Do Online Players Going B&M Have a Lot of Tells?

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-Don't look at your cards until it is your turn to act preflop


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I don't agree with this. It slows down the game and it basically draws everyone's attention to you at the point that you are most likely to expose facial/body language.

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The point of doing this is so no one knows what you will do before it's your turn to act, since you don't know what you will do. This prevents your giving off pre-fold / pre-call / pre-raise tells. It also allows you to look around and see how other people are reacting to their cards. As long as you can look at AA the same as 75, you should be okay.

For the OP, rule #1 protect your cards at all times. Some people put a chip on them, but I hold my cards throughout the hand with my left hand and bet with my right. Peel up the corners and make sure your neighbors can't see your cards....protect them with both hands when looking at them. Yes, acting quickly is a good idea, esp. at a low limit table.

Wouldn't worry too much about giving off tells...half the people aren't paying attention to you anyways. FWIW, I usually look at the board when I play.

ScottieK

[TomBrooks]

OK, I guess it doesn't matter too much at the entry level. I won't worry about it.

Just out of curiousity, does anybody ever make any conscious effort when playing online to not show tells as a sort of practice for playing B&M, or to avoid developing a bad habit that might show up unconsciously when playing live?

[Luv2DriveTT]

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OK, I guess it doesn't matter too much at the entry level. I won't worry about it.

Just out of curiousity, does anybody ever make any conscious effort when playing online to not show tells as a sort of practice for playing B&M, or to avoid developing a bad habit that might show up unconsciously when playing live?

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First your first few B&M visits ignore tells completely, just play solid SSHE style limit hold'em. Then once you feel comfortable start paying attention to your own body movements and expressions, as well as your opponents. You will learn a lot about yourself this way both as a player and also as an individual.

TT [img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img]

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OK, I guess it doesn't matter too much at the entry level. I won't worry about it.

Just out of curiousity, does anybody ever make any conscious effort when playing online to not show tells as a sort of practice for playing B&M, or to avoid developing a bad habit that might show up unconsciously when playing live?

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My guidelines for playing online

- Only use auto-function to fold. B&M, I always hold my cards until it's my turn to act, then I fold. No pitching motion, nothing.

- Try to take the same amount of time to act. It's easy on Paradise because the player in front of me acts, his name fades out and is replaced by his action, then his name comes back....takes about two seconds. I usually act right after this. I try to do the same thing B&M. Guy next to me acts...one...two...I act.

- Never type responses while in a hand. Was in a SNG yesterday, found myself chip leader and was bullying everyone around. Four-handed, I raised as a blind steal...and one guy typed "I have a good hand....and you have been a bully." He folded. I'm almost positive if I had said anything, he would have called. I had A7 and did not want a call. Likewise, B&M, I don't say a word when someone's fishing for a tell.

ScottieK

If I want them to call my river value bet and they are thinking, I sometimes start giving off strange mannerisms weird behavior to try and spark their curiosity.

Caro's book useful?

[RiverTheNuts]

I have this book too, I need to look through it now that I am B&M'ing it up, Im sure it could add around 1 BB/100 to my rate at 3/6

[PokerCad]

player reads are for the most part are meaningless until the 20-40 range in LMHE IMHO. I think 99 out of 100 players are clueless, or better yet unthinking, until you reach this level. FWIW I can almost always tell an internet player in the B&M simply by the way they handle there chips and place bets (PS this really only applies to the internet players that think they are good poker players, the good WINNING internet players are pretty schooled in B&M and not too many of them play 20-40 or less), again IMHOand unfortunately, not that all internet players are rude, but I find the rudest players are the on-line players, I guess they are too use to flaming other players in their chat browsers [img]/images/graemlins/frown.gif[/img]. Don't get me wrong, it is probably just a small minority but it is what I see. As far as tells, the most reliable and easiest to read tell from beginner B&M players (and yes even at the higher limits up to 40-80) that I am experienced at is the subconcious hand trembling when they have a big hand. When I see this I almost always fold unless I have the nuts. Caro notes this also,,,,,Players always think that other players are looking at their face so they focus on not giving anything through facial tells, but the hands are really where the tells are [img]/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img]

[RiverTheNuts]

I shake whether I have the nuts or I am bluffing, or just because I am cold, I think many others are the same way.

I think pumping the pot with the best hand is less nerve wracking than bluffing, I shake less when pumping the nuts.

[wildzer0]

Same here. I was happy to discover I shake just as much on a total bluff as I do with the nuts. I look like an epileptic riding bumper cars.