Tells

[winky51]

I agree on both counts.

[Tilt]

I agree, there are many reliable tells among average players. Whenever I play live my winrate improves a whole lot as a result of these tells. But the kinds of tells that are more universally true are most reliable. Things like:
* Flinching for chips when they see a flop
* Protecting their cards most when they have a hand
* Shaking hands when they have a monster
* Acting overly strong (bluff symptom)
* Relaxing and becoming chatty when they have the nuts
* Staring at the board too long with a straight or straight draw
* Or my favorite - the man interrupting his lunch to bet is almost never bluffing

These, and some others I can't think off now, are the most useful. But in general I am reluctant to depend on player specific tells, like the ones you describe, unless I have seen them many times. Sure, these are sometimes reliable. But if you play with someone for only a couple of hours you can just as easily get thrown off by guessing on the meaning of these via a small sample.

And I think you don't want to try using tells from good poker players unless you have seen them for a while. Good players can throw you off.

[winky51]

Nope the specifics were because I played with those players a while. I love the lunch one.