Avoiding tells in live tournaments
 

I generally put a chip on my hand whether I am going to play it or not. I don't say anything while is a hand other than "raise", "call", and "allin". If someone is sonsidering calling me, I sit motionless no matter what. I try not to make motions to my chips or to fold until it is my turn, and sometimes make slight spurious motions to confuse any tell.

When the dealer is counting my chips allin, I try to avoid correcting him. Sometimes I would say something when he was off, but found that was a major tell.

I don't wait until it is my turn to look at my cards. I know a lot of pros do that in major tournaments, but the cost/benefits don't seem worth it in the tournaments I play in.

Are there other things I should be doing or should consider if playing in a major tournament?

Re: Avoiding tells in live tournaments
 

every hand get up, run around the table screaming as loud as you can

every

hand

even if you fold

trust me, you will be unreadable.

Re: Avoiding tells in live tournaments
 

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every hand get up, run around the table screaming as loud as you can

every

hand

even if you fold

trust me, you will be unreadable.

[/ QUOTE ]

Thanks for the serious and helpful reply.

Re: Avoiding tells in live tournaments
 

I really suggest waiting til it's your turn to look at your cards. This makes you watch the other players act before you, and it allows you to consider the situation (your position, players left to act, actions of players before you) before you look at your cards.

When I look at my cards live, I'm always careful to repeat them to myself twice in my head so I won't forget the suits. This gives me a pretty consistent pause before acting and also prevents the really obvious tell of going back to check for suits on a monotone flop.

I personally find that trying to hide tells by acting motionless doesn't work well for me. I have much more fold equity when I'm talking and smiling. I'm always careful to treat my opponents like my friends when they ask for chipcounts and stuff. I think this gives me more fold equity against people who are looking for these kind of things. If nothing else, it gives me something to think about during the rather awkward waiting period.

Re: Avoiding tells in live tournaments
 

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I personally find that trying to hide tells by acting motionless doesn't work well for me. I have much more fold equity when I'm talking and smiling. I'm always careful to treat my opponents like my friends when they ask for chipcounts and stuff. I think this gives me more fold equity against people who are looking for these kind of things. If nothing else, it gives me something to think about during the rather awkward waiting period.

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I guess that's OK if it works for you, but I am not always looking for a fold. I think it is better to sit motionless and silent regardless whether I am bluffing or have the nuts. Why give any information?

Re: Avoiding tells in live tournaments
 

I worked on my mind set a lot:

It's just a game. It is interesting. I will learn anytime I play a live tourney. I am actively interested in my fellow players. I am less interested in me and my cards. Therefore, I can openly watch them with genuine interest how they make their decisions. They can only watch me watching them.

Re: Avoiding tells in live tournaments
 

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I really suggest waiting til it's your turn to look at your cards. This makes you watch the other players act before you, and it allows you to consider the situation (your position, players left to act, actions of players before you) before you look at your cards.

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Then again, if other people are watching the guy 3 to your right look at his cards while you look, it might be harder for them to pick up a tell on you. That being said, I agree it's best just to wait until the action is on you.

Re: Avoiding tells in live tournaments
 

WAIT till it's your turn to act. If you don't I guarantee you will eventually be spewing a tell.

Bruce

Re: Avoiding tells in live tournaments
 

Making the same actions when acting, ie how you put your chips into the pot, if you say anything or not, etc are all very important, that is, as long as others are paying attention. And if you are, then assume that at least 1-2 others are doing the same.

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I really suggest waiting til it's your turn to look at your cards. This makes you watch the other players act before you, and it allows you to consider the situation (your position, players left to act, actions of players before you) before you look at your cards.

When I look at my cards live, I'm always careful to repeat them to myself twice in my head so I won't forget the suits. This gives me a pretty consistent pause before acting and also prevents the really obvious tell of going back to check for suits on a monotone flop.

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Have to agree here, I play live at least once a week and although small buy-ins, except for one $550 a month, I do the same. Can't really add much more, just think it makes good sense as you can really get reads on other players.

I also watch the other players as the flop comes down and wait to peak for myself when I can.

Re: Avoiding tells in live tournaments
 

Something I've started doing is if I'm heads up going to the flop and last to act, I don't even look at the flop at all, rather my opponent to see his immediate reaction to the flop. Even if I completely missed the flop, I've found that if I can get a tell on my opponent as soon as the flop comes I can bet him out easily. This works also if your opponent is looking at you when the flop comes, because he won't be able to get a read on you yet, and he'll be forced to look at the flop. This can be a very annoying yet effective strategy.

Re: Avoiding tells in live tournaments
 

PF, I watch the players behind me look at their cards. I can't tell much, but I can tell if they are going to muck. In that way, I pick up a position or two every hand.

Re: Avoiding tells in live tournaments
 

I entered a pretty big tourny a few months back and it was about 5 mins before it started when this same question popped into my head. the guy who invited me there told me that a guy at another table was a wsop bracelet winner...id never seen the guy in my life but he was standing there drinking coffee so i went right up and asked him what should i do to avoid tells....this is what he said.
Think of about 5 different things you can do after your cards are dealt, sit there and stare, sit there and rub your chin like your thinking, look at the t.v, look at the waitress..then every hand before the cards are even dealt decide which one your going to do and do it regardless of your cards. this way 1 hand you play you may be staring into space, later you play a hand while staring at the waitress (my personal fav) next time your folding while doing these same things..they never know what your going to do..it seemed like a good plan and ive been doing it ever since. in fact just about a week ago i heard a player at the other end of the table tell another guy " watch out, he went all-in with aces on me while he was sitting there rubbing his chin" lol i dont even remember the hand he was talking about but im glad he does!
At the break of the same tourny my friend came to me and said i had "nervous feet"..huh? he said i was watching you and every time you played a hand you starting bouncing your feet around like you were trying to dance...so theres another thing to watch..keep your entire body under control....

Re: Avoiding tells in live tournaments
 

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PF, I watch the players behind me look at their cards. I can't tell much, but I can tell if they are going to muck. In that way, I pick up a position or two every hand.

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Good point. Can't believe I left that out.

Re: Avoiding tells in live tournaments
 

I don't wait until it is my turn to look at my cards. I know a lot of pros do that in major tournaments, but the cost/benefits don't seem worth it in the tournaments I play in.

Could you go in to your thinking here?

Seems most of the people disagree with this, but I don't wait myself. In fact, I'm so quick, looking at each card as soon as it hits the felt, most people don't even know I've looked yet. Then I get to spend the rest of the time looking at everyone else looking at their cards.

-Scott

Re: Avoiding tells in live tournaments
 

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I'm so quick, looking at each card as soon as it hits the felt, most people don't even know I've looked yet. Then I get to spend the rest of the time looking at everyone else looking at their cards.

-Scott

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You can still do this if you just wait til it's your turn. The only argument I can see for your method is that nobody gets to look at you while you look. However, I think your betting action here is much more significant than any tells you can give off, and it's pretty easy to mask preflop tells by taking the same amount of time to look and having a plan about what to do with different hand ranges.

Re: Avoiding tells in live tournaments
 

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I think it is better to sit motionless and silent regardless whether I am bluffing or have the nuts. Why give any information?

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If you try to have a "poker face" then any deviation will be a potential tell and therefore counter-productive. With more experience one can have chats in tourny's just like in live cash games and not give tells.

And by chats I don't mean asking stupid questions like "...you hit your draw" or "...you got Aces dude".

I mean actual chatting. When you play enough live events, it gets boring sitting like a statue (which marks you as potential noob).