When you enjoy playing Poker or are learning how to master the game, not only do you have to have a very good mathematical understanding of the value of each hand you have been dealt out, you also need to be aware that your fellow opponents will be watching you very closely as you play each hand dealt out to you.
There is often a unique set of skills many Poker players need to adopt to ensure that they do not give away any 'tells' when playing Poker.
If you love poker, then you will love PokerTube. The world's largest Poker Media website has everything you need to follow the games that matter to you. With over 20,000 videos available covering a wide variety of live and online games, Pokertube is a priceless resource for enthusiasts and professionals alike. The good news: I can think of several new poker sites that offer something new for battle-weary players. A new game type, new bonus structures, or new software. The bad news: I've seen players burned enough time by honest-to-goodness brand new poker sites (and in online poker terms, that mean it's been around for only 1-2 years) that I don't recommend them. Today I discuss what I believe to be the top 3 live poker tells for all you poker players out there. Live poker tells are a very powerful weapon when you pla.
A tell is a body movement or some form of facial expression that can give more experienced poker players, who are closely watching you, an idea of whether you do in fact have a very strong Poker hand or are trying to bluff them with a low valued hand!
Below is a complete overview of the top 10 Poker player tells. Make sure that when you are next practising your Poker playing skills at home you put in front of you a mirror and watch how you play each hand, it may often surprise a novice player just how much information they can give away via body movements of facial expressions!
- Playing with Jewellery – You really do need to look out for the players who are playing with a ring or necklace that they are wearing. Also you need to be alert to the fact that when you have a strong Poker hand you may find yourself suddenly rubbing your ring or fingering a necklace you are wearing.
Playing with any type of jewellery they are wearing is one of the most basic give away tells a player can perform at a Poker table, so always be on the lookout for this tell and try and not wear any type of jewellery if you have noticed you start to play with it when playing Poker!
- Nervous Laugh – A fake of nervous laugh when a player is interacting with other players is usually a giveaway that something is not right with that player's hand. The social nature of Poker is one where interaction, humour and Mickey taking of other players is to be expected, however an obvious tell is one whereby a player is unusually nervous or suddenly changes their mannerisms. So always be alert to these changes in a player you are playing against!
- Impatience – You often need the patience of a saint when sat around a Poker table. Poker players are never in a rush to take their turn and as such any player who seems impatient or very eager to play their hand is usually a player with a very strong hand. The impatience of a Poker player can often be that player's downfall, so always be aware of such a player and monitor the hands they are playing when showing any kind of impatience at the Poker table!
- Counting Up Chips – Going all in with your chips is often an indicator that you think you have the hand required to win the pot on any round of Poker you are involved in. However some Poker players will try and intimidate another player into thinking they have a very strong Poker hand by looking at that opponents chip stack and then counting up their chips, as if they intend to go all in on their next turn!
- Staring at Other Players – Gawping at another player with a blank facial expression is often very off-putting for the other player, so if you notice one player is indeed looking at you, then be aware they may be trying to intimidate you and give you the impression their hand is much stronger than it actually is!
- Getting Angry – One very obvious Poker player tell you may come across of even suffer from is becoming angry. When a player has been folding their hand repeatedly and finally gets a playable hand they will become angry if several players on the trot fold their hand, and this will often give those players left in that game an indication that you have finally being dealt a strong hand and those players may also opt to fold their hands!
- Twitching – Any type of nervous twitch is going to be jumped upon and noticed by other more experienced poker players. So if you twitch your nose or any other body part you will have to control that twitch or you are likely to give away your playing strategy and will always be at the mercy of those more experienced Poker players!
- Looking Away from Other Players – When a novice Poker players knows they will not be able to control their facial expressions when they have a strong hand or they are bluffing, they tend to look into space and will never make eye contact with other players, and this is an obvious tell for more experienced players sat around the table!
- Trying to be Funny – One of the more obvious tells which to an inexperienced play can often go unnoticed, is when a player is trying to be funny or is teasing another player. Distracting any Poker player when they are deciding how to play there hand is often a vital part of bluffing or playing a strong hand, so always be on the lookout for a player who suddenly cracks a witty one liner or starts to tease one or more players sat around the Poker table you are playing at!
- Obscure Ramblings – You will often find lots of light hearted banter between players sat around a Poker table, however if one player starts rambling on about something unusual that is often a tell that they are trying to distract other players and not alert them to the way they are playing or just what type of hand they are holding!
How would you compare live poker and online poker?
On the one hand, whether you play poker in a casino or play poker on a computer, it's still the same game. A flush beats a straight in both. Players in both games bet and bluff and deliver and receive bad beats. Many of the skills developed in one format translate readily to the other.
Then again, many players have persuasively argued the games couldn't be more different. It's like comparing chess and checkers, some have suggested. Online poker, a video game, live poker more likened to a sport. One's 'virtual,' the other 'real.'
There was a time in the not too distant past that the contrast between 'live poker players' and 'online poker players' was quite stark. Many pros belonged to one group and essentially ignored the other. You'd hear stories of 'live pros' venturing online and not faring well (with some complaining the game wasn't 'real' poker). Then there would be 'online pros' showing up at live events and struggling with handling cards and chips or game etiquette.
