I need help ridding myself of tells

[smoore]

Most of my poker experience is online. I have some pretty big damn tells. I don't know what they are.

This is what I know:
Certain players know to call me down on bluffs.
Other players seem to know when I hit a monster.
These two groups of players don't seem to know about both.

This is what I believe:
I do not look at my chips before action is on me.
I try to maintain the same posture but am not sure if I'm accomplishing it.
I have a preflop routine with my cards and do not have to look at them again.
I have good control over my facial muscles but not so much over breathing.

This is really starting to bother me, as I want to become a successful B&M player at mid to high levels. So what I need from the psych forum is:

How do I find these tells?
How do I start to eliminate them?

I'm considering setting up a video camera on myself at my own home game, will this even provide enough resolution for me to see anything? I don't think any of my poker friends will be any help, as they feel they need to maintain every edge against me. I am a consistent winner in the local home games, sometimes for all the money.

[nycplayer]

I have the same problem. Whenever I play in a new place, for the first month or so, I make a lot of money. But once players get to know me, I start losing, and fast.
I've been thinking of giving up on B&M card rooms altogether, except for AC, and sticking to online until I have enough of a bankroll to 'pay tuition' again.

[TheCroShow]

i found my biggest self tells were heavy or limited breathing. so i diagnosed that and have been working on it for months!

while playing, do not act in a negative fashion! those are huge tells! if you let out a big sigh and then call, lol soooo noob, but so many ppl still do it! do not try to sell your hand, just play the game.

not sure what else to say, but i know i was guilty of the above and know i am still guilty of horrible breathing at the table.

[nycplayer]

thanks for the tip. I try never to act, or at worst, I try to act bored.
My breathing/heart rate I guess are a bit hard to control, but they seem more or less the same whether I'm afraid of the call, or afraid I won't get it.
I will try to pay attention to this and see if I can spot anything.

[Bluffoon]

Try some simple meditation exercises. Practice them regularly and use them while you are involved in a hand.

Im lucky it is easy for me to empty my mind at will because there is usually not much there anyway.. Counting your breaths from one to four and repeating while trying to exclude extraneous thoughts works good for me.

Different approaches work better for different people. Im sure a google search would come up with something useful.

[shermn27]

Personally, I would find a home game where your friends would help you out. I look at my home games as a place to work on my skills. Of course I play in a poker group that is dedicated to improving their play as well, so we help each other. Try convincing your home buddies to help each other.

From social psychology, deception detection has 4 components in rank order of the biggest give away:
1. Change in tone of voice
2. Body and Posture Shifting
3. Facial & Eye Movement (Everyone who watches movies thinks this is number 1, but they are wrong!)
4. What is actually said (i.e. incongruent information)

In any case, you should probably also consider betting patterns. Maybe they have picked up how you play certain cards. It may be to your advantage to mix up your play a little bit for the home games.

[TheCroShow]

the thing about selling hands is that most people do it without realizing it. i'm not saying you do, but i've caught friends and new players doing things like a subtle shrug of the shoulders then a call, double checking their cards, pondering a call when all they are thinking about is vegas and the xxxxing mirage, or announce "i'll call" in a fashion that makes it sound like they don't want to call, but call anyway.

as for breathing, this dude sitting on my right was breathing SOOOO heavily that i could feel his breath on my arms. i bet out with top pair top kicker AJ, he called, turn did not look that scary, so he checked and i checked...still breathing heavy, river was a blank...he bet and i folded face up. he showed me 9To for the flopped straight heh

[Blackdirt12]

[ QUOTE ]
This is what I know:
Certain players know to call me down on bluffs.
Other players seem to know when I hit a monster.
These two groups of players don't seem to know about both.

[/ QUOTE ]


Correct me if I'm wrong, but if the group that lays down to your monsters also lays down to your bluffs and vice versa, I wouldn't be so sure that your opponants are picking anything up at all. Their plays may have little to do with you.