Avoiding tells in live tournaments

[CardSharpCook]

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.

[BCl]

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....

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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.

[SoBeDude]

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

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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.

[tek]

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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).