Today there is a lot more overlap, with most top players and many at all levels playing both online and live. Those who do engage in both have to be aware of the differences between how the respective games tend to play.
What are some of the differences between live and online poker? And among these differences, which are the most important ones for players making the jump from one to the other? As you think of an answer, here are several differences to consider.
Bet Sizing
In live cash games you'll often encounter different bet sizing than happens online, primarily when it comes to opening preflop raises. While an online cash game might feature players opening for 2x, 2.5x, or 3x the big blind, in live games it isn't unusual to encounter players opening for 5x or 6x or even more, particularly in the lower-stakes live games (e.g., $1/$2 NL).
Tournaments are a different story, although there, too, you'll occasionally find live players overbetting, particularly inexperienced ones who struggle with keeping track of pot sizes.
Multi-Way vs. Heads-Up Pots
That said, in the live games you'll often encounter looser play, generally speaking, in the form of players doing a lot more calling. One consequence of this trend is more multi-way pots occurring live than online where the preflop betting more typically creates heads-up situations.
It isn't that unusual in a live cash game session to witness a number of limpers preflop and/or several callers of a preflop raise, thereby creating a multi-way situation.
Calling vs. Folding
Meanwhile, if live players are often looser than online players with their preflop calls, postflop things tend to go differently. You'll find that online players are in fact more apt to make big postflop calls with weak- or medium-strength hands than tends to happen live. Coeur d'alene casino summer concerts. That means big river bluffs tend to get through more often live than happens online (although of course, everything depends on the player and situation).
One explanation for this tendency is the fact that it is easier for many players simply to click a 'Call' button than to make a tough call live. Not having to endure in person the embarrassment of guessing wrong with such calls make them easier online.
Frequency of Bad Beats
In part because of this tendency to run into more callers online, many players report experiencing 'bad beats' more often online than happens live. This is especially so at the 'micros' and lower limits online, where the small stakes further encourage calls with subpar hands that occasionally do outdraw better ones.
The sense that the bad beats are coming more often online is enhanced, of course, by another big difference between live and online poker, namely..
The Pace of the Game
One of the more obvious surface-level differences between live and online poker is the pace of play. Online poker plays considerably faster than live poker, and some who prefer playing online find the live game too tedious to tolerate. Whereas you might be dealt around 30 hands per hour in a no-limit hold'em cash game, online you'll see 60 hands per hour (or more) at a given table and even more in short-handed games. The ability to multi-table online also means playing a lot more hands per hour than is possible live.
Lobstermania Slot machine free. Lobstermania Slot machine free can be used by any slot player anywhere on this planet. As long as the player is connected to the internet and does not want to play real stakes, he can play around the clock with the free slots Lobstermania without taking any risks. Igt lobstermania download. Lobstermania online casino slots for real money play wit no deposit required. All slot games are free to play with out downloads.
Best Online Poker Reddit
For this reason, the impression of getting more bad beats online can be exaggerated. The fact is, you can seem to experience more of everything online because you're playing many more hands, which in turn affects..
Variance in Online Poker vs. Live Poker
'Variance' is a term often used generically to describe the 'swings' one endures in poker, with the higher 'variance' translating into bigger gains and losses in the short term when compared to your results over longer periods. The faster pace of play online again artificially affects what the 'short term' actually is. You might play a week online and log 10 times the number of hands you'd play if you played live poker for a week, thus giving the impression that your variance has been accelerated greatly.
Even if it is an artificially-created difference, this 'higher' variance when playing online can mean faster, more marked bankroll swings over shorter periods than generally happens live. That means bankroll management has to be approached differently when playing online, where you generally want to maintain a bigger bankroll (in terms of cash game buy-ins or tournament entry fees) than you need when playing live.
Online Tells vs. Live Poker Tells
An obvious difference when playing online is not being able to see your opponents — or for them to be able to see you — which means, of course, the role of 'physical tells' gets omitted from the online game. This also obviously affects table talk, which can be important in live games but becomes a non-factor when playing online (aside from chatbox 'talk'). Experienced live players maintain it is much easier to 'profile' opponents when playing live, especially less experienced ones who tend to give away lots of information very quickly at the table.
That doesn't mean there aren't any 'tells' in online poker. Check out '7 Ways to Get Better Reads When Playing Online Poker' by Nathan Williams for discussion of several examples.
Live Poker Tells Reddit Streams
Relative Stakes
Reddit Online Poker
One last difference we can add to the list concerns how stakes compare between live and online poker. For various reasons, an online game played at the same limit as a live game will usually feature higher-skilled players, relatively speaking. For example, a live $1/$2 NL cash game generally won't have as many tough opponents around the table as you'll find in a typical $1/$2 NL online game, in part because while there usually aren't any lower-stakes games available live, there are plenty of them online (down to just pennies).
