when a tell is a tell. There, now I've gone and overused two words.
If you're still confused about all this talk about Oreo cookies and itchy nostrils and how it may apply to poker, don't worry; you're not alone. Heck I've played in a fair share of live games and I'm still not sure if I've ever picked up on a distinct or quirky sort of tell. In the end I believe the most common and, in the long-run, most costly decisions can often be made not by watching your opponent's trivial movements, but by having a simple feel for their betting patterns and a general understanding of board texture. Of course, this is even more important now that the world of online poker has removed any factor that visual tells may have played. So check back in a week or two when we'll take a look at reading players out on the world of virtual felt, where hunting tells gets even more complicated. Until then, you can all eat your cookies and itch your nostrils (or other bodily regions) without hesitation.
Best of luck at the tables.
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