Meaning of this tell

[Brad22]

When a player reaches for their chips as you are pondering a bet, it usually means that they are inducing a check.

What does it mean in the same situation when a player reaches for their cards?

I agree that reaching for chips usually means that a player is inducing a bet only if he is aware that you're paying attention. Otherwise it means strength.

Probably what you meant, anyway.

I don't know about the cards. I think this stuff is so player dependent that it is futile to try to generalize. Did you notice a particular player doing this? If so, why not concentrate on him for a session and try to figure out what this means specifically for him.

I play a home game with the same regulars. When we first started playing a couple of years ago, I spent all my time looking from player to player trying to pick up tells. It was hopeless, and largely took my concentration from other things.

Now, I spend time focusing on just one person for the entire game. This has helped me tremendously. One guy bets his chips a certain way when he's strong. Another has a particular breathing pattern when he's feeling stubborn and going to call you to the river. Another wears a ridiculous smirk that he thinks shows confidence when he's bluffing.

People are unique. They don't always behave in the same manner in the same situations. The key, for me, to tells is long term observation combined with a deeper understanding of what makes someone tick. Obviously this is much easier when playing with friends or regulars than when playing with a group of strangers.

[soko]

I noticed a tell of my own, when i'm holding a monster i put a hand over my cards as a protective mechanism, like the cards will be at the edge of the table, my thumb will be hanging on to the side of the table while the palm of my hand and my fingers cover my hole cards.

[winky51]

Tells are on the basis of weak means strong, strong means weak. Weak players are notorious for displaying these type of tells. Strong aware players that know you are paying attention might reverse a tell on you to get you to fold or call. Personally I like sitting ther like a stone thinking about whats for dinner tonight blatently ignoring my opponents. I give away nothing but my chips if I am caught bluffing.

Usually going for chips is a tell of strength, he wants to bet.

Holding your cards is a sign of folding.

Mind you weak players do this almost all the time. Strong players do the same thing or reverse it against other strong players.
http://www.texasholdempoker-stats.com/thp_tells.html

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I noticed a tell of my own, when i'm holding a monster i put a hand over my cards as a protective mechanism

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This one is in Caro's book of Poker Tells. I've always looked for it, but never saw anyone do it.

I noticed a year ago that I tended to toss my chips in a little more forcefully when bluffing. I also realized that one of the regulars had this figured out. I'm still waiting for a good opportunity to reverse this tell on him.

[Brad22]

Ok, ok, - more specific. I am talking about when heads-up in a pot. You are pondering a bet, and then you see that person stare at you and start reaching for chips, almost bully-like. This is a tell of weakness, and I always fire a huge bet, and they fold. I am talking about this kind of person when they reach for their cards, and stare you down, as you are pondering a bet.

What does this mean?

[winky51]

That is player dependant. Most players though, I am guity of this, tend to stare at the flop to make a determination on what to do next.

But if I had to guess an average player looking at his cards and staring at you "sizing you up" has a marginal hand and is trying to get a read.

I did this in a tournament recently. Short stacked went all in in EP and I had 66 on the BB. The pot was almost enough to call but it took me a while as I "sized him up" and asked questions.

Mike M. did this several times durint the WSOP. It takes some masterful careful planning to pull that off for it to mean the opposite. You have the monster and you WANT the other player to call so you talk, size him up, look uncertain.

In many cases someone looking at the flop taking his time looking "ho-hum, I guess I'm probably beat... but let me think about it a while... what the hell i call" is begging, asking, praying you raise him.

I had one guy that everytime, and I mean everytime, he hit 2 pair or better and it was almost obvious that was the best hand, he would sigh and exclaim "I guess I bet" very half heartedly.

But examine the player, they are all different. I have my think that I use to adjust my tells and betting pattern in tournaments to throw the better players off. Weak opposition are easy tells because they are clueless about their own actions and yours.

[smoore]

As I stand up to walk away from the last B&M tournament I played, the player on my right shook my hand and said, "You have a tell. Every time you're going to push all-in your left leg shakes.

<blink>

"Wow, thanks man. That's good to know."

I wonder what else I'm giving away. Damn online poker.

In any case, I see the OP as the "Imma gonna fold this, you bet you win." tell. It seems to be the very first one that people "learn" to reverse here in CO. Most of them suck at it, some only do it when they are NOT going to fold.

[soko]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
I noticed a tell of my own, when i'm holding a monster i put a hand over my cards as a protective mechanism

[/ QUOTE ]

This one is in Caro's book of Poker Tells. I've always looked for it, but never saw anyone do it.

I noticed a year ago that I tended to toss my chips in a little more forcefully when bluffing. I also realized that one of the regulars had this figured out. I'm still waiting for a good opportunity to reverse this tell on him.

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I don't do it anymore, when I did it was only before the flop holding hands like AA-JJ, after the flop you never feel completly comfortable with overpairs so the tell is gone by that point, I would usually notive myself doing it as well preflop and would stop doing it.

[BluffTHIS!]

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Holding your cards is a sign of folding

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Or a tricky player reversing it on you to get you to put more money in the pot.