Some have suggested as a rule of thumb a '10-to-1' guideline when comparing live and online stakes — e.g., a $0.50/$1 NL game online would play as 'tough' as a $5/$10 NL game live. Of course, you'll still encounter both good and bad players at all levels, both live and online, so don't take this as a rule without exceptions.
Multi-Way vs. Heads-Up Pots
That said, in the live games you'll often encounter looser play, generally speaking, in the form of players doing a lot more calling. One consequence of this trend is more multi-way pots occurring live than online where the preflop betting more typically creates heads-up situations.
It isn't that unusual in a live cash game session to witness a number of limpers preflop and/or several callers of a preflop raise, thereby creating a multi-way situation.
Calling vs. Folding
Meanwhile, if live players are often looser than online players with their preflop calls, postflop things tend to go differently. You'll find that online players are in fact more apt to make big postflop calls with weak- or medium-strength hands than tends to happen live. Coeur d'alene casino summer concerts. That means big river bluffs tend to get through more often live than happens online (although of course, everything depends on the player and situation).
One explanation for this tendency is the fact that it is easier for many players simply to click a 'Call' button than to make a tough call live. Not having to endure in person the embarrassment of guessing wrong with such calls make them easier online.
Frequency of Bad Beats
In part because of this tendency to run into more callers online, many players report experiencing 'bad beats' more often online than happens live. This is especially so at the 'micros' and lower limits online, where the small stakes further encourage calls with subpar hands that occasionally do outdraw better ones.
The sense that the bad beats are coming more often online is enhanced, of course, by another big difference between live and online poker, namely..
The Pace of the Game
One of the more obvious surface-level differences between live and online poker is the pace of play. Online poker plays considerably faster than live poker, and some who prefer playing online find the live game too tedious to tolerate. Whereas you might be dealt around 30 hands per hour in a no-limit hold'em cash game, online you'll see 60 hands per hour (or more) at a given table and even more in short-handed games. The ability to multi-table online also means playing a lot more hands per hour than is possible live.
Lobstermania Slot machine free. Lobstermania Slot machine free can be used by any slot player anywhere on this planet. As long as the player is connected to the internet and does not want to play real stakes, he can play around the clock with the free slots Lobstermania without taking any risks. Igt lobstermania download. Lobstermania online casino slots for real money play wit no deposit required. All slot games are free to play with out downloads.
Best Online Poker Reddit
For this reason, the impression of getting more bad beats online can be exaggerated. The fact is, you can seem to experience more of everything online because you're playing many more hands, which in turn affects..
Variance in Online Poker vs. Live Poker
'Variance' is a term often used generically to describe the 'swings' one endures in poker, with the higher 'variance' translating into bigger gains and losses in the short term when compared to your results over longer periods. The faster pace of play online again artificially affects what the 'short term' actually is. You might play a week online and log 10 times the number of hands you'd play if you played live poker for a week, thus giving the impression that your variance has been accelerated greatly.
Even if it is an artificially-created difference, this 'higher' variance when playing online can mean faster, more marked bankroll swings over shorter periods than generally happens live. That means bankroll management has to be approached differently when playing online, where you generally want to maintain a bigger bankroll (in terms of cash game buy-ins or tournament entry fees) than you need when playing live.
Online Tells vs. Live Poker Tells
An obvious difference when playing online is not being able to see your opponents — or for them to be able to see you — which means, of course, the role of 'physical tells' gets omitted from the online game. This also obviously affects table talk, which can be important in live games but becomes a non-factor when playing online (aside from chatbox 'talk'). Experienced live players maintain it is much easier to 'profile' opponents when playing live, especially less experienced ones who tend to give away lots of information very quickly at the table.
That doesn't mean there aren't any 'tells' in online poker. Check out '7 Ways to Get Better Reads When Playing Online Poker' by Nathan Williams for discussion of several examples.
Live Poker Tells Reddit Streams
Relative Stakes
Reddit Online Poker
One last difference we can add to the list concerns how stakes compare between live and online poker. For various reasons, an online game played at the same limit as a live game will usually feature higher-skilled players, relatively speaking. For example, a live $1/$2 NL cash game generally won't have as many tough opponents around the table as you'll find in a typical $1/$2 NL online game, in part because while there usually aren't any lower-stakes games available live, there are plenty of them online (down to just pennies).
Some have suggested as a rule of thumb a '10-to-1' guideline when comparing live and online stakes — e.g., a $0.50/$1 NL game online would play as 'tough' as a $5/$10 NL game live. Of course, you'll still encounter both good and bad players at all levels, both live and online, so don't take this as a rule without exceptions.
Those are some of the most significant differences between live and online poker. Which would you consider to be the biggest difference out of all of these? Share your thoughts in a comment below.
Be sure to complete your PokerNews experience by checking out an overview of our mobile and tablet apps here. Stay on top of the poker world from your phone with our mobile iOS and Android app, or fire up our iPad app on your tablet. You can also update your own chip counts from poker tournaments around the world with MyStack on both Android and iOS.
Tags
cash game strategytournament strategyonline pokerlive pokerbet sizingheads-up strategymulti-way potsaggressionbluffingpsychologyvariancetellsRelated Players
Variance
