Reading Behavioral Poker tells

Being able to Read our opponent's poker tells is a good advantage in a poker game, especially when the hand values of the players are almost equal. Reading behavioral poker tells are also sometimes important when tipping the odds in our favor.

Yet, reading the poker behaviors of players are not to be heavily depended on. Detecting poker tells must merely supplement good play skills which should form the basic foundation of our strategy. Furthermore, poker behaviors can mean a lot of things with different people. There should be no formula designating a behavior with a particular meaning. A smile cannot always mean contentment anymore than a frown is always a disappointment.

Nevertheless, reading behavioral poker tells is important. We should remember this basic rule concerning poker tells: when a player obviously seems strong the player is often really weak. And vice versa. Here are other examples. When a player seems nonchalant with the hand the player is holding, it usually means the hand is strong. The player may just be containing the excitement. When a player with a strong hand puts in the bet, and the physical hand shakes, the hand is likely to be strong.

Another sign that the opponent has a good hand is heavy breathing. We see the rapid rise and fall of the player's chest. It's like a lie detector that automatically sets breathing pace faster than usual. The player may not be puffing air and not gasping for the same, but the slightly increased breathing rate is unmistakable.

When a player tries to hide something good it's often in ways that the player thinks is less apparent. Like a simple sigh or a shoulder shrug. This is playing innocent, yet we see that a restrained excitement is written all over the player's face. This is sometimes followed by a very soft, almost soundless whistling.

A player with a strong hand would often glance at the hole cards then quickly look down at the chips available for betting. It's like saying, "Hey! That's a strong one, and it deserves a bet this big," as the player glares at the chips in the player's stack.

Finally, we may add the focused stare syndrome here. When a player pays no attention to the environs and stares at the hand the player holds, it's got to be a pretty strong one. Then the player bets confidently when the player's turn comes.

Reading behavioral poker tells becomes easy when we note what most players react and act.