Poker Body Language:  Listen to Everything They Tell You

by Jordan Jones

July 15, 2009

The truth is, when humans lie, we do so with not only our words but even more so with our bodies. Though it’s debatable among psychologists, many in this field agree that most of communication is nonverbal (body language is said to account for roughly 55% of all communication). This is an almost astonishing reality. Unfortunately though, this has little or nothing to do with poker. If you didn’t catch that, reread the previous sentence – a fairly obvious lie. The point being, observation is crucial. Missing tiny bits of information here and there given out freely by poker opponents can be detrimental.

In poker, a “tell” is any unintended action received from an opponent which provides oneself with insight to the rival’s hand. Here’s an example: many amateur players, upon viewing a top notch poker hand immediately glance at their chips. Since tells are on a subconscious level, the telling poker player is not even aware of his/her informal broadcast. The following is a list to help familiarize yourself with how poker tells are commonly presented.

1. “Weak means strong, strong means weak.” This statement by poker veteran Mike Caro is perhaps the most important thing to remember when looking for tells. A poker player acting disinterested or uninvolved may be trying to disguise a strong hand. Likewise, someone overly attentive placing bold bets may be trying to compensate for a weak hand - thus hoping to scare away competition.

2. “You can’t hide your lyin’ eyes”. So the Eagles may be no Mike Caro but this lyric still holds true anyway. Poker players relay an enormous amount of information through their eyes. Biologically, humans tend to avoid eye contact when being dishonest. Pupils are known to dilate during excitement, excessive blinking is often a characteristic of a nervous player. The face in general provides numerous clues to a poker opponent’s hidden agenda.

3. Poker players may reexamine their cards after the flop. This can serve as a double check before betting when a possible flush or straight is foreseen, or when a low card was paired.

4. "Here’s lookin’ at you kid". Who do your opponents pay the most attention to and why? Ironically, sometimes a poker player may get a tell just by watching an opponent attempting the same. Someone debating a bluff may choose to size up the competition behind him/her before making a decision.

5. Let the chips fall as they may. A very common poker tell is simply how the opponent stacks their chips. Individuals with neat methodical stacks tend to be more conservative whereas those who have sloppy unorganized stacks may be more likely to play a loose game. What other characteristics might you pick up upon just based upon the way opponents are dressed and groomed?

6. Look for repetition – repetitive traits can likewise mean predictable behavior. Try to associate the habits that are made with the poker hands that are played.

Ultimately, successful poker tells are the result of skillful intuition rather than formal instruction. It’s more so a mentality than memorization of any guidelines. Likewise, from now on, just let your cards be the ones to do the talking.

Author Copyright © Jordan Jones
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