Re: Tells and Patterns
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I feel one big thing that helps begginers like myself out is know tells and how to use them.
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I have to actually disagree with you here (except as noted below). I really don't think trying to recognize tells is all that useful for most players. Perhaps you might find one helpful in a close situation, but rarely will they be a determining factor in whether you're a winner or a loser.
That said...
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1. Staring at you - a person who stare at u after the flop is usually just trying to look tough and get u not to bet.
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Yeah, classic strong = weak. Or, it could just be that the guy watches a lot of poker on TV and thinks that's what you do.
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2. Betting patterns can be huge tells
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I wouldn't put betting patterns in the same bucket as tells. Betting patterns are integral to the game, while tells are physical actions by an opponent that give you indications of his strength/weakness. If you read the definitive work on tells, Caro's Book of Poker Tells, you'll see that he doesn't address betting patterns. The manner in which a bet is made is treated, but he doesn't talk about coming up with hand ranges based on betting patterns themselves.
In my opinion, betting patterns are probably the most important thing a beginner needs to understand in trying to read hands. In that we agree. But they're not tells.
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P.S. - anyone know anything about facial twitches, or expressions?
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These types of "tells" are the least useful, in my opinion. They could mean anything, usually. And if you see them, there's a pretty good chance they fall into the strong=weak/weak=strong category of tells.
Remember that any tell you pick up may or may not be a real tell. The person in question may just act differently than most people or she may have read Caro's book and knows how to toss off a fake tell now and again.
Anyone interested in the subject should read Caro's book. It gives a much more comprehensive treatment than we can possibly give the topic here. However, do not take seriously the dollar values that Caro gives to the tells he talks about. I don't know why he bothered to do that, as it's total poppycock.
Regards,
T
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