What Tells From Home Game Beginners?

[Ghazban]

I've gotten in the habit of doing it every hand so that it no longer reflects the strength on my holdings. Its such a natural thing for me to do when I see two good cards that I found it was easier to consciously remember to do it with garbage than to catch myself in time to stop it with good cards.

[nolanfan34]

Some good info in this thread already.

One thing I've noticed playing in the same types of games - if a beginning player makes a raise after the flop, in limit or NL, they have a big hand - period. They may bluff at a pot if they're the first one to bet, but if they raise with others already in, they have a monster most likely. When a calling station wakes up and starts raising, it's a big time tell that they have something.

Remember that as a reader of this forum, we forget that others aren't going to make moves like raising with a draw to get a free card, bluff-raising on a scary board, etc. Most beginning ABC players aren't raising without a good holding.

[Munga30]

The biggest mistake beginners make is calling too much, both when they should fold and when they should raise. Take advantage of this by loosening up on your value bets and cutting down your bluffing.

[Yawkey]

One of my favorite tells from beginners at home games is when they slam their bet down on the table indicating a bluff. If you are playing on hard table with clay chips you will not be able to miss this tell (usually its on a big pot and they are betting a good amount of chips).

And like Munga said, most new players are calling stations looking for any slim chance to catch a winner. So don't expect them to fold on an inside straight draw because you raised enough so they don't have sufficant pot odds (I have a friend that gets burned by this fact every week when they finally hit).

[CardBlunt]

Some great advice here everyone. Thanks.

[TN_POKER_MAN]

If they raise, they've got a good hand.

If they grab their chips & check, they've got a weak hand.

If they very quickly check, they're usually drawing to a hand and the card that just came did not help them.

[mrmookid]

I like to watch how long people stare at the flop. Often, when someone is looking at it for a long time they are trying to fit their hand into the flop (flush draw, straight, etc). Someone who quickly glances at the flop either has nothing or something really good.

[msb]

One I like is the guy that all of a sudden becomes impatient with the slow play. This is especially true in a social game where there is a lot of talking and the action is creeping. The guy with the big hand is suddenly directing the action, trying to get it going.

This only works with a guy that isn't normally impatient... but now wants the action to get to him so he can bet his big hand.

There are two main things I'm thinking when I play in a game like this: 1) Never bluff unless you are heads up and can put the other guy on a draw. 2) Value bet, value bet, value bet. You will win untold extra bets with your strong hands because nobody wants to fold until they see all the cards.

[bolgenmod]

Some great advice on this thread -- when players are pretty clueless, even as to whether a flush beats a straight, it's sometimes hard to "read" them. And sometimes a great read is wrong: I was betting hard with the nut flush draw into a passive player who I thought had little -- he was check calling me very slowly. The river completed my flush -- he checks again, I bet again, and he reluctantly called. "Alright, I'll give you my money -- you've got the flush," he sighed, as he turned over his cards, "and all I have is a full house." !! (Made on my river flush card, of course!) I certainly read him right -- he thought he was beat. But of course I was beat. This has actually happened about 6 times in the last year in the home game (twice to me!) where the player is sure he's beaten, calls anyway, and wins. If they can't read their cards, you can't read them.

BTW one "tell" that I've found to be almost 100% reliable is when the flop comes all of one suit. Half the table will then check their hole cards to see if they have a card of that suit. Someone who doesn't do so and bets almost always has the flush -- they remember suited cards better. (Of course, the bettor could be bluffing...)

[Hedge Henderson]

Regarding tells, if you're playing NL, there's also the stare-down. In our weekly game, we've got at least two new players who'll try the stare-down when they're bluffing. It's almost comical sometimes.

A few weeks ago, one of these guys pushed on a very coordinated 9-high board against one of our old-time regulars who hadn't played with us for a while. The new kid then began his very intense stare-down. The regular, who'd never played with this kid before, thought a bit, then called. The new kid showed KJo, the regular showed AJs to take the pot. A couple of us damn near busted out laughing on that one.

With inexperienced players, there's really not much to think about as far as tells go. Strong means weak, and weak means strong.